Public Relations Management in TransCanada Pipeline - Case Study Example

Introduction Keystone XL is a crude oil pipeline expansion project proposed by TransCanada Pipelines Limited and began operating in 2010 (Report of the legislation committee, 2012). The project has triggered numerous positive and negative arguments. Opponents consider Keystone XL could result in global environmental destruction and local ecological calamities (Environment News Service, 2013). On the contrary, advocates think the project not only cannot bring about contamination, but also can create economic benefits (Proctor, 2013). The paper thereby evaluates the manner in which different public relation theory and models will go against and in favor of the project and will require the changes so that the environment is not hampered and the overall success of the organization in dealing with the stakeholders can be identified. In addition to it the paper also looks at the different corporate social responsibility for TransCanada which will help to state the manner in which the CEO needs to act so that while looking to implement different strategies which are ethical will ensure maximum benefit to the stakeholder. This will help TransCanada to make the required transformation in carrying out the different activities and will maximize the opportunity and look for the stakeholders as well Part 1 The Stakeholder Theory states that “business organisation needs to see that the organisation works for the well being of people associated with the organisation and ensure that their well being is looked after”. (Hill & Jones, 1992) This theory looks towards working for the betterment of people who contributes towards the organization and requires the development of ways through which the employees will become more satisfied and will be committed towards the organization. This will thereby ensure that the different stakeholders are considered and will be aimed at increasing the overall efficiency through which the business is able to ensure better performance. This will help to bring the required transformation that the business is looking for and will help to work towards the wellbeing of the different stakeholders. TransCanada’s crude oil pipeline expansion is an aspect which clearly ignores the environmental impact and has the risk of oil spills which might thereby have an impact on the overall decisions which are taken and might not thereby act in the interest of the stakeholders. This might have an impact on the ethical behavior and will result in creating differences with the stakeholders and hamper the public relation which TransCanada has developed with the society and the outside world The Public information theory which is a part of the wider social system looks towards advocating the fact that the environment in relation to the work scenario should be developed to facilitate better relations. This highlights the development of different assertions like the role of trade union, proper environment context, developing a rule to ensure proper employer employee relationship and developing ideologies which will help to accomplish the different goals (Ackers, 2002). TransCanada has to understand the importance of it as it will help to develop policies and strategies which are aimed towards improving the overall condition of the society. Even the two way symmetric model states that the business has to look at mutual benefit of all which will look at ensuring that the society is benefitted from the changes and helps to develop the required infrastructure through which better service standards will be set. This will help to create a positive impact and bring the required transformation thereby ensuring that the entire process looks at developing the required mechanism through which society and the stakeholder gain. The aspect highlights that TransCanada looked towards following the Press Agentry Model. This model looks towards stating that the communication is a one way process and looks towards passing on the message and feedback is not given relevance. This method could also result in false and incorrect information to be passed on (Botan, 2003). The fact that the actual scenario cannot be verified or checked it results in misleading information which thereby has an impact on the level of relationship which exists. This was clearly witnessed between TransCanada and the community as the government where there were gaps in the entire communication process. TransCanada as a result only looked at formulating the strategies which would help in pipeline expansion but didn’t look at answering the different questions and queries which were posted by the society. This resulted in many groups raising different objections and was having an impact on the long term performance and decisions taken by TransCanada. This aspect could have been improved if TransCanada had looked towards working on a process which ensured that the community were answered with all the questions that they had. This aspect could have been achieved by using the Two Way Symmetric Model. This model would look towards ensuring that proper dialogues were established and the entire message were communicated and discussed in a manner through which the differences which existed in the opinion and process of thinking would be solved (Fawkes, 2008). The Two Way Symmetric Model would have ensured that TransCanada could have entered into a dialogue with the community or selected people from the community. This would have helped the community to understand the manner in which TransCanada was looking towards their difficulties and the policies and steps that TransCanada had to address those. This would have reduced the gap which existed in the communication process (Gregory, 2008). The fact that the model can also be assumed to have been used is the Public Information Model where only the message is passed on from one body to the other. The fact that the entire process didn’t focus on getting feedback it resulted in crisis in the entire process of communication (Grunig, Grunig and Dozier, 2002). This model helped to ensure that the correct message was passed on and showed that TransCanada didn’t have required steps in place which would have helped to deal with the complexity of the issue and develop better public relations. This resulted in crisis in communication as the process of communication wasn’t clear. Part 2 This aspect requires that TransCanada looks towards using the Co-orientation Model of Public Relation which looks towards developing positive relations with the public so that the organizations look to ensure harmony instead of conflicts which will help to improve public relations. This will result in ensuring that by using the theory TransCanada will be able to concentrate