News

By Eliza Souers

Lee University’s Bateman Team recently launched its campaign for the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) Bateman Competition. The campaign project is raising awareness about c ivility in the workplace, titled “Unity Through Civility.” The team consists of junior public relations major Carolyn Russel and senior public relations majors Amulya Chalapathy, Amy Harrison, Savannah Jones, and Chandler Redding.

The Bateman Team has implemented a campaign for civility running through March 8 to raise awareness to the increasing concern of lack of civility in everyday life. The team’s main goal is to help people realize their own role in the issue of incivility and help them become part of the solution by equipping and empowering them with effective tools designed to make them more aware of the national problem of incivility and the meaning of civility.

Inspiration for their campaign was derived from The Civility Project by Delta Dental, the sponsor for the Bateman competition. The Civility Project is one of the first successful civility campaigns and has served as a launching pad for the Bateman competition on promoting civility. The project started in September 2020 after PRSSA informed competitors of the client and primary goals.

“The project has provided a great opportunity to play a role in something that could affect a lot of positive change on a national level,” said Redding. “As future communications professionals, we are very excited to play a role in that change while learning how to implement a full campaign.”

Because of COVID-19 social distancing restrictions, the Bateman Team has moved to more virtual campaigning. To spread their message during the campaign, the team created a quiz simulating conflict in a workplace between two individuals. Those who take the quiz will be asked to choose options that best represent civility in the workplace. During the campaign, the team hosted a virtual event to present the simulation and guide people through it. The team also facilitated discussions about civility in a live version of the simulation and created a website with their research, an infographic, the materials to conduct a simulation, and a promotional video about th eir efforts.

“The creativity of the team in developing the simulation tool and materials has been outstanding,” said Dr. Andrea Phillips, assistant professor of public relations and Bateman Team faculty sponsor. “The toolbox that the team is sharing with businesspeople is something that can actually be used in the workplace to promote healthy communication.  It’s so much more than a student project. That’s the greatest value of the Bateman program.”

Every year, PRSSA holds the Bateman Team Competition with approximately 70 schools from across the country who compete against one another, with four to five students each, to create a public relations campaign for a national client. The teams are required to research, plan, implement, and evaluate their campaign during the school year and turn in their submission to a committee of judges, designated by PRSSA.

For more information on the Bateman Team campaign, visit the website unitythroughcivility.com.

To take the simulation quiz, visit A Day In The Office.

PHOTO: Pictured here are the Bateman Team members (left to right) Carolyn Russel, Amy Harrison, Amulya Chalapathy, Chandler Redding, and Savannah Jones.

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