Communicating with the community

This article examines the context of public relations as a communication activity in today’s business organizations. This is one of the most important communication activities carried out by the organization. Maintaining favorable relations with the community is as essential as maintaining favorable relations with other audiences such as customers, clients and employees. An organization will not be successful unless it can relate favorably to the community in which it is located. As a major audience for organizational communication, the community consists of all people in all walks of life who are affected significantly by the organization and who, in turn, affect it. Public opinion is an emerging force in the world today, and public opinion is shaped by communication. Some of the community audiences with which a company will regularly communicate are employees, shareholders, creditors, consumers, the media, the public, and government agencies.