Journal of Public Relations Research

Lauzen, Martha M.

1992 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr0402_01

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.

Springston, Jeffrey K.; Keyton, Joann; Leichty, Greg B.; Metzger, Janet

1992 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr0402_02

This article expands on the theoretical idea that public relations should be a two-way symmetrical process in which organizations use principles of communication, negotiation, and conflict resolution to manage relationships with strategic publics. We point out that the symmetrical model is two-way and does not explain the situation in which an organization must communicate with multiple publics about a problem. In the typical public relations case, the organization carries on a public debate with at least one relevant public in front of numerous other publics. This article adapts the method of field dynamics for assessing the relative positions of publics and organizations. The method makes it possible to compare organizations and publics on the dimensions of dominance—submissiveness, friendly-unfriendly, and group versus self-orientation. We compare our method with the situational theory of publics, co-orientation, and cultural analysis—all of which have been used in public relations theory and research. We then apply field dynamics to a dispute with Native Americans in Wisconsin and suggest intervention strategies for dealing with the dispute.

Coombs, W. Timothy

1992 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr0402_03

Public relations professionals generally consider issue management to be one of the primary ways in which public relations helps organizations to participate in the process of determining public policy. I view issue management as a competitive process in which an organization attempts to gain support for its position on issues. The theoretical concept of legitimacy as a resource vital for issue managers attempting to gain support is developed. In short, I theorize that members of publics will not support the position of an organization unless they believe that the issue is a legitimate one and that the issue manager and the organization's policy proposal also are legitimate. The research examines the issue of hunger to test this theory and the extent to which President Ronald Reagan's Task Force on Food Assistance succeeded in establishing legitimacy. Results show that the task force commissioners did not establish legitimacy on the hunger issue; therefore, their major policy proposals failed.