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Sorting Out the Chaos for Public Relations Leaders

by Marc Compte-Pujol (Volume editor) Joan Cuenca-Fontbona (Volume editor) Paula Pineda-Martínez (Volume editor)
Edited Collection 174 Pages

Summary

Disruptive change has become the new normal for organizations and society. War conflicts, climate change and drought, poverty and inequality or the silent increase in violence, abuse and exploitation are some of the most relevant events of today with economic, political, technological, and social consequences that are still unpredictable for organizations and their audiences. Public relations can help organizations solve the challenges in this context because the strategic communication that defines it is one of the essential elements that promote organizational agility: they reduce ambiguity and uncertainty because it is based on research, they inform the public on organizational changes to project positive images and achieve support and alliances and seek constant interaction with stakeholders through two-way communication.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the author
  • About the book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Contents
  • Introduction
  • Part One Powerful Public Relations Skills
  • From technical specialist to government authority: Media training in risk and crisis communication
  • Effective leadership in public relations in Latin America: The role of empathy for employee engagement
  • Part Two Institutional Communication and Institutional Relations
  • A public relations perspective on communication challenges in public institutions
  • Defining the challenges of territorial branding and its implementation: A network approach
  • Lobbies and pressure groups: Analyzing revolving doors in Spain’s public relations
  • Part Three Local Contexts and Global Trends in Public Relations
  • Analysis of the communication structures of Spanish clusters in Spain (2017–2022)
  • The situation of strategic communication and public relations in the Dominican Republic
  • The evolution of public relations trends over the last five years according to the most relevant professional reports in the sector

Marc Compte-Pujol, Joan Cuenca-Fontbona, and Paula Pineda-Martínez

Introduction

The volume you have in your hands includes a series of works derived from various scientific research that focus on the leadership of people responsible for public relations and communication in organizations. These leaders face constant and sudden changes in their environment, to which any organization is exposed. Unfortunately, this context has become normalized.

The starting point is found in the fundamental purpose of public relations, a discipline dedicated to managing communication in environments characterized by instability, insecurity and complexity. This may include dynamic, uncertain or conflictive scenarios, as well as embarrassing crises and information overload among various social actors. Since its inception, public relations have conceived and executed communication strategies aimed at mitigating conflicts that may affect the reputation of the parties involved, while promoting authentic and solid relationships between the organizations they have represented and their various publics, as well as with other social groups they have been able to serve. This discipline, based on empirical research, has developed strategies, facilitated decision-making and trained the different actors involved to face turbulent environments with proven effectiveness (Anderson-Meli & Koshy, 2020; Cutlip & Center, 1978; Grunig & Hunt, 2000; Heide & Simonsson, 2015; Johansen et al., 2012; Kim et al., 2019; Kunsch, 1986; L’Etang, 2009; L’Etang et al., 2016; López Menacho, 2018; Losada-Díaz, 2018; Matilla & Marca, 2013; Mazzei & Butera, 2021; Murphy, 2000; Ulmer et al., 2018; Wilcox et al., 2015; Xifra, 2017; Yaxley, 2022).

The hyperconnected society we live in is a constant melting pot of chaos and permacrisis (Sriramesh et al., 2020; Taylor, 2010). The speed with which information about any event or situation spreads raises all the alarms and shapes the communicative and relational interactions between social actors, both at local and supranational levels. In this context, the ability to reach agreements among disagreements becomes more crucial than ever.

Non-linear and disruptive change has become the norm for organizations and society in general (Ragas & Ragas, 2021). War conflicts, climate change, drought, poverty, inequality and the silent increase in violence, abuse and exploitation are just some of the most notable events today, with economic, political, technological, and social consequences whose scope remains unpredictable for organizations and their audiences.

