Five Ghanians to attend 5th International Public Relations congress

Accra, July 20, GNA - A five-member delegation from the Institute of Public Relations, Ghana (IPR), would leave for South Africa on Saturday July 21, to attend a three-day International Public Relations congress.

The congress, which is the fifth, would be held from July 23 to 25, 2012 and it's under the theme; “Leveraging Transformation Change and Corporate Success with Strategic Public Relations”.

It is expected to host over 400 public relations practitioners and consultants from all over the globe.

A statement issued by the IPR, Ghana, in Accra on Friday, said the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) recognizes that the world was in transition and countries world-wide are inter-dependent.

It said according to Mr Johanna McDonwell, President of the IPRA, globalization and the internet has broken down trade barriers, where financial crisis in one country soon spills over other countries and assume a global problem.

The Statement noted that the global operating environment was volatile and turbulent, with the financial markets being confronted by a number of issues and shock including the downward slide of stock value.

It said to address these key issues and challenges, the private sector and most governments worldwide, have embarked on transformation, reform, organizational development or change management programmes.

It said as a result, governments and the private sector have put in place change Management and Organisational Development Strategy and with public relations functioning as a strategic partner, should occupy the centre stage in all transformational Change Management processes.

The statement explained that the congress would seek to answer to questions regarding what roles public relations function plays before, during and after an organizational development or transformation programme.

The congress would also look at the issues such as the external and internal communication challenges, how to manage the resistance to change, how to build the team to manage change and how to rekindle low employee morale during a change process.

GNA