政府公关

尽管我国的政府公关已取得了巨大的成效,但毋庸置疑,其发展仍面临着很多困难和障碍，它受制于所赖以生存的历史背景和社会基础。目前,我国政府公共关

系主要面临如下困境:

（1）政府部门自身存在严重缺陷

首先，缺乏对政府公共关系的正确认识，到目前为止，除深圳市政府外，其他各政府机构设置中没有相对独立的公共关系部门。当然这并不等于说政府就没有公共关系活动，事实上，具有公共关系性质的工作分散在办公厅（室）、调研、宣传、对外联络、新闻发布、信访、外事等职能部门中。显而易见，人们在认识上对公共关系是有些混淆不清的，在机构设置上也过于分散，没有统一的公共关系工作机构。这样就会造成职责不清，影响公关工作的效率，进而影响政府

工作的效率。

其次，地方政府官员的公共关系意识仍较淡薄。现在许多地方政府官员既没有认识到政府公共关系活动的重要性，更谈不上将其提升为一种价值观和管理哲学，渗透到工作人员的日常行为之中。一方面缺乏自觉利用传媒手段进行形象投资、管理与塑造的意识，另一方面缺乏为公众服务的意识。更有甚者，将手中的权力滥用，起到截然相反的作用，严重损坏了政府的威信与形象。

第三，政府公共关系人员的素质现状并不理想。从知识结构看，我国现有的政府公共关系人员，真正具有政府公共关系方面系统知识的为数不多；从能力素质看，我国政府公共关系人员的创造能力和社交能力不强，老成持重者居多；从年龄结构上看，我国政府公共关系人员的年龄结构偏大，使得政府的公共关系

手段、方式等都趋向老成保守。

（2）对公众有倾向性选择造成政府公关的偏失

政府开展公共关系活动所面临的外部公众主要有本国社会的企业、新闻媒介、社区公众、社会名流、国际公众、人大、政协等，与其他社会组织相比，政府所面临的公众结构极为复杂。政府会因本身追求目标的影响对不同类型的公众进行有倾向性的选择，由于受短期目标的影响，在对象选择上往往表现出一定程度的错误倾向。首先，重首要公众，轻次要公众。由于上级政府要害部门、人大、政协等对政府建设成就的评价，对政府领导人的政治前途产生重大影响，政府倾注了极大的注意力，他们是政府想追求的公众。而一些不能直接给政府带来现实性重大影响的公众如社区公众、部分企业，常常被排斥在政府部门的视线之外，更有甚者还为一些弱势群体划定了禁止活动范围。其次，重行动公众，轻潜在公众。潜在公众是指受到社会组织的某种影响，已面临某一共同问题，但本身尚未意识到这种影响和问题的公众。政府往往忽视这一部分公众的存在，不能采取有效的预警措施，致使问题暴露后无法避免不必要的损失。行动公众是面临共同问题并意识到问题存在的公众。这类公众不仅表达意见，而且已经采取实际行

动，对组织构成压力，而且负面影响比较大。政府在解决行动公众问题时耗费的人力、物力、财力都比较多，对潜在公众很少关注，往往是问题出现后，潜在公众变为行动公众时才消极被动地采取补救措施，严重损害了政府的形象。

（3）传播沟通渠道不畅

首先，不能运用公共关系传播手段进行行政传播。公共关系强调“双向对称”的沟通模式，而行政传播多是采取命令、指示、发布文件等形式，传播内容一旦确立，便须立即遵照执行，上传下达，立竿见影。由于传统行政命令式根深蒂固，政府在与公众进行沟通时，习惯性采取行政传播方式，运用公共权威强制性的手段，单向与公众进行交流，而公众的评价不能及时的反馈给政府，沟通少，这样严重影响了政府与公众之间的关系。其次，政府公关传播双向交流的方式少，渠道少，效果不佳。在我国，类似于各种向政府提供信息的渠道主要有信访、基层访问等方式。但是这些作为政府公关“双向交流”的方式似乎有些牵强。信访制度只是为制约行政机关而设置的一种监督机制，公众往往囿于官本位思想的影响，对政府的依赖性很强，缺少参政议政的意识和能力，并不能开诚布公的与政府进行有效地交流。再次，政府公关传播透明度不高。尤其是地方政府，以至流传“凡是公开的都是不重要的，凡是重要的都是不能公开的”的说法，政府公关传播透明度不高已成不争的事实。一些政府开放日、市长热线、市长接待日等活动被新闻媒体大加褒扬，解决了一些公众平时办不了的事情，但远还没有形成真