In this context, called with the acronym VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) (Baran & Woznyj, 2021; Dühring & Zerfass, 2021; Ragas & Ragas, 2021), public relations emerge as a vital resource to help organizations to address these challenges. This is because the strategic component of communication, inherent to the discipline, is essential to confer agility to the organization (Baran & Woznyj, 2021; Dühring & Zerfass, 2021; Ragas & Ragas, 2021; Werder, 2021). In this sense, the praxis of public relations plays a fundamental role in reducing uncertainty and ambiguity, simplifies the complex issues facing the organization and monitors any volatile factors that could otherwise increase organizational fragility and complicate its understanding for key audiences. The corrective that public relations provide is to persistently build positive images and cultivate support and alliances with these audiences (Dühring & Zerfass, 2021). Furthermore, by providing constant interaction with stakeholders, public relations fosters innovation and facilitates organizational evolution (Ragas & Ragas, 2021), with two-way communication being the cornerstone of this adaptation process (Baran & Woznyj, 2021).

Recovering the notion of agility, understood as the ability of individuals, teams or organizations to anticipate and respond quickly to change (Baran & Woznyj, 2021), this competence becomes essential among leaders in charge of guiding their organizations in the midst of turbulence (Baran & Woznyj, 2021; Dühring & Zerfass, 2021; Ragas & Ragas, 2021). According to Baran and Woznyj (2021, p. 1), “For organizations, agility involves ongoing sensing and monitoring of the environment and of the organization’s stakeholders to detect and respond rapidly to weak signals of threats or opportunities.” Therefore, it is not surprising that authors such as Dühring and Zerfass (2021, p. 96) highlight that public relations, based on theories such as systems theory (Cutlip & Center,1978; Grunig & Hunt, 2000), the theory of complexity (Gilpin & Murphy, 2008; Murphy, 1996, 2000; Nothhaft & Wehmeier, 2007) and contingency theory (Long & Hazelton, 1987), address aspects related to the agility that should characterize the professional profile of public relations and, consequently, enable to manage the tumultuous environments that disrupt organizations. Thus, whether due to increased confusion, noise, or lack of understanding of the organizational environment, each of these phenomena represents a struggle and an opportunity that continually tests the practice of public relations (or demands responses by part of public relations).

Effective leadership that speeds up the handling of these scenarios requires a detailed analysis of the context, a crucial aspect to promote precise and appropriate strategies. According to authors such as Baran, Woznyj, Dühring and Zerfass, public relations leadership, through the communication strategy it promotes in organizations, must necessarily consider both the internal and external environment, which includes a variety of publics, such as employees, government authorities, industrial actors, competitors, activists, clients, among other audiences.

Details

Pages
174
ISBN (PDF)
9783631924044
ISBN (ePUB)
9783631924051
ISBN (Softcover)
9783631907764
DOI
10.3726/b22162
Language
English
Publication date
2024 (August)
Keywords
Communication Directors Communication Management Corporate Communication Digitalization Diversity Employee Engagement Institutional Communication
Published
Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, New York, Oxford, 2024. 174 pp. 38 fig.b/w, 15 tables.

Biographical notes

Marc Compte-Pujol (Volume editor) Joan Cuenca-Fontbona (Volume editor) Paula Pineda-Martínez (Volume editor)

Marc Compte-Pujol is a full-time Lecturer at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalonia) and a part-time Lecturer at Blanquerna - Ramon Llull University in Barcelona (Spain). He is the Treasurer of the Catalan Communication Society of the Institute of Catalan Studies (SCC-IEC). Joan Cuenca-Fontbona is a Tenured Professor at the Blanquerna - Ramon Llull University School of Communication and International Relations of Barcelona. He is a member of the associations Dircom, Dirci, EUPRERA, AIRP and the Catalan Communication Society of the Institute of Catalan Studies. Paula Pineda-Martínez is an Assistant Professor at University of the Basque Country (Universidad del País Vasco, UPV/EHU) in Spain. She is member of prestigious national and international research projects, including “EU Kids Online” and “NIK” on the Basque language brand.

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Title: Sorting Out the Chaos for Public Relations Leaders