Issues Management Mediation of Linkages Between Environmental Complexity and Management of the Public Relations Function

Issues management (IM) is the process that allows organizations to know, understand, and interact effectively with their environments. In this study, the approach to IM practices in organizations is posited to mediate the relation between perceived environmental complexity and the type of public relations practiced in organizations. Outer directed IM is a proactive, open-systems approach based on symmetrical presuppositions that uses IM instrumentally to make strategic decisions. Such an approach to IM is fostered by participative organizational cultures. When organizations face complex environments, outer directed IM and participative organizational culture increase the involvement of public relations practitioners in dominant coalition decision making. This, in turn, is positively related to practitioner enactment of the manager role. A study of public relations practitioners and IM specialists (N = 182) within large U.S. corporations confirmed the mediating influence of outer directed IM and participative culture on public relations practices.     

Competencies of senior communication practitioners in the UK: An initial study

There is now a considerable body of knowledge conceptualizing the roles that public relations practitioners enact. A key element in the enactment of those roles is the competencies, or behaviors of those who occupy them, however there are no systematic studies of these competencies. Occupational psychologists who conducted in-depth interviews with 17 ‘top’ communicators in the UK, discovered 10 core competencies or behaviors specific to the senior communication practitioner role in publicly quoted companies, and 10 core competencies for those working in the public sector. These competencies are elucidated and compared and the implications discussed. Avenues for further research are also identified.     

Adding value to organizations: An examination of the role of senior public relations practitioners in Singapore

A key characteristic of public relations excellence in organizations is ensuring that the senior public relations practitioner – the head of the communication function – has the competencies to enact the strategic role of a manager. It is only when the top communicator possesses strategic management knowledge and engages in managerial work with support from colleagues who are technically skilled in traditional craft work can public relations work be considered to be value-generating.This paper presents the findings of the examination of the role of senior public relations practitioners in organizations in Singapore. It also explores the importance of core communication activities to the role of top in-house communicators, examines the time they allocate to managerial and technical work, and assesses if the managerial role which the practitioners play adds value to organizations. Data collected from both in-depth interviews and self-reported log of daily activities showed that although top communicators in Singapore enjoy strategic reporting and unhindered access to senior management, it also revealed, paradoxically, senior management's mixed worldviews of public relations; and that Singapore's top in-house practitioners lack the strategic knowledge to enact the managerial role as they are too focused on technical work.The paper concludes with recommendations on how the level of public relations professionalism can be raised in Singapore, starting with the practitioners themselves having to be fully equipped with the relevant academic knowledge of what makes communication excellent.     

Building communities: The postmodern CSR practitioner as a dialectical activist-agent in India

This study examined the conceptualization of the postmodern public relations practitioner as an organizational activist who contributes to democratic processes in the context of community relations and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in India. Elite, in-depth conversations with 19 senior executives at 16 companies in India well known for their CSR initiatives revealed that practitioners appeared to be both organizational activists and agents. As organizational activists, they acknowledged the existence of diverse voices in local communities, interjected these voices into management discourse, situated decision-making in local contexts, identified tensors in the relationship between the corporation and its publics, and negotiated new meanings through dissensus. Paradoxically, as organizational agents, they used these participatory, open processes of dialogic communication to shape public opinion in favour of the organization, feeding modern organizations’ proclivity for consensus. While the findings of the study support the postmodern conceptualization of the public relations practitioner as an organizational activist in the context of CSR and community relations, the agent aspect of the activist-agent dialectic problematizes and complicates this conceptualization thus enhancing understandings of the postmodern practitioner who enacts CSR within a modernist framework and navigates the intricacies of the activist-agent dialectic in their daily performance of building community relations and enabling democratic processes.     

Corporate public relations dynamics: Internal vs. external stakeholders and the role of the practitioner

Most public relations research advocates for stronger organization-public relationships and the implementation of dialogic theory to advance the practice and elevate the status of the public relations practitioner. However, this study reveals that internal relationship dynamics can prevent corporate public relations practitioners from carrying out this function of the public relations role. Twelve weeks of observation and eleven interviews were conducted at a Fortune 1000 technology company to gain insights on how corporate PR practitioners build relationships with external publics, to gauge practitioners’ orientation to dialogue, and to identify challenges to external relationship building. Results show that internal relationship management is a prerequisite to corporate public relations practitioners’ success in developing mutually beneficial relationships with key publics. These findings have implications for both the theory and practice of public relations especially when considering the discussion of the technician versus strategic manager role of public relations and the advancement of the field to a professional status.     

Building buy-in: The need for internal relationships and informal coalitions

Significant research has focused on influencing senior leadership, and this study offers new insights into building internal relationships and informal coalitions to provide strategic counsel. These strategies involve internal communications, a neglected area of research and practice. The findings are based on in-depth interviews with 30 executives representing multiple departments in four U.S. companies. A new role justifying public relations’ membership in executive decision teams is internal boundary spanning or gathering intelligence internally across business units, and requires public relations to have a seat at multiple decision tables.     

