PUBLIC RELATIONS THEORIES PRACTICES Samuel T Ramos Jr

PUBLIC RELATIONS THEORIES & PRACTICES Samuel T. Ramos, Jr. , MCM

Key Theories for PR Practitioners Theory helps clarify our thinking and gives substance to our recommendations, giving us a concrete and rational foundation for decisionmaking. Theory is especially helpful when thinking about how to tackle an issue, how to work out a plan of action or what is going on in the communications strategies, explaining concepts to colleagues and clients or giving focus when we need directions.

Theory 1 -Shannon & Weaver One of the oldest and simplest theories about communications came from Shannon and Weaver (1949). But Shannon and Weaver were not PR professionals; they worked for Bell Laboratories, Inc. in the US.

The “Transmission” model of Communications • Informatio n • Receiver • Transmitte r Communicati on Signal Noise source message • Destinatio n

Theory 2 - James Carey Invention and technology have played a huge part in the development of corporate communications. James Carey was an American academic and journalism specialist. In his book Communication As Culture (1989) Carey discussed the development of the telegraph and its understated role in developments in communication. The nonelectric telegraph was invented by Claude Chappe in 1794 and was a visual system using semaphore.

Multi- Channel Communication Model Encodin g Meaning Decodin g

Theory 3 - Grunig & Huntʻs 4 Models Managing Public Relation written by Grunig and Hunt (1984) highlighted four model for how organizations can chose to practise public relations. The four models developed more or less chronologically through the 20 th century. This is probably the most often-cited theory of PR and these theories are still relevant, taught as part of the graduate, postgraduate and vocational qualifications across the UK and overseas.

The Four Models Press Public Information Model Agent Mode Two-way Asymmetrical l Model Two-way Symmetrical model

Theory 4 - Robert Cialdini and Influence Arguably one of the key tasks of corporate communications is to influence others to “comply” with what you want; which may be to understand an issue, engage in debate, prefer or like or support your point of view or behave a different way. Robert Cialdini, Regentsʻ Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University has made influence his lifeʻs work.

Having observed extensively how influence works by studying “compliance professionals” (people skilled in getting others to do what they want them to do salespeople, fundraisers, recruiters, advertisers and so on and so forth. He published in 1984 Influence: The psychology of persuasion. He arrived at what he called his six “weapons” of influence and we can see these six principles at work in many successful PR and communications programmes.

The six Weapons Reciprocity Commitment and consistency Social proof Liking Authority Scarcity

Theory 5 Patrick Jackson and others Patrick Jackson was a PR Practitioner working in the US. In 1956 he founded Jackson & Wagner, a behavioural PR and management consulting firm, and he was editor of US newsletter PR Reporter for over 25 years. He and other (Center, Jackson, Smith and Stansberry 2007) considered the steps communicators have to go though in order to effect behaviour change:

awarenes s knowledg e preferenc e interest action

Theory 6 - Mendelsohnʻs Three Assumptions for success In the book Strategic PR Management: Planning and managing effective communications programs (2008) Erica Weintraub Austin and Bruce E. Pinkleton make reference to the PR practitioner Mendelsohn ran campaigns in the 1960 s attempting to increase traffic safety. Mendelsohn (1973) believed campaigns often failed because campaign designers overpromised, assuming the public would automatically receive and enthusiastically accept their messages, and blasting the public with messages.

The three assumptions 1. target your message 2. assume your target public is uninterested in your messages. Set reasonable, midrange goals and objectives

Theory 7 - hierarchy of effects theory of persuasion This is a sequential representation of how advertising influences a consumerʻs decision to purchase—or not—a product or service. The hierarchy of effects theory is used to set up a structured series of message objectives with the aim of building on each successive step until the sale is achieved. Although this model is used to plan an advertising campaigns it is a useful one to look at in relation to PR programmes too as often these require a stepped approach depending on where the consumer is at the start of the process.

12 Steps 1. Exposure 2. Attention 3. Involvement/engagement 4. Comprehension 5. Knowledge and ability (learning how) 6. Persuasion (attitude change) 7. Storing the new position in memory 8. Information retrieval 9. Motivation (decision) 10. Behaviour change 11. Reinforcement of behaviour/attitude 12. Post-behaviour consolidation

Theory 8 - Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) The elaboration model of persuasion is one of the leading theories describing how we process messages. In 1980 Richard E. Petty and John T. Cacioppo developed ELM. The theory is simple: in order to evaluate any message, a person must be motivated and able to assess its merit. Cacioppo and Petty (Communication & Persuasion 1986) concluded that there is a big variation in the amount of elaboration (or thoughtful attention) people are willing to engage in when considering messages.

ELM theory is bourne out by recent developments in cognitive neuropsychology. The brainʻs underlying structural operating systems match the ELMʻs central and peripheral processes. Some commentators have called this “fast” and “slow” learning systems. The fast-learning system is where new information is quickly taken in without much thought (likened to the peripheral route) and the slow-learning system is like the central route where information is slowly analysed before being stored.

Theory 9 - emotional intelligence (EI) Most theories involving communications and behaviour become more powerful and meaningful when related to emotional intelligence. This theory gives us a way of understanding and assessing human behaviours, management styles, attitudes, interpersonal skills and potential. It can help us think about how we communicate personally and corporately and brings compassion and humanity to our work.

Early emotional intelligence theory was developed during the 1970 s and 80 s by psychologists Howard Gardner (Harvard), Peter Salovey (Yale) and John ʻJackʻ Mayer (New Hampshire). But it was Daniel Golemanʻs seminal work Emotional Intelligence (2006) that put emotional intelligence on the map. He also coined the term “EQ” emotional quotient contrasting with the intelligence quotient “IQ”. -know you emotions -managing your own emotions -motivating yourself -recognizing and understanding otherʻs emotion -managing relationships (managing the EQ of others)

Theory 10 -public relations as discipline Dr. Jacquie LʻEtang, who is currently Professor of PR and Applied Communication at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, wrote a scholarly and influential paper for the journal American Behavioural Scientist in 2009, entitled “PR and Diplomacy in a globalized world: an issue of public communication Jacquie compares and contrasts public relations with diplomacy and looks at public relations diplomatic work for nation states.

Theory 11 -the rhetorical and ethical orientation of PR More recent theories look at how organizations communicate externally, looking at their rhetoric, and how this impacts on how they are perceived in terms of reputation. In “External organizational rhetoric: bridging management and socio-political discourseʻ, Management Communication Quarterly (2011) Robert Heath of the University of Houston, explored how organizations engage constructively and destructively in the discourse that defines their legitimacy.

Theory 12 - postmodernist PR theory Academics working in the field of public relations are now suggesting that public relations should be freed from its narrowly defined position within organizational communication management. Up until now, theory and practice of public relations has been based on it being a strategic management function– the modernist theory. Postmodernist PR theory rejects the manager as a rational being who has the ability to determine organizational outcomes through strategies and instead suggests that postmodern PR practitioners will be activists within organizations

In her book Public Relations as Activism: Postmodern approaches to theory and Derina Holzhausen (2013) focuses on the postpractice, modernization of society, and the possibilities postmodern theories offer to explain and understand public relations practice in todayʻs changing society. She looks at these issues and their application to public relations theory and practice and suggests that public relations practice can be see as approaches to current public relations practices than seeking consensus and symmetry.