| Communication | Training | Image Audit | ELTF | PreSense - ezine | Sansad Ratna Awards | Digital Journalism |

  • | Communication | Training

    Communication | Training | Image Audit | ELTF | ezine PreSense | Sansad Ratna | Digital Journalism |

  • Image Audit

    | Communication | Training | Image Audit | ELTF | ezine PreSense | Sansad Ratna | Digital Journalism |

  • Sansad Ratna Awards

    | Communication | Training | Image Audit | ELTF | ezine PreSense | Sansad Ratna | Digital Journalism |

  • ezine PreSense

    | Communication | Training | Image Audit | ELTF | ezine PreSense | Sansad Ratna | Digital Journalism |

  • Education Loan Task Force (ELTF)

    | Communication | Training | Image Audit | ELTF | ezine PreSense | Sansad Ratna | Digital Journalism |

  • Digital Journalism (DiJAI)

    | Communication | Training | Image Audit | ELTF | ezine PreSense | Sansad Ratna | Digital Journalism |

Thursday 11 August 2005

Publication of the first ebook on National convention of PRCI

ebook on National Convention of PRCI
ebook on National Convention of PRCI
Public Relations Council of India (PRCI), a national body of Public Relations and Corporate Communication professionals organised a National Conference at Hyderabad on 5th and 6th August 2005 on the theme 'Beyond Words'.  More than 200 communication professionals across the country participated. 

K. Srinivasan, Chairman of Prime Point Foundation also was invited to address the Conference on 'Crisis Communication Management'.

Prime Point Foundation published an ebook on the proceedings of the National Conference.   The ebook was appreciated by all the participants and speakers.

The ebook can be downloaded from the following link.  (Please click and save this exe file of 600 k - virus free).


Shri R Neelamegham, Conference Chairman appreciated Prime Point Foundation for bringing out this unique ebook in the shortest possible time covering the entire proceedings of the National convention.
Share:

Wednesday 29 June 2005

Interaction session with Prof. Sreenath Sreenivasan (Dean, Columbia University) at Chennai Press Club

Prof. Sreenath Sreenivasan and K. Srinivasan at Chennai Press Club
Prof. Sreenath Sreenivasan and K. Srinivasan at Chennai Press Club

Prime Point Foundation  organised an interaction session with Prof. Sreenath Sreenivasan, Professor of Journalism and Dean of Columbia University on Wednesday the 29th June 2005 at 4.00 PM at Chennai Press Club (Government Estate, behind Chepauk Government Guest House)

Journalists, PR professionals, students, faculty members and all others who were interested in journalism and communication participated.  Prof. Sreenath Sreenivasan shared his experience on the trends of journalism globally.

Prof. Sreenath Sreenivasan visits India once in four years and spends around two to three days at Chennai. He is the Founder of South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) at USA and many celebrity journalists at world level are his students.

Members interacted with him on the global media scenario, future trends, job markets abroad, higher studies, etc.


 
Share:

Sunday 5 June 2005

Stress Management - Workshop for CII

K. Srinivasan addressing the participants on "Stress and communication"

Prime Point Foundation organised an one-day workshop on "Stress Management" for the senior officials of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Southern Regional Headquarters, Chennai on 4th June 2005.  Mr Rajesh Menon, Regional Director was also present.  K. Srinivasan, Founder, Prime Point Foundation is seen addressing the participants on the "stress and communication"
Mr D V Sridhar, Founder, Yoga Raksana and one of the leading Yoga experts of Chennai explaining the concepts of Yoga

Mr D V Sridhar, Founder, Yoga Raksanam and one of the leading Yoga experts of Chennai gave presentation on the various aspects of Stress and pressure.  He explained as to how stress could be managed through yoga and breathing exercises.  He also made the participants to perform certain yoga exercises to understand the potential of yoga. 
Prof. Sangeetha Madhu explaining concepts through games

Prof. Sangeetha Madhu, Clinical Psychologist and Consultant explained the various aspects of stress through various games and role plays.   Participants are seen engaged in one such role plays.
Reviewing the programme - Gp Capt Mohandas, Consultant, CII on the extgreme right
Group Capt. Mohandas, Consultant, CII and coordinator of this programme and other Faculty members reviewed the observations by the participants and clarified various doubts on the stress management - L to R Sangeetha Madhu, D V Sridhar, K. Srinivasan and Gp Capt. Mohandas
Participants along with the Faculty members of the workshop

Participants along with the Faculty members of the workshop
Share:

Friday 3 June 2005

Team Building - Two hour workshop

 K. Srinivasan sharing the concepts with participants

Prime Point Foundation conducted a two-hour workshop on "Team Building" to the software engineers of Scope International. a subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank at Chennai on 2nd June 2005..  The participants were taken to a beach resort on the outskirts of the City.   K Srinivasan is seen discussing with the participants.  
Participants sharing a moment of joy
Mr Magesh, Project Manager and his 35 team members participated.  Participants are seen sharing a moment of joy
Participants are seen keenly observing the presentation.

