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2006 Journal of Public Relations Research
doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr1802_2
Researchers and practitioners are challenged to understand what can move our study, teaching, and practice (for postmodernism's contributions to these ends, see Toth, 2002). In this endeavor, our work can productively rest on systems theory, the rhetorical heritage (including a humanistic and social scientific interest in persuasion as a way of understanding how people make decisions and engage in social influence), and premises espoused by social exchange theory that guide our understanding of relationships. A rhetorical perspective is vital (or for some, a European sociological perspective) because we must have a theory-based systematic way to understand, research, and critique the role of public relations in forming and responding to ideas—competing and convergent shared social realities that can broadly be interpreted as zones of meaning. In public relations, communication is about something; ideas and meaning count.
2006 Journal of Public Relations Research
doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr1802_3
Feminist phase theory provides a classification system for analyzing any evolution in our thinking about women across the disciplines. The 2-fold purpose of this article is, first, to suggest further avenues through which to apply Tetreault's (1985) groundbreaking work and, second, to propose a sixth stage relevant to public relations research. Feminist phase theory defines 5 phases of such research: male scholarship, compensatory, bifocal, feminist, and multifocal. Now, 6 years into the new millennium, I propose adding a sixth, integrative phase. That stage, I argue, will conceptualize women and men in public relations not only as communication professionals, but as human beings often struggling to integrate their work, family, and community lives.
2006 Journal of Public Relations Research
doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr1802_4
Theory construction in public relations requires both scientific methods and openness to conceptual and methodological input from the larger fields of communication and human behavior. The alternative is to turn inwardly to the narrowly defined public relations "body of knowledge." Greater emphasis on focal concepts tied to the practice, on concept and theory explication, and on data-based hypothesis testing is required in the open-system approach to building theory in public relations.
2006 Journal of Public Relations Research
doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr1802_5
This article traces the origins and continuing development of a research tradition that conceptualizes public relations as a strategic management function rather than as a messaging, publicity, and media relations function. The tradition began serendipitously with the development of the situational theory of publics in the late 1960s, followed by the application of organization theory to public relations, the symmetrical model of public relations, and evaluation of communication programs. The Excellence study, which began in 1985, brought these middle-level theories together and produced a general theory, a theoretical edifice, focused on the role of public relations in strategic management and the value of relationships with strategic publics to an organization. Since the completion of the Excellence study, scholars in this research tradition have continued to improve and furnish the edifice by conducting research to help public relations professionals participate in strategic decision processes. This research has been on environmental scanning and publics, scenario building, empowerment of public relelations, ethics, relationships, return on investment (ROI), evaluation, relationship cultivation strategies, specialized areas of public relations, and global strategy. I conclude that the greatest challenge for scholars now is to learn how to institutionalize strategic public relations as an ongoing, accepted practice in most organizations.
2006 Journal of Public Relations Research
doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr1802_6
This article briefly sets out where we are in terms of research and then discusses where I think we should go in the future. The emphasis in this article is on what I see as the dominant theoretical paradigm in the field—2-way symmetrical communication. Although relationship building is also a prominent feature of the literature (L. A. Grunig, Toth, & Hon, 2000), it is 2-way symmetry that dominates. Today's public relations practice is fluid and complex. Thus, we need to bring into our literature new theories from other disciplines to enhance our conceptual understanding of the field and explore more fully the implications of postmodern theories for the practice of public relations. The management literature has embraced postmodernism, leading to an evolution in thinking about strategy with which we have failed to keep up (McKie, 2001; Moss, Warnaby, & Newman, 2000). If we are to be a management function, we need to bring that literature into ours and update what we do and how we do it.
2006 Journal of Public Relations Research
doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr1802_7
The purpose of this article is to offer thoughts on the future research directions for public relations scholars. More specifically, 2 areas of potential research are offered: the balance zone model of public relations management and an outcome-based model of public relations. I argue that we need to move well beyond the current 2-way thinking about publics and begin to reconceptualize public relations in a multidimensional perspective, where dialogue, collaboration, and negotiation with multiple stakeholders and stakeseekers occur simultaneously. A new role of the public relations practitioner is to maintain an equilibrium that satisfies the mutual interest of all parties.
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