Deck 5: Management

Question 1

Which of the following CEO responsibilities does NOT correspond with those of public relations professionals?

A) sets overarching strategy and policies
B) boosts the reputation of the organization
C) focuses on developing key messages to be communicated to various publics
D) defends reputation of the organization

Answer 1

sets overarching strategy and policies

Question 2

Similar to other top-level managers, public relations managers need to

A) plan
B) budget
C) set objectives
D) all of the above

Answer 2

all of the above

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT a "coveted ability" in the practice of public relations?

A) to be glib
B) to plan methodically
C) to think "on your feet"
D) to think strategically

Answer 3

to be glib

Question 4

The "boundary role"

A) is an example of an upper management theory.
B) shows how public relations practitioners have one foot inside and one foot outside the organization.
C) does not show how important the public relations function can be in building relationships inside and outside an organization.
D) does not show how public relations practitioners have one foot inside and one foot outside the organization.

Question 5

Professors James Grunig and Todd Hunt said public relations practitioners perform what organizational theorists call a(n) ________ role.

A) communications
B) strategic
C) boundary
D) environmental

Question 6

To truly be the "interpreter" for management philosophy, policy and programs, who should the public relations director report to?

A) The Chief Marketing Officer
B) The Chief Executive Officer
C) The Chief Operating Officer
D) The Chief Financial Officer

Question 7

If public relations is to be the "interpreter" for management philosophy, policy, and programs, then the director for the function should report to the

A) vice-president of human relations.
B) vice-president of philanthropy.
C) CEO.
D) vice-president of marketing.

Question 8

For public relations to be the "conscience of the corporation," practitioners must

A) have enough autonomy to deal openly and honestly with management.
B) have a CEO like Dave Dinesan.
C) ignore goals and objectives of advertising and marketing managers.
D) put the demand on advertising and marketing managers to promote a product that ignores demands of publics to act in a socially responsible way.

Question 9

Which of the following dictates overall business objectives?

A) the broad environment in which the business operates
B) public relations strategies
C) public relations programs
D) marketing and advertising strategies

Question 10

Which of the following dictates public relations objectives?

A) public relations programs
B) the broad environment in which the business operates
C) the overall objectives of the business
D) the advertising and marketing strategies above all else

Question 11

For the public relations function to be equal in stature to other management functions, which of the following is essential?

A) knowledge of budget planning
B) commitment to set realizable objectives
C) control of a multi-million dollar budget
D) acceptance of accountability

Question 12

Among the four steps in the public relations management process is

A) the ability to set overall organizational objectives.
B) the ability to set overall organizational strategies.
C) the ability to define a public relations problem or an opportunity.
D) the ability to research overall organizational problems.

Question 13

The section of a public relations plan that provides an overview is referred to as

A) the management briefing.
B) the executive summary.
C) the situation analysis.
D) the message statement.

Question 14

Which of the following would NOT be in a four-part skeleton of a typical public relations plan?

A) admission standards
B) situation analysis
C) proposal
D) implementation

Question 15

Planning for a public relations program is important, but principally a program is assessed in terms of its

A) publicity value and practice.
B) performance and publicity value.
C) actions and performance.
D) programming and publicity value.

Question 16

Procedures for implementing MBO programs differ in all of the following ways EXCEPT

A) conferring between subordinates and superiors in order to agree on achievable goals
B) determining the operational budget in order to achieve organizational objectives.
C) assessing periodically the progress toward achieving goals
D) specifying the organization's goals using objectives that measure the organization's performance

Question 17

For agencies, budgeting relies on which of the following?

A) estimating extent of management expectations
B) estimating extent of cost and availability of resources
C) estimating the response from staff members
D) estimating its impact on the targeted publics

Question 18

Key steps in budgeting do NOT involve which of the following?