At the end of the workshop, all the participants were asked to specify one of the strengths of their peers individually.  This exercise revealed lot of 'hidden talents' of their own team.  
Magesh Ramalingam actively participating in the workshop


Mr Magesh Ramalingam, Project Manager, who coordinated the programme is seen sitting with the other team members and participating in the discussions and games.
Share:

Sunday 10 April 2005

Internal Communication - A Roundtable discussion

Roundtable discussion on internal communication

A 'Roundtable' was organised by the Foundation on Saturday the 9th April 2005 at 10.30 AM to discuss the issues relating to 'protecting the youth power for the future and the challenges of communication within the organisations".  Many eminent and scholarly professionals (HR consultants, HR Managers, Professors, Students, employees, Corporates, Trainers, etc) from leading institutions participated and shared their views.The discussions were initiated by Mr Badri Narayananan, Vice President of Laser Soft Infosystems Limited, one of the leading Banking software developers of India (sponsors of this programme).  The programme was moderated by Mr K  R Ramamoorthy, former Chairman of Corporation Bank and presently Advisor to World Bank/IMF and to many Multinationals.  

Background note circulated for discussion is appended at the end of this posting.

Mr K Pandiyarajan, Chairman, MAFOI Consultants, Indian's No 1 recruiters and Mr Thomas Simon, Senior General Manager (HR), Tata Consultancy Services were in the expert panel 

Opening remarks
Mr K R Ramamoorthy, Moderator, in his opening remarks, articulated that one of the unintended fall out of competition has been the consistent erosion of business ethics and professional values. The root cause for the recent corporate scandals that has rocked the corporate world in the developed countries in particular could be traced to the unethical business and accounting practices.

Investors trust in these entities became a casualty. Good Corporate Governance has become the prescription for all these ailments. Internal communication within the organization extolling the imperative to adhere to strong business ethics is the need of the hour.  Professionals should walk the talk.

He appealed to the professionals not to barter away their professional and personal integrity for extraneous considerations. He added that the 'war of talents' presently witnessed in service industry is spreading to manufacturing sector too and there are bound to be pressures on H R professionals to deliver results by way of sourcing talents.  In search of talents, they should not fall prey to the temptation to adopt any means to achieve their ends, as this may in the medium term hurt the whole industry.   There must be some self-regulation and code of conduct of all players in poaching talents.

EXPERT VIEWS

Mr Thomas Simon said that the value systems could be preserved through (a) family systems (b) age old religious institutions and (c) participation in social events. 

Mr K Pandiyarajan said that presently there are four types of migrations taking place (a) talents (b) products (c) capital and (d) business process.  He said that migration of 'business process' had made everything upside down. 

He being a recruiter himself said that out of 41 candidates interviewed only one candidate was  suitable for employment.  He said, this was mainly due to the poor quality of academic institutions

OTHER IMPORTANT POINTS THAT EMERGED DURING THE DISCUSSION

  • Expectations of the employees are very high and they want to get promotions
  • Communication is not starting at home / family.  
  • Section of the participants
  • Communication is not only vocabulary; it is also inter personal skills
  • When candidates go for interview, the 'dress' they wear and the 'non verbal communication' play important role
  • Section of the participants
  • Lack of assertiveness amongst executives
  • They say' Yes' when they want to say 'No'
  • Lack of listening skills (hearing should be 70% and speaking 30%)
  • HR Managers face acute crisis, when the employees jump from one company to another company without prior intimation and even without relieving orders - This is the "morality crisis"
  • Corporates should help the educational institutions to help the students to get the market feel
  • Like Medical college students get the integrated exposure of industry and allied services, Engineering students can be provided with such facility

  • Section of the participants
  • Many Corporates do not have internal communication systems
  • Many times, communication skills have not produced results...How to convert the soft skills into results (Communication for results)?
  • "Face to face" communication has gone down in IT industry - communication has become 'impersonalised'
  • 'Learnability' should be developed amongst the students - When they go to the industry, they pick up fast
  • Be careful about the Cyber crimes happening inside the organisations; If due caution is not exercised, the company may land into problem
  • Employees - HR Managers ratio is very low in many companies
  • Academic professionals should take efforts in making students good professionals; Many teachers themselves are not having good communication skills
  • Many students do not read the newspapers and they confine only to sport or entertainment page;  they lack general knowledge when they come for interview
  • Industry - Academic consortium should be developed
  • Corporates should start concentrating on 'Education' also
  • Constant interaction between academics and corporates
  • Last semester should have more of industry interaction for students
  • Substance of communication is highly essential - What can be communicated and what not
  • Convergence of HR - PR has started happening...it should be strengthened 
****


ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION CHALLENGES OF COMMUNICATION WITHIN THE ORGANISATION AND PROTECTING THE YOUTH POWER FOR FUTURE


Two thousand years back Saint Thiruvalluvar said that whatever be the sharpness of knowledge and wisdom, if persons did not possess the interpersonal skills and soft skills, they were to be considered only as a lifeless wood.  He gives highest importance to Makkat Panpu which is termed as soft skills in modern days. Thus he differentiates between Technical skills and soft skills .

This Thirukkural reflects the current challenges that we are facing today. According to an estimate, in India, the population of youth upto the age of 35 is nearly 60 percent.  For developing the future of our country, we need to protect the youth power both in terms of intellect and physical health. 

Over a period of ten years, there is a tremendous growth in technology and information dissemination.  This has thrown great opportunities to the young people and more challenges.  The present day youth is facing greater challenges in the form of competition, career growth, higher salary, targets, deadlines, etc. He is unable to find time to develop his soft skills and inter personal skills.  This phenomenon affects their health leading to stress, heart attacks in young age, bad tempers, higher ego level, etc. 

Many organisations today care more for market than for developing their human resources.   If this issue is not addressed immediately, the intellectual youth of this country may have lot of challenges and it is the responsibility of every one of us to protect the youth power for future. 

During this roundtable, we will discuss 

  • The impact of the present day job requirements due to technology, targets, deadlines, competition, compensation, ambition, etc on the employees in their culture, lifestyle, attitude, knowledge, etc.
  • The present approaches of the Managements and HR Departments
  • The responsibilities of the Management, HR Managers and the youth to overcome the negative effects and to improve the interpersonal skills and soft skills of the youth
The Roundtable concept allows all the participants to share their views in brief. Please be brief in giving your views (say one to two minutes), to enable others also to give their views.  Please give your opinions only on this concept and do not mention any names of the organisations if it is likely to cause embarrassment.
*****
Share:

Sunday 13 March 2005

Media-PR-Corporate Interface - Roundtable discussion

ROUNDTABLE PROCEEDINGS 

A roundtable was held on Saturday the 12th March 2005 at Asian College of Journalism, Chennai to discuss the issues relating to Media-PR-Corporate relationship. Dr U Srinivasa Raghavan, Member, Postal Board, Government of India moderated the proceedings. Mr Sashi Kumar Menon, Chairman, Media Development Foundatation initiated the discussions.  
L to R: Mr T Theethan,Mr Sashi Kumar, Dr U Srinivasa Raghavan and K. Srinivasan

L to R: Mr T Theethan,Mr Sashi Kumar, Dr U Srinivasa Raghavan and K. Srinivasan

Representatives from Media, PR Agencies, Corporates were present in large numbers. Mr K Srinivasan, Chairman, Prime Point Foundation welcomed the  audience and presented the background for discussion (click for background note).  Mr Sashi Kumar Menon while initiating the discussions said that Media was in cross roads and needed to be insulated from politics and market.  He further said that Media and PR play an adversarial role, not withstanding their personal relationship.  He defended a 'healthy tension' between these two groups and not an 'adversary tension'.
A section of the audience
A section of the audience
MEDIA  PERSPECTIVE

With the tone set up by Mr Sashi Kumar, the media persons blamed the PR professionals being not transparent, ignoring sections of the media with a selective approach and discrimination, etc.

They argued that since the media persons were fully aware of the nature of news and since they had enough contacts with corporate executives, they did not need any 'intermediary' like PR agencies, who did not add any value to the system. 

They also argued that nothing would go wrong, if the corporates were transparent, since no media would like to destroy the reputation of any organisation and on the other hand, being transparent would help the organisations to come out of the crisis

They also said that PR persons should stop with providing information to the media and should not interfere or push the stories, which is a professional 'interference' to the media role.

CORPORATE PERSPECTIVE

Senior executives from Corporates were of the view that on many occassions media misrepresented  the facts and disown the information they publish.  In developing economies, Corporates did not have enough skills to handle the communication and hence they resort to outsourcing of professional PR Agencies.
Participants discussing with Mr Sashikumar Menon

Participants discussing with Mr Sashikumar Menon

They argued that Corporates had certain limitations in providing all information transparently in the competitive environment and they defended PR persons filtering the information.