正的政府公共关系理念。

基于以上存在的问题，我们归纳总结了以下几点建议，以加强政府与外界的联系和沟通，建立政府与广大社会公众之间的良好关系，转变政府职能，由传统政府向“服务型”政府转变，改善政府形象。

(1)增强政府公关主体的公关意识

首先，在政府机构设置上，建立专门独立的政府公关部门，成立“公关部”。当今世界发达国家一般都建立有统一的政府公关机构，我国在精简机构的同时也要合理配置政府的职能，增设政府公关机构，以适应社会主义市场经济发展的需要。根据我国的实际情况，可以设想合并民政、信访、新闻办等机构，组建公共关系局，直属行政首长领（类似企业中总经理负责式公关管理模式），将与公共关系相关的职能集中起来，统一由公共关系局来行使。这样既精简机构，又增强了政府的公关职能，更能加强政府和广大公众的联系和沟通。例如民政的救济，信访的内部接待、协调、新闻办的新闻发布、宣传等职能都与公共关系直接相关，应该集中管理，这样可以从组织上保证政府公关的有效开展。这一设想在我国一些地区进行了试点，有效的克服了机构臃肿、职能交叉带来的弊端，将联络、接待、信息服务、策划等内容融为一体，成为政府对外交往的窗口，在增

加社会公众对政府的理解，信任和监督，塑造良好的政府形象方面发挥着巨大的作用；其次，增强政府机关工作人员的公关意识，加强公关人才的培养。提高政府工作人员的公关意识是加强和改善政府公关的基本前提。因此，我们必须提高政府工作人员的素质，克服官僚主义作风，清除腐败现象，纠正不正之风，要在政府工作人员中树立起全员公关的意识，明确自己的言行代表着政府的意志和倾向，做到言行一致，人人公关，时时公关，处处公关。此外，加强政府公关人才的培养也势在必行。目前，我国公务员队伍中，很少有属于公共关系科班出身，公务员队伍普遍缺乏对公共关系内涵的理解，缺乏专业的公关操作技术，也难以充分运用公共关系来协助政府进行公共事务管理。因此，在增强政府工作人员整体公关意识的同时，还应注重人才的培养。我国许多高校己开设了公共关系专业和公共关系系，己有相当一部分公关人才活跃在企业公关的舞台上。因此，政府可以在招聘公务员时引进公关人才，并给子充分重视，充分利用公共关系这一强

大的管理资源。

(2)理顺公众关系，多办实事，取信于民

政府是特殊的社会组织，面对的公众广泛而复杂，对公众进行划分是必要的，但政府不能走极端。对待公众，首先要摆脱“官老爷”阴影，要像企业公关一样牢固树立“公众至上，以民为本”的公仆意识，满腔热情，提供优质服务。在首要公众和次要公众的问题上，不要只顾眼前利益，只注重短期效益，而要从长远着手，对占绝大部分比例的次要公众、弱势公众也要加以重视，“水可载舟，亦可覆舟”，对次要公众主要是通过为其办“实事”来体现对他们的重视，如政府组织指挥经济、文化建设，发展社会福利事业，开展社会公益活动等;在处理行动公众和潜在公众的问题上，要重视潜在公众。不要等到事情己经恶化，损失己经造成，才引起行动。只有重视潜在公众，未雨绸缪，加强预测，防患于未然，将问题解决在萌芽状态才是比较明智的做法。这就要求政府转变思想，不能把职权当特权，要变“你不找我我不管，坐门等客”的被动服务为“你不找我我找你，上门指导主动服务”，将服务意识体现在政府工作的方方面面。

(3)注重公共关系传播，完善沟通机制

首先，政府要注重公共关系传播。政府公共关系传播与行政传播相比，其优越性是显而易见的。政府公关传播要围绕“平衡理论”进行，在沟通的同时充分考虑到不同公众的心理因素，采取多种沟通方式，将直接沟通与间接沟通结合起来，将正式沟通同非正式沟通结合起来，做到能够综合运用。在沟通的时候要做到深入群众，掌握实情，从实际出发，从公众利益出发，了解政府所需情况。如建立多渠道的政府内外的信息联系，进行民意测验以及当前普遍实行的行政听证制度都是这方而有益的尝试；其次，增强政府公关的透明度，树立公开意识。在传播过程中要注意排除政府“权大气粗”，有话不好好说的问题，要多从公众

