Public affairs are related to the building of relationships between various organizations. It is the development of connections between corporates, politicians, governments, etc. There are various functions under public affairs such as research, strategy planning and lobbying. Public affairs are used to influence the decision in favor of an organization, issue, agenda or prevention of threats. It is a management function and bestows the management with the responsibility of creating mutually beneficial communication, understanding and cooperation.
Public affairs are required for effective and smooth achievement of objectives. It is needed to create a good image for the organization. It also involves the attraction and motivation of the public for the purpose of a program and encouraging public involvement in the activities. It could be used by individuals, nation or organization in order to remove misunderstanding or create mutual understanding. The functions of public relations involve the establishment of relationships between two groups and developing a reciprocate understanding and goodwill. It involves the execution of various programs regarding communication with the public by the managers. The elements of public relations include the planned effort from the management of an organization. It also includes an evaluation of public attitudes and opinion regarding the functioning of the organization and its activities and policies. Organizational policies and procedures are required to be compatible with the social responsibility of the managers. Public Relations includes the execution of a proper action and communication program. The components of public affairs include public which is a group of similar or distinguished individuals depending on their interest, circumstances, goals and opinions. The public is of varied forms and sizes and could be classified with respect to their wants, desires, likes and dislikes. Another component is the relationship that is developed between the organization and concerned entities. These are dependent on the wishes of the individuals. There are various types of relationships such as of a superior and inferior award, or it could be dependent on the sentiments, friendliness, suspicions, jealousy, acceptance, ignorance, desire, etc. Other important components are propaganda that is followed by the organization. It includes the attitude, skills, manipulation and political publicity and advertising on a large scale. Public affairs include the campaigns and lobbying taken up by organization in order to pressurize one group in its own favor. These are coordinated actions used for publicity by way of a variety of media. Lobbying includes influencing or putting forward a point of view in order to win the support of the other groups.
There are many situations that would require the implementation of public affairs such as promotional opportunities for the new services, information and wider publicity of a product, competitiveness in the market and in order to overcome the resistance that may be presented by it. Controversies and adverse publicity and other situations which can require the implementation of public affairs in order to eliminate the conditions that affect the organization negatively and to inform the truth about the situations that would remove the misunderstanding. Catastrophes and crisis arising from the threats that occur because of the fluctuations in the market and other external factors would also need the use of tools of public affairs in order to mitigate the unfavorable issues and avoid the crisis.
The government uses public affairs for the implementation of its public policies that are created for the benefit of the general groups of individuals. It is also used for the assistance of news media in covering the government activities that are taken up on a daily basis. It is used to report to citizens about the various activities that agencies under the government take up and then reverting back with the feedback the public provides. It is also used to sensitize the public about the government activities and issues that hold importance along with sensitizing the agencies towards the needs and desires of the public. It is ultimately used to mobilize the support of the public in the direction of the government’s activities which are ultimately aimed towards the growth of the State. The objectives of public affairs used by the government are to provide information at the right time along with education and instructions to the citizens. It is also used to motivate the public directly or indirectly in regard to various activities and situations that happen in and around the state. Public affairs are also used to do all these activities in a meaningful and purposeful manner that can result in the desired conclusion. Broad objectives are set by the government in regard to public affairs in order to guide the work and it is also made sure that all these relationship buildings with the public are done on a non-political and non-controversial base public. Multidimensional development is the sole objective of such implementation of public affair tools by the government to achieve the longer-term objectives. Public affairs have become an integral part of kinds of organizations today; this is because public support and influence on other communities can be of great benefits.