The status of public relations as a management function in the polytechnics in Ghana

Abstract

This work examined the status of public relations as a management function in the polytechnics in Ghana. The study was a descriptive survey and the researcher used the simple random sampling, census and purposive sampling techniques to select the polytechnics and respondents for the study respectively. A sample of 330 respondents drawn from six polytechnics provided data for the study. The respondents comprised teaching staff, non-teaching staff, students’ leadership and business partners of the polytechnics. A questionnaire and an interview guide were used to elicit responses from the respondents. The study used the SPSS software in analysing the data. Kendall’s co-efficient of concordance, W, was used to determine the degree of disagreements in the ranking of the responsibilities of the public relations units by the polytechnics. The study revealed that the polytechnics had not given the necessary attention to their public relations sections to operate as an arm of the polytechnic management. The study therefore recommends that the polytechnics ensure that public relations units are well resourced to attract professional public relations practitioners to provide leadership. Secondly, the study revealed that public relations officers were not part of decision making team. It is therefore recommended that public relations officers should be part of Management in decision-making to help in strategically managing and presenting information communicated to the public in an acceptable form in order to achieve the desired publicity.