on the process through which effective mechanism is developed and cordial relations with the society is developed (Cornelissen, 2008). TransCanada through this theory can bring forward to the society the manner they are looking to bring a change in the business and the manner it will help to develop better relations. This will thereby ensure that public relation is developed and the society will be able to have the required belief on TransCanada. This will thereby ensure that a positive impact is created and TransCanada is able to ensure that the society is provided with the correct aspect and looks towards strengthening the manner in which the society gains from the positive impact that the society has on the overall performance of TransCanada (Gregory, 2003). The Co-orientation Model stresses on the need of developing positive relations and look at different aspects which will help to increase the overall contribution towards the society. TransCanada during the phase had to undergo different environmental issues which involved other players and organizations. The decision of the management to remove the differences through mutual dialogue and look towards developing an environment where the society is looked after helped to garner the required benefits. This helped to bring forward the contribution of the organization towards the society and was able to contribute positively towards the long term growth of the organization. This would also have helped to ensure that TransCanada understands the actual problem that the society is facing and would have thereby had a positive impact on the dialogue. This would have also ensured that all the questions that the society had were answered and would have thereby created a positive impact as the understanding on the part of both the parties would have improved (Johnson, Scholes & Whittington, 2005). This would have helped to develop a positive relation between the people and would have built their public relation and would have thereby impacted the overall process in which TransCanada looked at carrying out the different roles and responsibilities. The concern is from the operation of TransCanada’s crude oil pipeline expansion project, Keystone XL, which induces numerous environmental controversies. It could be the problem within the states passed by the pipeline. It could also be the problem throughout America or even globally. It increases the public’s doubts about TransCanada’s business, and thus TransCanada’s relationship with the local community and green groups gradually becomes worse. It immensely deters TransCanada from developing Keystone XL in the US. Using the Co-orientation Model ensured that TransCanada was able to look at the important aspect which will help to strengthen the contribution towards the society and brought the required transformation which will help to ensure that TransCanada is able to look at different projects individually and will be able to bring the required changes through which better productivity and concern for the society can be garnered. The fact that the Co-orientation Model of Public Relation which looks towards developing positive relations with the public so that the organizations look to ensure harmony instead of conflicts which will help to improve public relations will have a direct impact on the overall performance of the organization as an environment will be developed through which better relations with the public will be fostered. TransCanada had different issues relating to the environment and needs to learn and understand the manner in which other organizations used the Co-orientation Model of Public Relation to develop the required relationship between the public and the management which helped to bring the change. This ensured that the organization was able to look into the environmental aspect more seriously and was able to develop different frames and rules through which overall productivity and results for the organizations maximized. TransCanada through the same process can remove the different obstacle which they are facing and will be able to bring the required transformation in carrying out the different activities. This has to be matched by a process of reinforcement where the organization will look at ensuring rewards and punishment for the employees and others who don’t look at building positive relations (Cutlip, Center and Broom, 2000). This will help to ensure that TransCanada is able to ensure that the workforce becomes commited and looks at building better relations. This has to be matched by developing better interpersonal relation which will look at ensuring that communication becomes better. This will ensure clarity and provide each member and employees with the respective steps that has to be taken for public relations. The other aspect which has been highlighted is the manner in which corporate identify and reputation has been ignored. The fact that TransCanada has spent millions of money and has looked towards improving the facilities for the society but hasn’t been highlighted by TransCanada as it should have been has thereby been resulted in diluting the brand image and reputation of TransCanada. This has made the community perceive that TransCanada doesn’t look towards working for the society and hasn’t taken any steps which could have improved the actual brand image of the company. This was primarily due to the fact that the brand and corporate image was diluted due to the fact that the aspect of developing the brand image was not stressed. This aspect could have been improved if TransCanada would have laid emphasis on is developing both formal and informal channels which will help to pass on the message clearly. This could have been improved only when the process of communication was improved. This would have helped to bring out the actual and true story and would have highlighted the manner in which TransCanada has worked already and the steps that TransCanada looks to take in the future (Cheney & Christensen, 2006). This would have helped to improve the relationship and ensured that the correct and true situation was brought forward. This will thereby create a positive impact and will thereby ensure that better public relation could have been developed. TransCanada thereby has to look at different options and opportunities to remain ethical and act in a manner which will ensure maximum benefit for the organization and the society. Ethics are an important issue for all business irrespective of the sector and people they cater. The magnitude of its importance increases as organization have to look towards ensuring that they are able to achieve there stated goals at the same time ensure that they remain ethical. There have been many instances and organizations which have