Professionalism in Public Relations - Coursework Example

Professionalism in Public Relations I Introduction In today’s world, which is being engulfed by the globalisation phenomenon, Public Relations (PR hereafter) have become a critical component in the survival of businesses and even non-business activities that require stakeholder support. Stiffer competition and deepening public concern for health, safety and environment require a middleman that can put in order the communication path between an entity and the public as well as make the stakeholder receptive, and even pliant, to the actions and policies of an entity or organization. The role of the middleman is effectively played by PR and PR practitioners exist in virtually every field. In Australia, for example, the PR industry is more than thriving with PR practitioners numbering in the thousands. Despite the relevance of PR in the modern world, the collective reputation of PR practitioners all over the world is not, however, as unsullied and highly regarded as the PR industry would want it to be. Charges of less than reputable conduct in work have often hounded PR practitioners and these allegations are often characterized as an indictment against the sincerity and honesty of PR practitioners to the public. If the PR industry wants to elevate its reputation as a whole, there may be a need to reform it starting from an overhaul of PR school curriculum to the regulation of PR practice. Put differently, the PR industry may need to institute professionalism the old-fashioned way. II Public Relations, its Origin and Functions Public Relations is defined by Lubbe and Puth as a “deliberate, planned and sustained process of communication between a business and its publics for the purpose of obtaining, maintaining or improving good strategic relations and mutual understanding between the organisation and its various publics – both internal and external” (qtd Nieuwenhuizen & Rossouw 2009 p. 264). Public relations had its early beginning in the 19th century in press agentry in the United States when newspapers rewarded their advertisers by running free notices of publicities in columns. By the early 20th century, publicity agents and literary bureaus became prevalent in larger cities like New York where they became necessary accessories to big businesses in mitigating the impact of the so-called “muckrakers” like Lincoln Steffens, Upton Sinclair and Ida Tarbell, who were on a crusade against excessive activities of big businesses who were dubbed “robber barons” (Mogel 1993 p. 4). A PR man named Ivy Lee, considered the founder of PR, concocted the strategy of giving press interviews of the “haughty” mine operators, to dispel this perception. This was the first time businessmen faced media and the press for an interview. Lee was also known for successfully humanizing oil magnate John Rockefeller, perceived as the epitome of the “robber baron,” through the latter’s much-publicised appearances in public where he distributed dimes to children (Mogel 1993 p. 4). Governments, like the US and the UK, also began hiring PR men to inform the public of government activities. Today, PR activities for governments are handled by separate agencies called public affairs or public relations departments. Edward Bernays, a PR man, who was a consultant to Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Eleanor Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge and Dwight Eisenhower, was credited for teaching the first PR course in a university and today, PR has become a major industry employing hundreds of thousands of PR agents (Mogel 1993 p. 4). The advent of globalisation has catapulted PR as an important player in the conduct of business. Globalisation has effectively blurred boundaries giving rise to stiffer competition making it inadequate to simply provide services and market one’s products. It made necessary the creation of a specific image that is both acceptable to internal and external stakeholders to secure their support. Thus, the role of PR is to ascertain and understand the needs of such stakeholders and assess their attitude. Thereafter, PR proceeds by determining the appropriate means and form with which a two-way communication can be established effectively between stakeholders and the company. In building the bridge between them, PR must foster goodwill, rapport and positive relationship and correctly evaluate the impact of company policies procedures and actions on stakeholders as well as generate specific changes from stakeholders in the form of awareness, opinions, attitudes and behaviours (Nieuwenhuizen & Rossouw 2009 p. 265). Put differently, the end goal of PR is to create a climate that is favorable to marketing (Mogel 1993 p. 7). In Australia, PR took root with the establishment of the first PR firm in 1947, Eric White & Associates, which specialised in government relations. Two years later, professional PR institutes opened in New South Wales and in 1952, in Victoria. In 2005, it was estimated that more than 61,000 individuals in Australia were employed as PR agents in both corporate and agency PR firms spanning business sectors like healthcare, financial services, technology, community, and consumer relations (Freitag & Stokes 2009 pp. 95-96). The PRIA is the “peak body for public relations and communication professionals in Australia” and has a membership of about 3,000 PR professionals and 150,000, more or less, consultancies across Australia. PRIA and its members are governed by a Code of Ethics and a Consultancy Code of Practice (PRIA website). PRIA has a division in every state in Australia (Heath 2009 p. 49). III Profession and Professionalism In 1992, the Excellence Study, an extensive research project in business communication funded by IABC Research Foundation, named fourteen attributes of excellent tri-level public relations programs. At the individual level, the other levels being organisational and departmental, excellent public relations programs often share the following characteristics: knowledge of the two-way symmetrical model of public relations; knowledge of the managerial role played by practitioners, and professionalism (Wright & Turk et al p. 571). Profession, from whence the word professionalism comes from, is necessarily a construct of modern industrial society. Thus, the study of the sociology of profession emerged parallel with the rise of the industrial age pioneered by late 19th to early 20th century sociologists such as Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber and economist John Elliott Cairnes. Viewed from the trait approach, a profession, according to Alexander Carr-Saunders and Wilson, is characterised by elements that aid in the stabilization of society, which collectively defends against the crude forces that imperils the smooth progress of evolution. These elements were named by Geoffrey Millerson as “specialised skill and knowledge, an intellectual and practical training, a high degree of professional autonomy, a fiduciary relationship with the client, a sense of collective responsibility for the profession as a whole, an embargo on some methods of attracting business, and an occupational organisation testing competence, regulating standards and maintaining discipline” (qtd Pieczka & L’etang 2001 p. 224). Viewed from the process approach, profession developed in five stages: the rise of full-time occupation; the emergence of training schools; the establishment of professional association; the political underpinning of the legal protection extended to associations, and; the formal code adoption. Moreover, the ethnographic approach in the study of profession revealed the ideology underlying the conduct of certain professional groups. Finally, a new approach of viewing profession is the power approach which sees it as the cultivation of social approval that characterises professions’ work and their relationship with clients (Pieczka & L’etang 2001 pp. 224-225). Drawing the line between profession from other occupations, a profession possesses the following characteristics: it is more intellectual and calls for the exercise of greater personal choice and judgment; it is underpinned by substantial knowledge and training; it is practical, calling for the employment of knowledge in actual situations; it uses techniques and skills that are taught and applicable to problem solving; it has an organisation or association where members of the professions belong; it is underpinned by an altruism that generally, benefits society (Wright & Turk 2007 p. 572). Professionalism, therefore, can be summarised as “commitment to quality, a dedication to the interests of the client, and a sincere desire to help” (qtd Parsons 2004 p. 11). Moreover, according to Jacquie L’Etang and Magda Pieczka, professionalism is underpinned by the troika of ethics, body of knowledge and certification (2001 p. 270). IV The Role of Professionalism in Public Relations Scholars hotly contest whether PR can be rightly called a profession or not. The term ‘profession’ is usually associated to such callings as doctors, lawyers, engineers and teachers because of the requisite advanced education and skills and intellectual skills required in their studies. The common consensus, however, is that it is important that PR must attain a professional status (Hornaman & Sriramesh 2003 p. 2; Kim & Reber 2007 pp. 2-3). Skeptics viewed this with a critical eye considering that PR has gained the reputation of inflicting injurious effect on democratic processes by preventing the unraveling of truth through its practice of “putting a spin on disasters; undermining citizens’ campaigns; gaining public support for conducting warfare, and; changing public perception of repressive regimes” (Theaker 2004 p. 68). Another author likewise observed as “an unsavory activity committed to cluttering the mass media with the debris pseudo-events and phony phrases leading to channels of communication being corroded with cynicism and credibility gaps” (Kim & Reber 2007 p. 5). Some empirical studies themselves indicated the lack of professional standards in the practice of PR. In 1996, a study revealed that practitioners do not share a common standard of professional practice; in 1997, another study showed that practitioners lagged behind educators in creating shared professional standards, and; in 1998, a low opinion of practitioners of their colleagues respecting professionalism suggested absence of confidence in the profession (Kim & Reber 2007 p. 5). Gaining professional status, therefore, is vital to PR to endow it with credibility and a legal and ethical reputation. Moreover, such a status would also encourage PR practitioners to raise the level and standard of their accountability, the quality of their work and give them independence and control over decision-making in their respective organisations. Gaining this status, however, cannot be made through mere self-proclamation, according to Wylie (1994), but by going actively through the motion and taking the necessary steps. One of the basic steps to be taken is to define and clarify PR’s ethical