Download Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management.

The IABC Excellence Study
October 2006
Taipei
Larissa A. Grunig
Professor Emerita
Department of Communication
University of Maryland
.
About the Excellence Study
• 310 organizations, of mixed size and
effectiveness
• Communication heads; CEOs; 3,400
employees.
• Canada, UK, and US
• 1,700 questions from each organization
• 25 qualitative cases
• Three books published
Research Question 1
The Effectiveness Question
How, why, and to what extent does
communication affect the achievement of
organizational objectives?
Organizational Effectiveness
What makes an organization effective?
To show that public relations has value
to the organization, we must be able to
show that effective communication
programs and functions contribute to
organizational effectiveness.
Value of Public Relations
to an Organization
1. Helps reconcile the organization's goals with
the expectations of its strategic publics.
2. Builds quality, long-term relationships with
strategic publics.
These contributions have monetary value to the
organization.
Value of Public Relations to
Society
Organizations have an impact beyond their own
bottom line. They also affect other individuals,
publics, and organizations in society. As a result,
organizations cannot be said to be effective
unless they also are socially responsible; and
public relations can be said to have value when
it contributes to the social responsibility of
organizations.
Using Compensating Variation to
Measure the Value of the Public
Relations Function
• CEOs report 186% return on
investment in communication function
for all organizations
• CEOs with excellent communication
programs report 225% return on
investment in public relations
Problems in Putting a Monetary
Value on Relationships
• Returns are long-term.
• Returns are lumpy.
• Value occurs when something does not
happen.
Effects of Excellent Communication
• Meets communication objectives
• Establishes good, long-term relationships
with publics
• Manages conflict to reduces costs of
regulation, legislation, litigation, pressure,
and negative publicity
• Contributes to employee satisfaction
Research Question 2
The Excellence Question
What characteristics of a public relations/
communication department increase the
likelihood that it will contribute to
organizational effectiveness?
Empowerment of Public Relations
In effective organizations, the senior
public relations officer is part of or has
access to the group of senior
managers who make decisions in the
organization.
Integrated Public Relations
Function
All public relations functions are
integrated into a single department or
have a mechanism to coordinate the
departments. In an integrated
system, public relations can develop
new communication programs for
changing strategic publics.
Public Relations a Management
Function Separate From Other
Functions
Many organizations splinter the public relations
function by making it a supporting tool for other
departments such as marketing, human
resources, law, or finance. When the public
relations function is sublimated to other
functions, it cannot be managed strategically
because it cannot move communication resources
from one strategic public to another—as an
integrated public relations function can.
Summary of Excellence Results
Related to Organization of
Function
• It makes little difference whether public relations
•
•
and marketing are housed in separate
departments or one department. What matters
is the understanding of the public relations
function.
The relative size of the budgets also makes little
difference.
However, when marketing communication
dominates how senior managers think about
public relations, excellence in public relations
declines.
Overall Excellence by Support
for Public Relations
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
-0.05
-0.1
Z-Score
-0.15
-0.2
-0.25
Marketing
Greater
PR Greater
Equal
Public Relations Unit Headed by a
Manager Rather Than a Technician
Technicians are essential to carry out
day-to-day communication activities.
Yet, excellent public relations units
have at least one senior manager who
directs public relations programs or
this direction is supplied by other
members of the dominant coalition
who have no knowledge of public
relations.
Involvement of Public Relations in
Strategic Management
An organization that practices public
relations strategically develops programs
to communicate with the strategic
publics, both external and internal, that
provide the greatest threats to and
opportunities for the organization.
Public Relations Contributes to
Strategic Management by:
1. Participating in management decision-
2.
3.
4.
5.
making to identify consequences on
publics.
Segmenting stakeholders and publics.
Using communication to cultivate
relationships with strategic publics.
Influencing management behavior.
Measuring the quality of relationships.
Two-Way Symmetrical Model of
Public Relations
• Based on research
• Dialogical and balanced
• Can be either interpersonal or
mediated
• Is ethical
• Uses communication to manage
conflict and improve understanding
with strategic publics
Knowledge for Managerial Role and
Symmetrical Public Relations
Excellent programs are staffed by
professionals—people who are
educated in the body of knowledge,
are active in professional associations,
and read professional literature.
Symmetry in Internal Communication
• Decentralized management structures
give autonomy to employees, allowing
them to participate in decision-making.
• They also have participative,
symmetrical systems of internal
communication.
• Symmetrical communication increases
satisfaction with the organization
because employee goals are
incorporated into the organizational
mission.
Organizational Context
• Participative rather than authoritarian
culture
• Organic rather than mechanical
structure
• Activist pressure from the
environment
• Programs to reduce discrimination
and to enhance the careers of
women
Diversity
Requisite variety: Effective
organizations have as much
diversity inside the organization as
in the environment.
Excellent public relations includes
both men and women in all roles,
as well as practitioners of different
racial, ethnic, and cultural
backgrounds.
Results Related to Women in Public
Relations
• Communication is equally likely to be
excellent when the top communicator is a
man or woman.
• Gender makes little difference in the role
enacted by top communicators, in the role
expectations of CEOs, and in the expertise
of the public relations department
More Results Related to Women in
Public Relations
• Female PR heads are more likely to play
dual manager-technician roles than are
men—even in organizations with excellent
public relations departments.
• Women may have less opportunity than
men to gain strategic expertise because of
the time they must spend doing technical
tasks.
Globalization of Public Relations
• Generic principles:
•
The characteristics of excellent public relations
Specific applications needed for:
Culture
Political system
Economic system
Extent of activism
Level of development
Media system
Complete Results of
The Excellence Study
• Larissa A. Grunig, James E. Grunig, &
David M. Dozier (2002). Excellent Public
Relations and Effective Organizations: A
Study of Communication Management in
Three Countries. Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates. Available online at
http//:www.erlbaum.com.
Other Books in the Excellence Series
• James E. Grunig (ed.). (1992).
Excellence in Public Relations and
Communication Management. Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates.
• David M. Dozier with Larissa A. Grunig
& James E. Grunig (1995). Manager’s
Guide to Excellence in Public Relations
and Communication Management.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Women in Public Relations
• Larissa A. Grunig, Elizabeth Lance Toth, &
Linda Childers Hon (2001). Women in
Public Relations: How Gender Influences
Practice. Guilford Publications.