The Missing Link: The Public Relations Manager Role as Mediator of Organizational Environments and Power Consequences for the Function

We argue that the public relations manager role provides the "missing link" between environmental challenges and the consequences for the public relations function. Conceptualizing the manager role in terms of organizational power, the concept provides linkages between the environmental-imperative and the power-control perspectives. The model posits that environmental challenges to the organization, in part, determine the role enacted by the top public relations practitioner. This role enactment, in turn, increases the function's capacity to maintain the integrity of its domain. Using a sample of 262 public relations practitioners in the United States, we tested the relationships just stated. Findings indicate that the range of publics and changeability of publics (environmental variables) are positively related to the manager role. The manager role is negatively related to marketing involvement in public relations activities and to the assignment of individuals from outside public relations to head the public relations unit.     

Better stay single? Public relations and CSR leadership in India

Public relations scholars have argued that public relations practitioners, as boundary spanners between organizations and their diverse publics, are well positioned to assume leadership and become the “conscience” of their organization's CSR efforts. Conversely, scholars have also questioned public relations practitioners’ assumption of leadership of CSR. Much of the debate, both for and against, has been generated in Euro/American contexts of practice. As part of a larger study, this research aimed to examine whether the argument for public relations’ leadership of CSR holds true in non-Western contexts as well, specifically, by examining CSR leadership in corporations in India that are known to be socially responsible. This study found that in the majority of companies that are heavily engaged in CSR in India, it was the senior business executives and managers, instead of the PR practitioners, that were tasked with CSR leadership. Based on the findings of this study, this paper questions the assumption of CSR leadership by public relations practitioners.     

The status of the school public relations practitioner: A statewide exploration

A study was conducted which focuses on public relations practitioners in school districts in South Carolina. The study utilized survey research to investigate several questions relating to public relations role enactment, hierarchical level of the public relations function, salary, job satisfaction and encroachment into public relations. The research found that school public relations practitioners fulfill both the manager and technician roles equally, although it is responsibilities relating to the management function that provide the most satisfaction. Women tend to be less active in the manager role. The public relations function reports directly to the school superintendent. There is a relationship between sex and salary in school district public relations and, with women, experience is negatively correlated with salary. Finally, there is a high level of encroachment by educators into the public relations function in school districts.     

Defining public relations roles in the U.S.A. using cluster analysis

This exploratory study attempted to discover key public relations (PR) practitioner roles through a survey design using factor-cluster analysis. The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) partnered with the researchers by inviting PRSA members to complete a survey in which 256 members participated. Although different items were used, the results of this study were similar to the findings of a study conducted on European PR practitioners by Beurer-Zullig, Fieseler, and Meckel (2009) thus suggesting concurrent validity. Five PR roles were found incorporating personal characteristics, modes of communication, management and technical functions, perceived level of respondent strategic planning process involvement, and attitudes about communication goals and PR measurement (including perceived competency). The roles were labeled negotiator, policy advisor, brand officer, internal communicator, and press agent. The negotiator and policy advisor roles, which were management positions, viewed measurement research as important in the practice of PR.     

Workplace adversity and resilience in public relations: Accounting for the lived experiences of public relations practitioners

Public relations practitioners face workplace challenges as they cultivate public relationships, resolve conflicts, and manage crises. Odds of adversities may be high in this role, requiring practitioners to be resilient. This qualitative study explores workplace adversities in public relations from a practitioners’ perspective, and examines how they enact resilience. By asking current practitioners about their lived experiences, we found workplace adversities occurred on multiple levels and ranged from mundane to life-altering events. Patterns of resilience were, metaphorically, bouncing forward, bouncing up, bouncing back, and bouncing around. This study contributes to public relations and resilience scholarship by (1) uncovering workplace adversities and resilience enactment in public relations, therefore connecting practice with scholarship, (2) extending the “bounce back” metaphor in the resilience literature, therefore making resilience more inclusive, and (3) exploring the connections of multi-level resilience, and suggesting the complex and negotiated nature of resilience among individuals embedded in collectives.     

Product placements as public relations: an exploratory study of the role of the public relations firm

This article reports the results of a survey of 106 public relations firms concerning their level of involvement with product placements as part of their public relations strategies. The findings of this research suggest that public relations practitioners are active players in choosing whether to use product placements to enhance a client’s product or service. Results also indicate that practitioners are more knowledgeable about product placements than previously believed and that they are more enthusiastic about the future of product placements than their advertising counterparts.Carol J. Pardun is an assistant professor of public relations and advertising at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Kathy Brittain McKee is an associate professor of journalism at Berry College in Rome, Georgia.     

Comparative study of American and Korean practitioners’ dissent with perceived unethical management decisions

This study examined how similarly or differently American and Korean public relations practitioners use dissent tactics. The results showed that assertive confrontation was the most frequently adopted tactic among practitioners in both countries. However, Korean practitioners were more likely to work to sabotage implementation of unethical decision, and to leak information to external stakeholders than the US counterparts. This study will shed light on the impact of cultural difference on public relations practitioners’ dissent selection on unethical management decisions.     