立场来考虑，追求政府、媒体与公众二者之间利益的一致性。要以实事求是的态度认真对待，不能报喜不报忧，说好不说坏，夸大或缩小事实，防止片面性。特别是在危机事件中，政府要始终讲真话，即使事实是残酷的，但是自己讲总比别人讲要好，这样在体现政府透明度的同时又能确保媒体的威信；再次，要正确适当利用传媒手段，塑造政府良好形象。政府公关在传播沟通工作过程中，既要紧紧围绕政府的目标，发挥政府公关传播沟通强度大，手段多，覆盖而广的特点，同时又要考虑到公众接受信息的心理因素。只有在考虑社会各类公众实际情况的基础上，做到有针对性的传播，才能真正提高政府传播的有效性。要能够灵活运用各种传播媒介，结合政府公关传播沟通非盈利性更容易被公众接纳的特点，讲究方法艺术，将政府公关传播沟通做得有声有色。

●Problems and Suggestions

Despite great success, government public relations are still faced with

many problems and obstacles due to historical and social factors.

(1) Problems with Government Departments

Firstly, government of all levels do not fully understand the functions of government public relations. Up to know, among all the municipal and

provincial governments, only Shenzhen municipal government has established the department of public relations. Government public relations is scattered in general office, investigation and research department, publicity department, external communication department, news release department, department handling calls and letters, international affairs department. The lack of an independent department for public relations affects the efficiency of public relations and in turn the government working

efficiency.

Secondly, local government officials are not fully aware of the importance of public relations. Local officials are not aware of the importance of government public relations, let alone make it a management philosophy in daily work. They haven’t realized the importance of media in building government image or the responsibility to serve people. What is worse, some of them abuse their power, which severely damages

government image.

Thirdly, there lack qualified government public relations staff. Few government staffs are equipped with systematic knowledge about public relations. They are deficient in innovation and social kills. Moreover, they tend to be conservative in work due to a relatively high age composition.

(2) Government Public Relations undermined by biased

public-orientation

Compared with other social organizations, the government needs to address the need of a diversity of groups, namely domestic enterprises, media agencies, communities, celebrities, the international publi c, People’s Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Due to the complexity of the public and affected by short-term goals, the government tends to select the public. Firstly, the government focus more on those that comprise of higher authorities, People’s Congress and CPPCC, which are responsible for evaluating the achievements of the government and its leaders. Others like communities and some enterprises, which can’t produce much influence on the government are often neglected. What is worse, some weak social groups are forbidden to take part in certain social activities. Secondly, government pays more attention to the public in action than to the potential public. The potential public refers to those who are afflicted by common problems but are still unaware of them. The government often neglects the existence of this group and doesn’t take any effective prevention measures. The public in action refers to those who are aware of the common problems. They not only express their views but also take actions, which exert great pressure on the government and negative influence on the society. The government tend s to spend much manpower, material and financial resources on the public in action while paying little attention to the potential public. Only when the potential public turn into the public in action does the government take measures passively, which not only severely damages the government image but also results in unnecessary

loss.

(3) Communication Channels Obstructed

Firstly, various means of public relations are not fully employed in administrative broadcasting. Public relations usually adopts “two-way symmetry” communication mode, but administrative broadcasting is often carried out through orders, instructions, documents etc. Once the content is fixed, it must be executed immediately. For long, the government has got used to the one-way administrative broadcasting when communicating with the public. The public’s opinion can’t be fed back immediately to government, which greatly affect the relations between government and the public. Secondly, there are few channels of two-way communication in government public relations. In China, the government gets information

mainly through calls and letters, visits to grass-roots units etc, which are far from two-way communication. Calls and letters system is a mechanism to supervise administrative organizations. Affected by traditional culture, the public rely heavily on the government and lack the capability and awareness of participating in the discussion and management of state affairs. Therefore, they can’t communicate with government openly. Thirdly, government public relations is not transparent, especially in local governments. As a popular saying goes “All that are open are not important; All that are

important are not open”, which indicates the non-transparency of

government public relations communication. Exalted by news media,

activities like Government Opening Days, Mayor Hotlines, Mayor Reception Days have solved some problems, but the concept of government public relations is far from taking shape.

