In the current competitive business environment, business reputation is a vital factor. The corporate world is full of competition with corporate companies coming up with different strategies to gain and sustain competitive advantage in the market. As a result, reputation has become a contributing factor towards leveraging the benefits in the market to gain access to a good percentage of market shares. Giant companies such as Apple Inc., Coca-Cola Company and Walmart Inc. are operating at a different level in their various industries due to the level of reputation they have garnered among their clients, stakeholders, and the general public. Reputation is critical not only to the organization’s production but also to its image in the general public. In this article, organization reputation and public relation are the primary focus of discussion.
The definition of the term reputation varies with regards to the situation where it is used and what it represents. When the term is used with reference to an organization, it means “the overall estimation in which its internal and external stakeholders hold an organization based on its past actions and probability of its future behavior” (Shu & Wong, 2018). The stakeholders, in this case, means people that directly or indirectly feel the effects of the organization’s operations. An organization reputation is critical for the organization’s progress. Reputation enhances competitive advantage in the industry. A good example, in this case, is Apple Inc. The company has many rivals in the industry; however, it sores high with regards to revenue collection due to its significant brand reputation. Moreover, a business can achieve most of its objectives with fewer efforts when it has a good reputation among its stakeholders. Reputation comes with trust and loyalty. As a result, there is less possible resistance with regards to organization’s decisions where reputation is high.
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The Public Relation (PR) is a critical department in a company. A company must have a good image in the community as well as the global arena for its progress. It implies that a company must strive to appeal to its stakeholders positively to have positive progress in the industry. A company that has an excellent public relation enjoys a high production, reputation, competitive advantage and less ethical and legal issues. The PR department has a role to play in ensuring that the company attains and maintain a good relationship with the stakeholders. Other than that, the PR department has other functions that constitute to a good company PR and reputation. First, the PR department promotes a good relationship between staffs and the organization within the organization’s internal environment. Information sharing is an excellent approach to enhancing a good relationship between the staffs and the organization (Shu & Wong, 2018). Also, the PR department ensures that information that could damage an organization’s image and reputation is reshaped in a less harmful way for the public consumption. Lastly, the PR department promotes a good working relationship within the organization’s internal managers and external stakeholders.
Maintaining a good reputation and public relations means proper management of brand crisis whenever the company is faced with a brand issue. The contemporary business arena is dynamic and has various challenges which company management must tackle on a daily basis. Many problems, for instance, legal and ethical issues, tarnishes the brand reputations and image, and can potentially reduce the company’s market shares. Effective brand management is thus critical for a company's reputation, production, and PR ( Tan & Rider, 2017). First, the organization needs to put detective strategies to raise the alarm before a situation occurs that is poisonous to the organization’s brand. Detective mechanisms are critical as they help in coming up with interventions approaches to managing a crisis before it reaches the public. In a case where the crisis is already in society, the organization must have ways of reaching out to its clients and the general public and wiping out the rumors by providing the true side of the story. Notably, the mass media and social media has made it easy for the public to access sensitive information. As a result, an organization must have intervention approaches through social media and mainstream media to clear out any negative information that can be disastrous to the organization brand name and reputation ( Tan & Rider, 2017). Lastly, honesty and sincerity are paramount in managing a brand crisis in a situation where the information is already on the public.
As aforementioned, reputation is critical for an organization's progress. As a result, the management team needs to put in place different strategies to change status in a situation where the organization reputation is scoring below the expectations. There are different ways the team can use to improve an organization’s reputation. First, the team must identify the reality with regards to the way the stakeholders examines the affairs of the company. Secondly, the team must understand the stakeholders’ view with regards to what they want and what they would like the company to incorporate into their routines. Also, the team needs to be flexible and accept to change significantly to incorporate the clients’ perceptions within their operations.
In summary, the organization reputation is critical in enhancing an organization’s positive performance and public relations. As a result, a company, through its PR department, must strive to earn a reputation for better performance. Gaining a significant PR and reputation also means proper management of the brand crisis in a manner that does not jeopardize the brand reputation.
References
Shu, H., & Wong, S. M. L. (2018). When a Sinner Does a Good Deed: The Path ‐ Dependence of Reputation Repair. Journal of Management Studies , 55 (5), 770-808.
Tan, D., & Rider, C. I. (2017). Let them go? How losing employees to competitors can enhance firm status. Strategic Management Journal , 38 (9), 1848-1874.
