Assessing the Role of Public Relations in Corporate Reputation and Public Perception Management: A Study of the Ghana Police Service - Accra

Abstract

Public Relations as defined by The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is ‘’about reputation- The result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you. Public Relations is the discipline which looks after reputation, to earn understanding and support and influence opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its publics.” (CIPR, 2015) Public Relations is a strategic communication process companies, individuals, and organizations employ to build mutually beneficial relationships with their publics. (Pahwa, 2020). The activities of organizations would eventually create their reputation. Irrespective of the nature of an organization, whether governmental or non-governmental, commercial or noncommercial, to reach organizational objectives, good attention must be paid to reputation. Favourable organizational reputation aids organizational path to acceptance by stakeholders. Organizations operating in very difficult environments where ethics are held high, all other things being equal, need to build and sustain a favourable corporate reputation. (Pahwa, 2020). Argenti and Druckenmiller (2004) is of the view that organizations increasingly recognize the importance of corporate reputation to achieve organizational goals. There are many recent examples of organizations whose leadership and business practice behaviours have destroyed their reputation all around the world. When this happens, it affects the organization and its products or services. Furthermore, it reduces the trust and confidence that the public has in that particular institution. Pahwa 2020, believes that it takes up to 4 to 7 years to overcome a negative reputation.