3^rd Journal Review:

Excellence Theory in Public Relations: Past, Present, and Future

James E. Grunig & Larissa A. Grunig

This journal discusses and explains about the excellent theory’s study development. It is a general theory of pubic relations that resulted from a 15-year study of best practices in communication management, which began in the 1960s, funded by International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Research Foundation. Three books were published from the research (J. E. Grunig 1992; Dozier et al. 1995; L. A. Grunig et al. 2002). The theory itself explains the value of public relations to organizations and society based on social responsibility of managerial decisions and the quality of relationship with stakeholder publics.

The term “excellence” was chosen during a research-planning meeting with the IABC Research Foundation’s board members in 1984, in which everyone agreed since they in fact searching for excellence in public relations and communication management and dropped the word ‘In Search’ in order to avoid copying the title of Peter & Waterman’s (1982) book ‘In Search of Excellence’. Another reason because it was fashionable and assigned their research in the management research’s mainstream, since they didn’t want it to be suggested for its superiority or its universal acceptance. They defined excellence as a set of characteristics of public relations that were correlated with organizational effectiveness, which occurs when the goals chosen in consultation with stakeholders can be achieved by the organization itself.

There are two public relations’ approaches, which are symbolic interpretive paradigm and strategic management paradigm. Symbolic-interpretive paradigm sees reality as subjective and views concepts as subjective enactments of reality rather than observable and measureable reality. It can be found in the concepts of reputation management in business school, integrated marketing communication in advertising programs, and critical and rhetorical theory in communication departments. While the strategic management paradigm focuses on the participation of public relations executives in strategic decision-making to help manage the behavior of organizations, which broadens the number and types of media and communication activities and fits them into a symmetrical framework of research and listening, and doesn’t exclude traditional public relations activities, which resulting the messages reflect the publics’ information needs as well as the organizations’ advocacy needs.

In 1985, whereas the excellence study just began, provided the means for unifying these concepts and adding other theoretical building blocks to the strategic management theory of public relations. It also provided solid theory and empirical evidence to explain the value of public relations, by organizing the function to maximize it. There are four characteristics of an excellent public relations function, which are empowerment of the public relations function, communicator roles, organization of the communication function and its relationship to other management functions, and models of public relations.

This theory has been extended into a global public relations theory based on “generic principles and specific applications” as it’s a middle-ground theory that falls between an ethnocentric and a polycentric theory, which leads to two suggestions. Ethnocentric theory suggest an organization should practice public relations in exactly the same way in every country, while polycentric theory suggests that public relation must be practiced differently in every country. As a research’s starting point, the excellence study’s principles identified as generic and when applying the six contextual principle, public relations professionals must consider its conditions, which are: culture including language, the political system, the economic system, the media system, the level of economic development, and the extent and nature of activism.

To conclude the chapter, the most important component of excellence theory as a general theory is that the contribution of public relations to strategic management which points to the value of the behavioral approach to public relations. Since the theory’s completion, scholars have continued to conduct research for the profession that has resulted in concepts and ideas that public relations professionals can use to participate in strategic decision processes. Not to forget to do evaluative research as it is necessary to establish public relations programs’ and its contribution to organizational effectiveness.

The concepts and tools related to strategic management role of public relations have been developed recently, includes: environmental scanning, publics, scenario building, relationship cultivation strategies, interactions of relationship and reputation, development of an ethical framework for public relations practitioners to use as they participate in strategic management, empowerment of the public relations functions, specialized areas of public relations, and global public relations and global strategy.

In the end, the writers believe the development of future research to help public relation evolve (L. Grunig, 2007) as a strategic management function and continually institutionalize itself to adjust to organizations’ changes, communication technologies, and societal expectations. Thus, they also believe the excellence theory’s future should be evolutionary change.

Bibliography:

Grunig, J. E., & Grunig, L. A. (2008). Excellence theory in public relations: Past, present, and future. In A. Zerfass., B. Van Ruler., K. Sriramesh (Eds.), Public relations research: European and international perspectives and innovations (pp. 327-347). Wiesbaden, Germany: VS Verlag.

By: Putri Dena Ramadhania (135120207121025)