HALKLA İLİŞKİLER UYGULAMALARININ KURUM İMAJINA ETKİSİ: BAYRAMPAŞA BELEDİYESİ ÖRNEĞİ

Contemporary establishments require well organized, decent and active public relations efforts in order to earn the credit and support of their target group as well as gaining respect from people. In this article, the main goal is to study the role and the importance of Public Relations in every phase of Bayrampaşa Municipality`s Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation of the Disabled Project regarding the “disabled citizens” and the impact of this organization to the institution`s image. Nowadays, the density in big cities, with respect to physical factors and population, influences urban life negatively. Besides, the realizing of urbanization without any plan is directly effecting not only the lives of ordinary people, but also the disabled ones in a negative way. Municipality is a local governance unit which is the central point of the activities that provide comfort and ease for urban life eliminating all this negative impact. In this study, the role of Public Relations activities and its impacts are analyzed conducting an interview with Bayrampaşa Municipality`s Press and Public Relations Manager and Disabled Rehabilitation Physical Therapy Institute as well as semi-structured meetings with the disabled and their relatives regarding the issue. According to the obtained evidences, it was found that the concept of public relations is not adequately understood and not given the necessary importance in institutions. On the other hand, the conducted investigation demonstrated that the free physical therapy and the rehabilitation services offered by Bayrampaşa Municipality has created a positive image of the institution in the minds of people who have benefited from these services, peculiarly the disabled and their families.