A) estimating cost and availability of personnel needed to achieve each required activity
B) estimating cost and availability of purchases to achieve each required activity
C) estimating the extent of necessary resources essential to achieving objectives
D) allowing for open bidding

Question 19

When an agency pays in advance for larger expense items like printing, photography, graphics and design, it is standard industry practice to markup such expenses by a factor of approximately

A) 12.5%
B) 15%
C) 17.65%
D) 19%

Question 20

Most agencies frown on pay-for-performance contracts because

A) it is difficult to measure the depth of coverage
B) there are no guarantees that their efforts will be successful
C) it is difficult to measure circulation or audience rating of the venue
D) it is harder to charge a retainer and bill for staff time than it is to waive fees if no coverage is achieved

Question 21

The overriding rule when it comes to agency budgeting is to

A) keep confidential the exact price of services.
B) keep billing the clients until they pay, or charge them a premium of 2 percent.
C) keep only the vendors who agree to provide you a percent of the billable expense.
D) keep the client aware of how charges are being applied.

Question 22

Which of the following is NOT among the broad categories of tasks performed by public relations professionals?

A) providing communication services to external and internal audiences
B) identifying and analyzing public issues
C) setting corporate policy
D) coordinating graphic services and web design

Question 23

Which of the following are among various internal communication duties performed by public relations professionals?

A) coordinating relationships with media for news coverage
B) reaching personnel through the intranet, newsletters, and meetings to explain company policies and benefits
C) coordinating relationships with outside specialty groups such as graphic services
D) coordinating activities with regulatory agencies concerned about employee safety

Question 24

Among various public relations duties, which of the following would likely be done by investor relations people?

A) maintaining contact with security analysts
B) supporting activities with customers and potential customers
C) coordinating relationships with suppliers
D) contacting member of legislature to lobby for better health care insurance policies

Question 25

Among various duties, which of the following would likely be done by public affairs people?

A) coordinating relationships with suppliers
B) managing gift-giving policies
C) coordinating activities with legislators on local, state, and federal levels
D) supporting activities to convince prospective customers to try the organization's products

Question 26

PERT and Gantt are tools that can help public relations practitioners use to

A) visualize tasks to be performed in a campaign or project.
B) designate who's responsible for each task in a campaign.
C) chart costs of various tasks.
D) determine whether all goals and objectives are being met.

Question 27

Public relations professionals who support the primary business of the organization are in ________ positions.

A) management
B) staff
C) line
D) supervisory

Question 28

Today, about ________ of the practitioners in corporate public relations departments report to the chairman, president, and/or CEO.

A) 10 percent
B) 25 percent
C) 50 percent
D) 75 percent

Question 29

Agencies can be characterized as having which of the following?

A) an outside looking-in perspective
B) an inside looking-out perspective
C) a tunnel vision perspective
D) a mindfulness perspective

Question 30

Advantages agencies often have over in-house public relations talent include

A) their detached, inside-out focus.
B) the higher regard management has for them over inside practitioners.
C) their familiarity with the culture of an organization.
D) their opportunity to stay above the politics of the organization.

Question 31

Agencies generally organize based on

A) amount the client is willing to pay
B) industry functions
C) resource management
D) synergies with advertising agencies

Question 32

Which of the following is NOT an objective of reputation management?

A) persuading publics to support an organization when it is attacked
B) persuading consumers to buy and recommend that others buy an organization's services, products, and policies
C) persuading competent job seekers to enlist others as employees
D) persuading competent job seekers to become employees

Question 33

Public relations counseling opportunities are likely to grow in which of the following nonprofit areas?

A) child-protective services
B) law enforcement agencies, particularly city police departments
C) hospitals, educational institutions, and museums
D) high-tech think tanks

Question 34

According to a 2010 report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, salaries in major categories of public relations

A) stayed about the same as in a previous survey.
B) ranged from about $75,000 to under $120,000.
C) increased about 35 percent over what was recorded in a previous survey.
D) were highest in Victoria, Texas; San Jose, California; and Washington, D.C..

Question 35

According to a 2012 survey of 148 "chief communications officers (CCO)", which of the following is true today about the salaries of senior-most communication executives at Fortune 500 companies?

