What is Corporate Social Responsibility? - InnoTrain CSR

Communication of CSR
6.2. Interfaces between the PR and CSR management
In short
The term Public Relations (PR) refers to the management of information and
communication processes between a company and its internal and external
stakeholders (sections of the public). Press and media relations are a widely
used, but only one of many diverse fields of action which integrated PR can
have an internal and external effect on. However, if PR in connection with
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is limited purely to media effects, then a
company can be accused of one-sided and noncredible communication. The
communication of CSR is associated with a high risk of putting the credibility
of corporate responsibility on the line and to use PR solely for "greenwashing".
Learning targets
� Get to know the purpose of public relations management and discuss it in
connection with the communicative CSR requirements
� Get to know some PR tools and create interfaces with the CSR communication
CSR learning contents
Traditionally, professional PR is capable of managing the communication with the
stakeholders of the company and is therefore very important for CSR. Because PR is
used to analyse the relationships with sections of the public with which a company
may establish contact or come into conflict when pursuing its goals and interests.
These sections of the public at the same time reflect the stakeholder groups of the
CSR management. A company can for example develop a communication strategy
by subjecting the corporate identity to a comparison of the required and actual extent
of sympathy and antipathy the sections of the public (stakeholders) are displaying
toward the company. Based on this, the communication goals (A) name recognition,
(B) trust and (C) positive image among the sections of the public are crucial for the
decision about which communication tools the company will be using with which need
for action and for which target groups.
In a professional development of communication strategies, PR is used to analyse
the environment of the company and to identify all relevant sections of the public
including their ideals, expectations and conflict potentials opposite the company.
These groups referred to as sections of the public in PR language reflect the social,
political, technological or market-related stage of the company. PR is using the
The project "InnoTrain CSR" is organized by GILDE GmbH and has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 12/2010
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