This article presents the findings of the second stage of an international collaborative research program designed to map, explicate, and compare the main elements of the managerial role performed by communication/public relations practitioners working in a range of organizational settings and different cultural contexts. It builds on earlier qualitative research among U.K. and U.S. public relations practitioners designed to uncover the nature of the managerial roles they perform. In this study, a survey distributed to 900 U.K.-based communication practitioners was factor analyzed, revealing a five-factor interpretation, which suggests a more contemporary, empirically based conceptualization of key dimensions of the communication manager's role than currently offered by the traditional manager role typology advocated within the existing public relations roles literature.
This paper explores the nature of managerial work in the public relations context drawing comparisons with the way mainstream management research has defined the main elements and processes of management within organisations. The paper begins with a critical review of the public relations and management literatures relating to managerial work and behaviour, highlighting the distinctively different approaches taken by public relations and management scholars in defining the nature of managerial work and behaviour. The paper goes on to present the findings of a qualitative investigation into the role and work patterns of practitioners occupying senior positions in cross sections of both US and UK organisations. The study identifies a number of common elements in pattern of “managerial” work performed by both UK and US‐based practitioners. The study also reveals the extent to which senior practitioners participate as members of the dominant coalition within their organisations and contribute to strategic decision making. The paper concludes by reflecting on the adequacy of existing definitions and understanding of the managerial dimension of the role played by practitioners within organisations.
This study is part of an international research program identifying the managerial elements of public relations work. Building on previous research studies, this study had two aims: (1) examining the eficacy of the fiveyactor model emerging from the previous U.K. study, and (2) identifying and exploring U.S. practitioners' managerial elements. The results include validation of the five-factor model among U S . practitioners, along with identification of managerial role characteristics in U S . organizations. ~~ ~~ ~~ ~ ~This article presents the findings of the U.S. stage of an international collaborative research program designed to identify and explicate the main elements of managerial work performed by communication/ public relations professionals working in a cross section of organizational settings and cultural contexts. The U.S. study reported here builds on two previous studies: a qualitative study comprising U.K. and US. practitioner interviews that provided insights into the tasks and responsibilities performed by public relations practitioners in managerial positions,' and the first phase of a quantitative international research study conducted in the United Kingdom among a sample of senior communication/public relations professionals.z Tlus latter study resulted in the development of a new five-dimensional model of the communication/ public relations manager's role that may have wider applicability in terms of explicating the role of communication/ public relations managers in organizations across a range of countries/cultures. Thus, one of the aims of this U.S. study was to examine the relevance and explanatory value of the five-dimensional model emerging from the U.K. study. Research into practitioner role enactment is recognized as one of the main areas of theory development within public relations. Traditionally, roles research has focused around one of two dominant Barbara DeSanto is a professor of mass media and chair of the Department ofMassat Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas; Danny Moss is professor of public relations in the Business School at Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom; and Andrezu Newman is professor and chair of strategic marketing at the University of t;zAE,Mc Salford, Manchester, England, United Kingdom.
Barbara J. DeSanto's public relations career includes time in Florida tourism public relations practice and time as a Florida government public information officer. DeSanto earned her doctorate from Oklahoma State University in 1995. She is the division head of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Public Relations Division and a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Body of Knowledge Board. She teaches graduate and undergraduate public relations courses at Oklahoma State University and has developed an international public relations course which she teaches at Regent's College in London each May. She is currently co-authoring a textbook on international public relations case studies with Professor Danny Moss of Manchester Metropolitan University.
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