A) The percentage of people from diverse cultures in the population are employed at about the same percentage figure in the public relations field.
B) Two-thirds of those polled earned $175,000 and $349,000 a year.
C) Fewer women than men are entering the field.
D) The number of men enrolled in public relations programs in higher learning institutions continues to increase at a higher rate now than in the 1990s.

Question 36

PRSA's "2010 Work, Life & Gender Survey" indicated that the average income for men in public relations was about $120,000, while the figure for women was about ________________.

A) $50,000
B) $72,000
C) $89,000
D) $122,000

Question 37

The goal of staff public relations professionals working inside an organization is different than the goal of professionals working in a public relations agency.

Question 38

Quick response to crises is important, but the ability to think strategically and to plan is just as important in the practice of public relations.

Question 39

Grunig and Hunt developed the "boundary role"
that helps explain key functions public relations people perform inside and outside an organization.

Question 40

When a public relations department reports to the director of marketing or advertising, the department's focus is on the entire organization and not just on promoting or selling a particular product or service.

Question 41

If one of the functions of public relations is that of "interpreter"
for management policies and programs, in order to perform that function effectively, the public relations director ought to report to the CEO.

Question 42

In order to fulfill the role of corporate conscience, public relations professionals should have enough autonomy to deal honestly and openly with management.

Question 43

The overriding charge of the public relations function is to enhance an organization's credibility by ensuring that corporate actions are in the public interest.

Question 44

Overall business objectives should not dictate specific public relations objectives and strategies.

Question 45

To at least have equal stature to other management processes, public relations practitioners should set objectives, formulate strategies and plan for effectiveness.

Question 46

A comprehensive public relations plan clearly states tactics against which objectives can be measured and evaluated.

Question 47

Regardless of how important planning a public relations campaign is, the public relations function is assessed primarily in terms of actions, performance, and practice.

Question 48

One way to think about objectives is that they are to goals what tactics are to strategy.

Question 49

In public relations agencies, administrative budgeting-that is, dollar for staff, resoruces, activites, and so on are linked to specific revenue-generating activities-appears to be the rule.

Question 50

Pay-for-performance budgeting means clients, for example, pay just for what is delivered in terms of depth of media coverage and the audience rating or circulation of the media.

Question 51

The range of duties and responsibilities for practitioners is as diverse as the different publics and institutions with whom institutions deal.

Question 52

Planning, coordinating, and staffing open houses, tours, and volunteer efforts traditionally fall in the realm of community relations.

Question 53

PERT and Gantt was an agency that discovered the value of visualization in setting budgets.

Question 54

Typically, public relations professionals either work in a staff or line position.

Question 55

In a government organization, subordinates in the equivalent of what a non-governmental organization would call a public relations department typically report to the secretary of that government agency.

Question 56

A major criticism leveled at an outside public relations agency versus an organization's internal department is that an agency typically suffers from "tunnel vision" and will often have a difficult time presenting management with an objective viewpoint.

Question 57

In recent years, the most difficult part of public relations work has shifted from retaining clients to attracting clients.

Question 58

While reputation management has been declared a new approach to public relations, in truth, it has been the mandate of most public relations professionals for about a century.

Question 59

Because so many organizations have broken promises made to their personnel, one of the public relations skills likely to increase in demand is employee communications .

Question 60

Specialists in reputation management and crisis management earn high salaries, often between $100,000 and $249,000.

Question 61

The profession continues to do an outstanding job to recruit and hire people who are African American, Hispanic, or Asian and to pay them and women as much as their male Caucasian counterparts.

Question 62

What knowledge and skills make public relations practitioners valuable to management?

Question 63

Describe and discuss the "boundary role"
theory of public relations management.

Question 64

The skeleton for a typical public relations campaign plan requires the practitioner to address essential elements. Name the four parts of the skeleton and explain what they are about.

Question 65

Discuss the type of budgeting approach typically followed by most corporate public relations departments and the key steps to effective, efficient budgeting.