Socio-Contextual Influences on the Korean News Media's Interpretation of Samsung's $847.6 Million Donation

This study investigates the role of leadership in facilitating strategic communication management and effective public relations practice by proposing a set of dimensions measuring corporate communication executives’ perceptions on leadership. A measurement methodology was applied and suggested to facilitate empirical investigation. Data from two groups of senior corporate communicators and public relations executives (N = 384) nationwide were used to assess the validity and reliability of proposed leadership dimensions that contribute to effective communication management. Results from both groups demonstrated strong support for the proposed higher-order measurement model. The analysis suggested that 6 major dimensions (self-dynamics, team collaboration, ethical orientation, relationship building, strategic decision making capability, and communication knowledge management capability) are crucial for communication executives to expand their influence in the institutional context and generate desired communication outcomes. The findings offer insights on both leadership and corporate communications that may account for significant nonfinancial indictors of organizational effectiveness.     

Does public relations scholarship need better PR? practitioners’ perspectives on academic research

Articles in academic public relations journals often provide recommendations for public relations practitioners. The purpose of this study is to gain a practitioner perspective on that work and to determine if a potential disconnect between public relations practitioners and scholars exists. Through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 22 public relations practitioners, this study examines knowledge, readership, and applicability of public relations scholarship in industry. Participants indicated they have a general awareness of and assigned value to academic scholarship; however, they do not actively consider it or use it in their professional lives due to issues of access, time, and relevance. Many appeals have been made within the academy to make scholars’ work more “public,” and these results reflect this need. Based on these findings, recommendations are made to increase the accessibility and relevance of scholarly work for professionals.     

Practitioner Roles,Public Relations Education,and Professional Socialization: An Exploratory Study

This study builds on the body of literature about public relations practitioner roles by examining the relationship of workplace socialization and formal public relations education to idealized practitioner roles. Data come from an exploratory survey of public relations students and practitioners. As in several previous studies, two main practitioner roles were identified, corresponding to the communication manager and communication technician roles. Formal public relations education was associated with the manager role type, but professional socialization in the workplace was not.     

The Impact of Superior-Subordinate Gender on the Career Advancement of Public Relations Practitioners

Mentoring relationships may affect career advancement opportunities for public relations practitioners, which in turn may impact role enactment and professional growth of practitioners. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to measure differential treatment of men and women in public relations with regard to mentoring and to assess the impact of mentoring on the career advancement of both groups. Findings indicate that subordinates and superiors of the same sex tend to have a more active and intense mentoring relationship than mixed-sex pairings. Female supervisors in public relations offer more active and intense mentoring to their subordinates than do male supervisors. Paradoxically, superior mentoring by female superiors yields fewer career advancement opportunities for their subordinates. Male supervisors seem more effective than female supervisors in providing subordinates career advancement. Practitioners with male mentors, regardless of gender, tend to have greater access to management advancement and have more opportunities to enact the manager role.     

Public Relations Roles,Intraorganizational Power,and Encroachment

Encroachment occurs in public relations when professionals with expertise in such fields as marketing, law, human resources, or engineering occupy the senior public relations position in an organization. When encroachment occurs, public relations frequently becomes little more than a technical support function servicing other units of the organization—rather than a central management function in itself. I explored the idea that encroachment does not result so much from outsiders grabbing the turf of public relations as from weaknesses of public relations practitioners themselves. I used a systematic sample of 166 public relations practitioners in the United States to test the idea that public relations manager role aspirations and competencies and the schema held regarding the public relations function explains the extent to which encroachment takes place. Results suggest that managerial aspirations and competencies and the belief that public relations is a powerful organizational function decrease the likelihood of encroachment.     

Do public relations professionals understand corporate governance issues well enough to advise companies on stakeholder relationship management?

The King Reports on Governance for South Africa are internationally respected for proposing integrated reporting in a triple bottom-line business context to improve corporate governance. The most recent report, King III, views stakeholder relationship management as a key tenet of corporate governance. This raises the question whether public relations professionals (PRPs) understand the principles of corporate governance well-enough to inform and guide organizations on the management of stakeholder relationships. The views of senior PRPs at selected top performing companies were elicited on their practice of stakeholder relationship management in line with corporate governance principles. It was found that their knowledge on corporate governance was limited, although they recognized its importance. They propose six role functions for managing stakeholder relationships on a strategic or managerial level; these role functions are aligned with the King III principles on stakeholder relationships. The following three were of particular importance: developing a corporate strategy, giving advice to senior management and managing crisis communication. Different terminologies were used to build relations with stakeholders and different approaches were used to profile stakeholders. It is recommended that organizations leverage their public relations functions on strategic and managerial levels in support of their corporate governance efforts. In turn, PRPs are encouraged to ensure a deep knowledge on corporate governance issues when counseling senior management on building stakeholder relationships.