PR RESEARCH FINAL PROJECT

Actual Word Count : 5974 (excluding tables

PR Research Final Project

Improved Internal Corporate Communications

A Practice-based Theoretical Conceptualization

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

There is a widespread belief in the professional world that in today 's society the future of any one company depends critically on how it is viewed by key stakeholders such as shareholders and investors , customers and consumers , employees , and members of the community in which the company resides . Public activism , globalization and recent accounting scandals have further strengthened this belief and have also brought the importance

of strategic communications management into closer orbit Not surprisingly , therefore , both the academic and professional worlds have been suggesting frameworks and models that prescribe steps towards the 'strategic ' use of communications including such ideas as 'integrated marketing communications (Kitchen and Schultz , 1999 'corporate identity management (Van Riel and Balmer , 1997 'reputation management (Fombrun , 1996 'stakeholder communications (Christensen and Cheney , 1994 ) and 'excellent public relations (Grunig and Grunig 1998

Much of this work has been prescriptive in suggesting frameworks for managing communications and for managing firm-stakeholder interactions as opposed to a more grounded and detailed understanding of the practices of branding and communications professionals and how these may make a difference in the management of firm-stakeholder relationships Such an understanding is , we suggest , particularly important given the rift between the importance placed by CEO 's and senior executives upon strategic corporate communications , that is , linking communications activities with the overall corporate strategy and objectives of the firm , and their views that there is a huge under-performance in the communications profession in the US , the UK and continental Europe because of a lack of qualified personnel and a limited understanding of what communication practices actually make a difference (Argenti et al , 2005 Murray and White , 2004 Van der Jagt , 2005

Against this background , I conducted primary research into practices (responsibilities , roles and activities ) of communications professionals in four corporations (Siemens , Nokia , Shell and Philips ) that have had consistently strong and glowing reputations over the past years , despite market setbacks and negative coverage in the media . The overall aim here was to elicit and conceptualize in more detail the activities and issues that define CC as a public relation function in practice . This extended conceptualization is based upon a view of CC as a 'practice , which focuses upon how practitioners engage in the doing the 'real work (Cook and Brown , 1999 ,

. 387 ) - a view that , I hope , will stimulate conceptual debate and empirical research and offer a more informed basis for practitioners to make sense of their professional realities and act upon it

CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND CRITIQUE

According to Ewen (1996 ) and Cutlip (1995 ) the professional discipline of public relations (PR ) - communication activities undertaken by an organization to inform , persuade or otherwise relate to individuals and groups in its outside environment - developed itself expanding in its scope and activities , because of public skepticism political reform , turmoil and activism throughout the 20th century . In PR 's early days as...