Week 5: Organization Hierarchy, Management Structure, Communication Methods

The Red Cross is a very structured organization, and because they are world wide they need to have similarity throughout the chapters. You can think of the structure as a triangle, at the top you have the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. They are the top ruler of all the world wide Red Cross organizations. Next in America, you have the National Headquarters, this is located in Washington D.C. and they govern all the the Red Cross chapters in the United States. Then there are the local chapters throughout each state such as the one I am currently interning with, American Red Cross of Central Massachusetts. The local states though do have a Regional CEO, Lisa Piehler is the Regional CEO for Central and Western Massachusetts.

The structure is very formal and the Red Cross has many different boards of governors to initiate control, and this is needed with such a large organization. The President of the United States is the honorary chairman of the Red Cross. The President then selects eight board members and selects the Chairman, and the Chairman suggests prospects to the board for a President of the Red Cross. The President of the Red Cross is the one responsible for carrying out the policies and procedures that are created by the board. (On the left is Gail McGovern whom is the President and CEO of the Red Cross. To the right is Bonnie McEvleen-Hunter whom is the Chairman of the Board)







The Red Cross has a structured communication system as well. National in Washington creates templates year round of public relations pieces to be used by the local chapters. The templates are able to be easily modified for the chapters, but sometimes problems do occur. Darice and I have run into some of these problems while creating some press releases and event templates but it was very easy to call over to "brand central" and ask them to help us fix our problems. Communication with the media then to distribute our public relations pieces is as simple as attaching it to an email and selecting emails of local media outlets that we wish to send it to and clicking send.

Week 3: Organization/Personal Goals of the Internship

The goals of my internship are

• understand the job of public relations department at the American Red Cross
• experience first hand how the public relations department works
• assist with the planning and execution of special events
• conduct research needed for events 
• assist with the creation of public relations materials
• assist with the creation of a public relations campaign for the month of March
• learn how those in the public relations department work together 
• learn how important a successful public relations campaign is needed in order for the Red Cross to be successful
• learn the process for communicating to the media about local disasters
• learn how to speak to the media on behalf of the Red Cross

These goals are my personal and that of which were discussed when I first interviewed for my internship. So far within these first weeks of my internship I have already been working towards these goals and have been experiencing a new and exciting work environment. Many of the experiences and work techniques and skills that I will learn throughout these goals I know will help in shaping my future in the public relations field. A very personal goal of mine while I am working at the Red Cross though is to complete training to become a volunteer on the Disaster Action Team. I wish to become certified and continue, even once my internship has finished as a volunteer at the central mass chapter or any chapter in the area that I live in in the future.