Assessing Public Relations Practice at Ghana Maritime Authority.

Abstract

Public relations is an important part of an organisation due to its role in building strong and cordial relations with stakeholders. The effective practice of public relations, thus, offers an organisation the capacity to interact and forge mutual bonds with key groups that are integral to its functioning. This recognition, notwithstanding, mainstreaming public relations in many organisations remains a challenge. This claim is particularly true about maritime administrations where despite their numerous publics, can in most cases remain faceless and detached from the environment within which they operate, with implications for undercutting the value of public relations in executing their mandates. Focusing on the Ghana Maritime Authority, this study explored the perceptions of the key publics of the organisation, aiming to understanding how it has mainstreamed public relations to build cordial working relationships. It employed the excellence model and the qualitative case study method as the theoretical and methodological point of departure respectively to explore stakeholders’ perceptions about public relations within the Authority. Although the challenge of financial and functional autonomy posed a challenge to public relations mainstreaming within the organisation, the general perception by participants was that the Ghana Maritime Authority practiced public relations to a considerable extent. Such practice enables the Authority to link its programmes, activities, and goals to the incentives and expectations of both its internal and external publics – altogether improving upon the performance of the Authority. A key recommendation by the study is for the board and management of the Authority to commits to addressing the financial challenges faced by the public relations Unit by improving upon its budgetary allocations and assessing the feasibility of ring-fencing some charges retained by the Authority for PR activities.