Public Relations Planning and Action as "Practical-Critical" Communication

Abstract

A practical-critical approach to communication contends that critical analysis should have practical consequences, specifically to extend participation and to introduce innovative forms of communication. Planning and action process models in public relations illustrate the approach. The practical-critical position develops out of a reconstructive revision of existing, instrumental models. The emphases are (a) variabilities and contingencies in communication, (b) temporal sequencing of cooperative activity, (c) conditions of uncertainty that are part of pursuing a shared focus through joint activity, and (d) the interdependent relations among material, symbolic, and relational dimensions of process planning and action. The practical-critical framework provides for continuous, dialectical analysis of a central focus of activity, while deriving benefits from the sequencing of cooperative effort. Communication Theory Volume ThirteenCommunication Theory 412 lated contributions fall short of bridging divisions between critique and the theorizing of practical methodologies. Successful synthesis requires a practical-critical approach to public relations. This perspective supports progressive possibilities inherent to a social, economic, political, and cultural environment in which public relations activities play an increasingly central role in public life and discourse (Davis, 2002). Craig (1989) pointed toward the practical-critical concept when he described the purpose of communication as a practical discipline "to cultivate communicative praxis, or practical art, through critical study" (p. 98). He considered this approach to be an extension of empirical, hermeneutic, and critical traditions (p. 107). This article presents parallel models: instrumental, reconstructive, and practical-critical.The discussion proposes a revised framework for designing and carrying out four-stage planning and action sequences in public relations. The analytical focus is temporal sequencing (Couch, 1990, pp. 20-28) of communicative activities. Temporal sequencing, especially "interpersonal timing" of cooperative activity, "underlies all social activity" (p. 23). A practical-critical perspective is required to explicate this processual aspect of public relations planning and action.These observations support a focus on process planning and action models:1. Process models are underdeveloped in the public relations literature when compared with typological models (J. Grunig & Hunt, 1984, pp. 21-43). Typological models risk becoming static descriptions of structural features unless categorical descriptions are supplemented by emphasis on dynamic "micro interactive processes" (Turner, 1988, pp. 10-11) that contribute to the derivation of structures. Established typological models are now being revised to emphasize dimensions of process (J. Grunig, 2001), and further contributions are necessary.2. Existing process models tend to be mainly outlines of standard steps based on "professional axioms" (Van Leuven, 1989). These do not provide an ad...

Civil Society and Public Relations: Not So Civil After All

“…This awareness is essential to the activist role that might be played by public relations scholars in development communication, guiding practitioners to hitherto-unexplored problems such as exploitation, silencing, and marginalization that are accomplished through dominant programs of public relations (Dozier & Lauzen, 2000). In essence, the subaltern perspective calls for public relations praxis that challenges the status quo in development communication (Dozier & Lauzen, 2000;Woodward, 2003).…”

“…Scholarship in the area locates agency in the subaltern participant and narrates stories of resistance and sense-making actively engaged in by subaltern people. In doing so, the subaltern perspective calls for the activist role of public relations, not simply accepting the status quo (embodied in funding agencies such as USAID) but finding ways of challenging it via policy changes and participatory communication that involves subaltern voices in dialogue (Dozier & Lauzen, 2000;Woodward, 2003). In this approach, the problem is formulated not by the donor agencies but by the subaltern participants (Dutta-Bergman, 2004).…”

“…Third, it locates agency in the subaltern subject, demonstrating that participation in social movements and acts of resistance have been an integral element of peasant struggles long before the emancipatory conceptualizations of civil society were put forth in the West and suggesting the dialectical relationship between civil society and resistance. In the concluding section of the article, I take a practical-critical approach (Craig, 1989;Woodward, 2003) to offer specific suggestions for developing the subaltern perspective in public relations as an alternative to the dominant models of civil society currently circulating in public relations scholarship.…”

“…Being informed by a subaltern perspective allows public relations scholars to take a critical stance, introducing the questions that typically get left out of the discursive space in public relations exercises of the USAID. The subaltern studies perspective equips critical scholars to theorize about power in development public relations and construct possibilities for social change (Woodward, 2003). I specifically examine the three realms of NGOs, policy, and media organizations in building the theoretical implications.…”

“…Whereas some of these invasions are overtly implemented, others are covertly carried out through persuasive strategies such as grant programs, foreign assistance programs, and democracy promotion initiatives (Escobar, 1995). Based on a practical-critical approach that focuses on criticizing the praxis of public relations, in this article I offer an interrogation of the concept of civil society (Craig, 1989;Woodward, 2003). I first review the literature in public relations on civil society and then present a cultural criticism of the concept based on case studies of the Philippines, Chile, and Nicaragua.…”