One of the important suggestion forwarded by the Corporate representatives was the need for 'accreditation' of pr professionals by any professional Institute. 
Mr P A Narrendiran proposing vote of thanks and summing up the proceedings

Mr P A Narrendiran proposing vote of thanks and summing up the proceedings

PR PERSPECTIVE

PR professionals who were present were 'diplomatically silent' for many of the allegations made.  However, few of them pointed out that media houses had the political motivation and they were biased.

Many times, media misinformed the people causing embarrassment.  They also defended that PR agencies represented certain clients and they needed to look after the interest of the clients. 

At this stage K. Srinivasan, Prime Point Foundation viewed that due to lack of PR education, the people who joined the PR profession needed proper skills.  He also felt that PR agencies needed to improve their skills in handling crisis management.  Inspite of this, he added, PR professionals did not show much interest in developing the skills.

Srinivasan further requested Asian College of Jounrlism, Chennai to introduce a paper in their college on 'PR and Corporate Communication' to their journalism students from the next academic year.  Shri Sashi Kumar Menon had agreed to consider this request.

While concluding  the  roundtable Dr U Srinivasa Raghavan stressed the need for both two Institutions viz PR and Media to play an united role in providing information to the general public.  He told that both had a complimentary role and not contradictory role.  If they worked together, the results would be far better than their working in adversarial role

Mr P A Narrendiran, Associate, Blue Lotus Communication summarised the discussions and proposed vote of thanks.

Background material
ROUND-TABLE ON MEDIA-PR-CORPORATE INTERFACE 12 MAR 2005

Last month, there was an enriching debate titled media pitching in the New Media Forum and Image Management groups (Yahoo discussion groups) on the various aspects of Media-PR-Corporate relationship, based on an article in prdomain website.

Some of the views expressed by the media persons are:

  • Corporates are not transparent and they approach media only when they want
  • Some of the Public Relations professionals interfere with the functioning of the media professionals.
  • There is no requirement of PR professionals and the media can contact the Corporates directly for any information.
  • Some PR professionals indulge in whitewashing of the negative aspects of Corporates.
  • Some PR professionals are rude and arrogant and they want all the contacts are to be routed through them.
  • Even though the story is not worth, they indulge in pushing the story.
  • Some PR professionals instead of functioning like facilitators, they function like irritators.

Corporate communicators and Public Relations professionals expressed some of the views :
  • There is a limit for transparency.  There are many things, which cannot be disclosed for strategic reasons in the competitive environment.
  • PR profession has come to stay globally and the Corporates engage PR professionals only because they find it useful
  • A single person (reporter) decides whether the story is worth or otherwise according his own parameters; when appeal is made to higher up, it is misunderstood as pushing the story
  • PR professionals are misunderstood when they insist on the publication of stories and they view it as an interference
  • Many times, Corporate CEOs dont want to talk to media without PR professionals directly.  PR professionals are sandwiched between media and the client.

In view of the divergent views expressed by various groups, the Foundation has today organized a Roundtable to enable all the groups to exchange the views and to understand and respect each others role and responsibilities.  

During the course of roundtable, all participants may give their views in brief (say one or two minutes).  Please dont mention any names of media or organization.  But describe the situation and comments without names.  

The Roundtable would ensure to remove the misunderstandings on both sides and to work shoulder to shoulder to provide information to the general public. 

Share:

Publications - Download free

Please download all our Publications in the eBook format free of cost. Click here

Recent Posts

Recent Posts Widget

Prime Point Foundation

Prime Point Foundation is a non-profit Trust incepted in December 1999, to create Communication awareness among all the people.

K Srinivasan (Communication Strategist ) is the Founder and Chairman the Trust.
  • The Foundation offers Training, workshop on all Communication related subjects, including Image (Perception)  Audit.
  • The Foundation publishes a monthly eMagazine PreSense since March 2006.
  • The eMagazine PreSense has five initiatives. viz (1) Education Loan Task Force (ELTF), (2) Sansad Ratna Awards, (3) Next Gen Political Leaders (NGPL), (4) Digital Security Association of India (DiSAI) and (5) Digital Journalists Association of India (DiJAI).
  • Every year, the Foundation honours the outstanding Parliamentarians with Sansad Ratna Awards
Profile of K. Srinivasan may be downloaded from http://www.prpoint.com/profile/srinivasan.pdf

Powered by Blogger.

Archive

Contact

K. Srinivasan
Chairman and Mg. Trustee
prpoint@gmail.com

PreSense100+ - Collectors' Digest

Click here to download Collectors' Digest containing select articles upto 110 editions of the Ezine. with Foreword from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

Blog Archive

 
Back to Top