Public relations serves all types of organizations. Governmental organizations and agencies, nonprofit organizations, and corporations have embraced public relations and set it to work, recognizing it as a means of increasing organizational effectiveness in a complex and changing environment.
To operate effectively within these organizations, the public relations practitioners must be thoroughly aware of all we have discussed to this point: the process of communication, the role of public relations in organizational decision making, the four-step public relations process, and the primary publics of public relations. Practitioners must also recognize the problems and publics that are specific to public relations in each organizational type.
In this section, we look first at the practice of public relations in three distinct types of organizations: chapter 14 government; chapter 15, nonprofit organizations; and chapter 16, corporations. We conclude in chapter 17 with a realistic look at emerging trends in public relations.