In view of the above problems, we put forward the following suggestions so as to strengthen contacts and communications between government and the public, to establish good relations between them, to transform the function of government from the traditional one to the service one and improve the

government image.

(1) Strengthen the government’s awareness of public relations

Firstly, set up independent department of government public relations as developed countries have done. While streamlining administrative structure, it is also essential to allocate government functions effectively. Establishing the department of government public relations meets the needs of developing socialist market economy. In current situation, it is possible to combine departments of civil affairs, calls and letters and news release into a bureau of public relations, which is directly affiliated to an administrator (equal to the general manager in enterprises), to carry out related functions of public relations. In this way, we not only simplify administrative structure, but also strengthen its function and improve contacts and communications between government and the public. For example, relief function of civil affairs bureau, reception and coordination function of calls and letters offices, new release and propaganda functions of news release offices are related to public relations. Therefore, their management should be centralized to guarantee effective implementation of government public relations. This scenario has been tested in some areas with the result of solving the problems caused by inflated and overlapping organizations. Fulfilling the functions of liaisons, receptions, information, services and

planning, it becomes the communication media for the government and plays an important role in strengthening the public’s understanding of and confidence in the government and in building good government image.

Secondly, strengthen the government staff’s awareness of public

relations and train talents in government public relations. Raising government staff’s awareness of public relations is the prerequisite to the improvement of government public relations. Therefore, it is essential to improve the quality of government staff, overcome bureaucracy, and eliminate corruption. It is also essential to create public relations awareness among all government personnel so that they realize their words and deeds represent government’s attitudes. In this way, they will note to match their words to their deeds and carry out public relations anywhere and any time.

Besides, it is imperative to train government public relations talents. At present, few government personnel are majors in public relations. Most of them are short of professional knowledge and skill and are incapable of using public relations to help government manage public affairs. Therefore, while strengthening the government staff’s awareness of public relations, we should pay attention to the training of public relations talents. In recent years, many Chinese universities have set up specialties and departments of public relations. And there have appeared many talents in corporate public relations. So the government needs to bring in public relations talents when recruiting personnel; pay much attention to these talents and make full use of public

relations resources.

(2) Establish Good Relations with the Public to Win Their Confidence

As a special social organization, the government faces a huge and complicated public. It is necessary to classify the public, but the government can’t go to extremes. When dealing with the public, it should get rid of “bureaucrat” shadow and strengthen the awareness of serving the public.

The government should pay attention to long-term benefit as well as short-term interest. It should pay attention to secondary public who account for the majority. As a Chinese proverb goes: “ The water that bears the boat is the same that can swallows it”. The govern ment can do more for the secondary public by encouraging them to participate in economic and cultural construction, social welfare and public activities. Moreover, the government should pay attention to the potential public and should avoid taking actions until situations have deteriorated. It is wise for the government to attach importance to the potential public, take precautions

and solve the problems the moment they arise. Therefore, the government must change the concept of taking the position as a privilege; transform from the passive service of “I will not take care of you unless you ask for ”

to the active service of “I will offer to serve you “.

(3) Pay Attention to Public Relations Communication; Improve

Communication Mechanism

Firstly, the government should pay attention to public relations communication Compared with administrative broadcasting; government public relations communication has many advantages. Based on “Symmetry Theory”, government public relations communication should take dif ferent psychologies of the public into consideration and adopt various communication modes--- direct and indirect, official and unofficial. The government should go down to grass roots to learn about the real situation and need of the public. For example, it can set up information contacts through various channels, conduct public opinion poll and establish public-hearing system. Secondly, improve the government’s transparency. When communicating with the public, the government needs to avoid arrogance, considering matters in the position of the public so as to seek the common interest among the government, the media and the public. Besides, the government needs to adopt the manner of being realistic and practical so as to exaggerate or understate the facts. Especially in dealing with the crisis, the government should be brave enough to tell the truth, for however cruel the truth is, to tell the public by the government could ensure the transparency of the government and the public’s faith in the media. Thirdl y, make good use of various media to build good government image. Government public relations communication enjoys the advantages of various channels and vast coverage, but it is also necessary to take the psychologies of the pubic into consideration. Only by knowing about the different situations of the huge public and adopting communicating modes correspondingly can we increase the effectiveness of the government public relations communication. We should make full and flexible use of various media, take advantage of the non-profitness of government public relations communication, and pay attention to the art of public relations to improve government public relations communication.