taken a different stance and looked towards acting in a manner which has affected the level of decision making and has made organizations act in a biased manner. The development of different theories in the field of ethics look towards presenting the manner in which different developments have taken place and the manner they contribute towards the long term prosperity of an organization. Organizations that look towards abiding with the requirements of the different theories are able to ensure that they bring about a change in which work is carried out. Part 3 Utilitarianism theory is one which has developed from normative ethics and looks towards ensuring that business decisions and steps that are taken should be such that they look towards ensuring that a larger section of the society gains. The theory looks towards developing a fundamental through which decisions are taken keeping in mind the larger segment of the society (Cannarella & Piccioni, 2005). The ethical theory looks towards ensuring that the business decision or any decision what so ever looks towards acting fairly and looks towards working for the betterment of a larger section of the society. The theory of utilitarianism thereby looks towards ensuring that business decisions have an impact on the larger section of the society and looks towards improving the conditions of the larger section of the society (Fritzsche, 2005). The fact that the theory aims at a very large group which thereby requires that decisions which are taken are considered as universal truth and the decisions looks towards transforming and ensuring that the society benefits. TransCanada based on it will be able to take decisions which are correct and will help to ensure that the society and all the different stakeholders associated with it are considered while taking decisions. This will thereby reduce the risk and ensure better decisions. Taking decisions based on the utilitarianism theory will help TransCanada to look into the ethical aspect and develop a framework there the society, government and others associated with the organization is looked after. It will look towards ensuring that the decisions taken are based on moral rationality and will look towards following a standard of rationality through which business decisions or other decisions will be guided and aims to follow a standard rule or rules (Eunson, 2005). This will help TransCanadato ensure that the decisions which are taken looks towards bringing the required change and are assumed to be morally correct and has the required guidelines which are to be followed This will help to provide the path which will guide the management of TransCanada to take decisions which are based on ethical grounds and after looking at the well bring of most people and groups within the society. This theory thereby also propagates that decisions taken should be such that they are considered correct on moral grounds (Fisher & Lovell, 2006). This will ensure that moral rationality is adhered to and the decisions which are taken are ethically correct. This will also get reflected in the manner the organization looks towards acting fairly and will generate the required response through which the decisions which are taken are assumed to be morally correct. The ioverapp process for TransCanda should be guided by a motive to ensure clarity and transparency and proper contribution towards the society. This will ensures that the decisions taken are based on those and are bound to be morally and ethically correct. This will looks at ensuring that the decisions which are taken looks towards bringing the required change through which decisions which are taken are assumed to be morally correct (Freestone & McGoldrick, 2008). TransCanada through it can aim at ensuring that they look towards the betterment of the society and others associated with it so that the final objective looks at developing positive relation with the stakeholders. This will also give rise to situations which might look as ethical in some instances but unethical from the perspective of some. This thereby ensures that the decisions taken are correct (Fuentes-Garcia, Nunez-Tabales & Veroz-Herradon, 2008). The different direction of being ethical looks towards highlighting on the same concept but in a different way which is to ensure that the decisions which are taken are judged as fair (Cornelius, Todres, Jan Kuha-Jivraj, Woods & Wallace, 2008). The decisions should be such that it looks towards benefiting a larger section of the society and helps to fix responsibility so that authenticity can be maintained in the overall process. Acting ethically and morally is a responsibility which every department in every organization has to ensure. The importance of these increases in case of TransCanada as they could have a deeper impact on the society. They have to adhere to the morality norms and code of conduct and have to ensure that they act in a manner which will result in achieving the required efficiency and ensuring that the decisions taken are correct (DesJardins, 2008). Conclusion The report thereby highlights the manner in which TransCanada needs to work on different dimensions and need to include different theories and models which will support in the development of a process through which maximum productivity will be ensured and the business will be able to look at different requirements which will help them to remain ethical and act in a manner which represents their commitment towards the stakeholders. This will act as a point through which the contribution of TransCanada towards the society will be better recognized and will help to develop the required fundamental which will ensure that the overall productivity of the organization maximizes and the organization is able to perform well in different areas. The report looks towards presenting the different ethical theories and also presents the manner in which ethics were ignored by TransCanada. The report further dwells on the manner in which moral responsibility will help to ensure accountability and ensure that the decisions taken are ethical and will help to keep up the relationship between the different employees and the enterprise and will ensure that the business develops on strong fundamentals which will ensure long term success. References Ackers, P (2002). Reframing Employment Relations: the Case for Neo-Pluralism. Industrial Relations Journal, 33 (1), 2-19 Botan, C. (2003). Introduction to the paradigm struggle in public relations. Public Relations Review, 19 (2), 107-110 Cheney, G. & Christensen, L. (2006). What should public relations theory do, practically speaking? Journal of Communication Management, 10 (1), 100-102 Cornelissen, J. (2008). 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