obligation towards public interest because albeit that this in itself is not utilised as a measure that defines a ‘profession’ it is nevertheless, the most often named core value of professionalism. The implication of this is that PR can only attain a professional status if it is able to persuade the public of its credibility and that it is acting in a socially responsible manner (Kim & Reber 2007 pp. 3-4). Aside from serving public interest, there is a consensus that attaining a professional status additionally requires conforming to criteria commonly found in all professions: a code of ethics; specialised technical skills; education that is both specialised and standardised, and; membership in professional associations (Hornaman & Sriramesh 2003 p. 2). In specifics, this means that a standard curriculum must be crafted. In addition, PR students must also take up broad liberal arts subjects like “psychology, sociology, social and behavioral sciences, business and humanities” and other similar subjects, core communication courses, ethics, PR theory, research, writing, and new media technology, in addition to specific PR subjects (Hornaman & Sriramesh 2003 pp. 3-8). At the other end of the spectrum, however, is the idea that professionalising PR could harm the practice. Dr. Carol Steiner argued that the specialisation and technicity inherent in professions will not positively impact on the practice of PR because they will result in the “narrowing of vision, a denial of human capacities like intuition, feeling and creativity, a restriction on interpretive and operational freedom, and an imposition of an identity that denies the value of human uniqueness” (1999 pp 1-12). V Conclusion The common consensus today is that there is a need to professionalize the practice of PR not only to give the practice a sense of credibility but also to spur its members to act more responsibly and elevate the standard of their work. In the Australian setting, PR practice is not regularised or regulated and membership in PRIA or in similar associations is not compulsory. Although PRIA maintains a code of ethics and a parallel consultancy code of practice, this can only be implemented on its members, which at present numbered only 3,000 individual practitioners out of the estimated more than 60,000 practitioners in Australia. In addition, PRIA gives guidance and implements an accreditation system for PR courses relevant to industry accreditation but again this is purely voluntary on the part of the schools and students. PR practice, in the world and presumably even in Australia, is not viewed by the public with trust and confidence not because the practice as a whole sorely lacks standards of professionalism but because there are a few practitioners who do practice very low standards of professionalism and have sullied it as a whole. It is therefore understandable that serious PR practitioners are calling for the standardization and professionalization of the practice. However, professionalization of PR as earlier stated cannot be made through mere self-proclamation but through the adoption of long processes that must originate in the system of education itself. This imply a complete overhaul of curricula, the establishment of national associations that will oversee the practice of its members and if need be, the establishment of a governmental agency that will regulate and govern the practice. On the other hand, PR work is largely creative unlike the highly technical nature of medicine, law, teaching and engineering, and standardizing it may, as Dr. Steiner said, inhibit the creativity that is innate to it. A way must be found to serve both ends. References: Freitag, Alan & Stokes, Ashli (2009). Global Public Relations: Spanning Borders, Spanning Cultures. Taylor & Francis. Heath, Lawrence (2005). Encyclopedia of Public Relations, Volume 1. SAGE. Hornaman, L. and Sriramesh, K. (2003-05-27) "Public Relations Professionalism and Education" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Marriott Hotel, San Diego, CA Online . 2009-05-26 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p112091_index.html Kim, S. and Reber, B. H. , 2007-05-23 "How Public Relations Professionalism Influences Corporate Social Responsibility: A Survey of Practitioners" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, TBA, San Francisco, CA Online . 2010-06-04 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p168726_index.html. Mogel, Leonard (1993). Making it in Public Relations: An Insiders Guide to Career Opportunities. Leonard Mogel. Nieuwenhuizen, Cecile & Rossouw, Dirk (2009). Business Management: A Contemporary Approach. Juta and Company Ltd. Parsons, Patricia (2004). Ethics in Public Relations: A Guide to Best Practice. UK: Kogan Page Publishers. Pieczka, Magada & L’etang, Jacquie (2001). “Public Relations and the Question of Professionalism,” Handbook of Public Relations by Lawrence, 3rd Edition by Robert & Vasquez, Gabriel. London: SAGE. PRIA. http://www.pria.com.au/aboutus. Steiner, Carol (1999 November). How Important is Professionalism in Public Relations Management? RMIT Business. http://mams.rmit.edu.au/g0p6721wwae.pdf. Theaker, Allison (2004). The Public Relations Handbook, 2nd Edition. Routledge. Wright, Donald & Turk, Judy (2007). “Public Relations Knowledge and Professionalism: Challenges to Educators and Practitioners,” The Future of Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management: Challenges for the Next Generation by Grunig, James & Grunig, Larissa & Toth, Elizabeth. New Jersey: Routledge. Read More