Unmanaging public relations: Reclaiming complex practice in pursuit of global consent

Globalisation raises numerous problems for contemporary public relations theory. In a world where the geographic reach of organisations routinely spans cultures and nation states and where issues of culture, economics and politics are inseparably intertwined, the discipline of public relations has established a distance from the immediacy of the marketplace, failed to fully engage with discussions of culture. By taking a relentlessly managerialist approach, theorists have also failed to recognise the true complexity of public relations practice and this has marginalised aspects of practice that, though nebulous and intangible, are none the less real. This paper argues that attention needs to shift towards the complexities of practice, in order to recapture and theorise a distinctive occupational field with the aim of better understanding the relationship between universal humanising principles, on the one hand, and the purposive demands of capital, on the other; the attempt to theorise how public relations makes profitable sense in society. The paper was prompted by the author's reflections on auto-ethnographic research into the public relations field, part of an ongoing research project.     

Agency Constraints Affecting Links between Practice and Education

Education and practice are closely interrelated and interdependent. There are, however, inherent constraints within agencies that complicate or interfere with the achievement of an ideal relationship. These relate to such factors as the history and culture of the agency, its structure and funding pattern, its commitment to the educational task, the qualifications of its staff for the educational function, the attitude of its staff toward partners in the educational venture, the demands on it for service, and the confidential and political aspects of some of its operations.     

A unionist’s perspective on the future of American unions

In summary, I do not see a major change in American unions over the next decade. The exception is further consolidation of national unions through mergers and affiliations which will change the makeup and increase the effectiveness of the unions involved. It behooves us all who love freedom and democracy to do what we can to assure strong and viable unions in America. We in the labor movement do not believe that we can have a free society and a high standard of living without free and effective unions. In this regard, I conclude with a statement made in 1945 by my first boss, Philip Murray, president of the United Steelworkers of America and the Congress of Industrial Organizations: “American democracy cannot survive in an atmosphere of insecurity, joblessness, and poverty. When people are at work at high wages, prosperity is continuous. To return to an era of low wages is to invite unemployment and catastrophe from which no segment of the population, no matter how apparently secure, will escape. We dare not allow mass misery and unemployment to overtake us again.”     

Faculty Support of Student Dissent

This paper replicates an earlier study of faculty status and tolerance of political dissent by Abramson and Wences. The data support the hypothesis that length of residence on a university campus is inversely related to faculty tolerance of student dissent. The expected relationship between academic rank and tolerance was eliminated by controlling for longevity, but the predicted relationship between academic field and tolerance was unaffected. The effect of longevity appears to be independent of political orientations, and the data suggest that peer group influence is operative among faculty members.     

Child Abuse and Family Stress

Child abuse is one example of violence in the family. This paper reviews sources of stress on the family, and especially considers infants as specific sources of stress within the family system. The problems of unrealistic expectations, use of physical punishment for child training and discipline, and the escalation from punishment to abuse are explored. Abuse cases are currently managed through mandatory reporting, official investigation, and disposition by authoritative bodies. This system of management appears both inadequate and inappropriate. Effective prevention programs are needed. This paper reviews current prevention efforts using three criteria of assessment. The mass media are presented as an important untapped resource for prevention efforts. Attractive media programs can address parents' feelings as well as provide information and advice.     

A Delphi Method Expert Survey to Derive Standards for Flood Damage Data Collection

For the purpose of flood damage analyses reliable, comparable, comprehensive, consistent, and up-to-date data are an indispensable need. Like in many other countries a database with this kind of datasets does not exist in Germany. To establish it, standards have to be set for flood damage data collection. We approached this problem by questioning experts about their information needs for flood damage analysis. This survey is done by applying a Delphi survey approach. The aptitude of the Delphi approach to assess, structure, and standardize expert knowledge is evaluated in this article. In the survey a panel of 55 experts working in the field of flood damage analysis for insurances, engineering companies/consultancy, public water management, and universities and other scientific institutions helped to identify common information needs. The multi-step Delphi method proved to reduce the deviation of answers thereby enabling consensual results and also enhanced the quality by modifying group answers in the direction of experience based answers. There was also a high level of congruence in information needs between experts from different fields of employment that allowed the derivation of common standards.