Издательство Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2006, -291 pp.
This book examines power and influence in and around the practice of public relations.We explore forces that shape and constrain the practice and argue that professionals must do more to resist these forces and increase their influence inside organizations. The central issue is how to do so, and we enter this ongoing conversation about what public relations is and might be through a power relations perspective.
Understanding operations of power in organizations seems necessary for advancing a profession that advocates for decisions, actions, and communications that fall in the area of doing the right thing. After all, helping organizations do the right things requires a thorough understanding of how things actually get done in those organizations. Michael Foucault (1988) claimed that every relationship is to some extent a power relation, and we are surrounded by ongoing strategic relations. Our own professional experiences suggest we encounter relations of power at our first moments in practice, and such relations attach to us like shadows as we march through assignments and years, whether we so name or engage them.
Our approach is counterintuitive:We argue that public relations professionals can increase their influence and legitimacy with organizational decision makers by engaging in resistance activities against the forces that constrain them. Longtime approaches to legitimate the profession— we call them Alpha approaches—have relied on case studies, accreditation and measurement initiatives, and repeated claims about the value and crucial role of the practice, among others. Despite such efforts to induce support from top decision makers, and there have been some successes, many professionals still do not hold a seat at the table, and the public image of the profession remains taished.
We contend that practitioners have many power and influence resources available for use, and they can benefit from developing and mobilizing more of them. They also may gain influence by supplementing traditional Alpha approaches with Omega approaches, which are forms of dissent, professional activism, and more controversial influence tactics that represent potentially rich but largely untapped power sources. Above all, professionals must possess the political will to engage in the often messy and confrontational power relations that occur in organizational decision-making arenas.
Ultimately, our conces are to first make sense of power relations and then to develop a portfolio of influence resources and tactics that practitioners may call upon when they engage in power relations. To do so, we have grounded the book in the workplace and the routines and structures of practice. Our combined 30 years of professional experience helped us construct our questions about power. For the answers, we tued to those in the practice fields.
Through depth interviews with nearly 200 diverse professionals, and survey responses from more than 1,000 others, we examine perceptions about power, influence, professional roles, constraints on practice, organizational politics, dissent, and activism. We also try to answer a number of related questions along the way. For example, how do PR professionals engage in power relations? What influence resources and tactics do they draw from, which ones are in short supply, and which ones are underdeveloped or underutilized? To what extent, and under what conditions, are practitioners willing to advocate forcefully and use dissent approaches? And what does it mean to do the right thing in public relations when organizational leaders make an inappropriate or questionable decision?
Influence in Public Relations and Why It’s Important
Public Relations Roles, Responsibilities, and the Right Thing
Resistance, Politics, and Power Relations
Identifying and Using Influence Resources in Public Relations
Alpha Approaches in Public Relations: The Use of Sanctioned Influence Tactics
The Communication Change Project at Whirlpool: Converting Power Into Performance
Omega Approaches in Public Relations: The Use of Unsanctioned Influence Tactics
The Use of Dissent in Public Relations
The Power of Political Will and Intelligence
Breaking Out of the Iron Cage of Practice
A Public Relations Manifesto
Appendix: The Dissent Survey
This book examines power and influence in and around the practice of public relations.We explore forces that shape and constrain the practice and argue that professionals must do more to resist these forces and increase their influence inside organizations. The central issue is how to do so, and we enter this ongoing conversation about what public relations is and might be through a power relations perspective.
Understanding operations of power in organizations seems necessary for advancing a profession that advocates for decisions, actions, and communications that fall in the area of doing the right thing. After all, helping organizations do the right things requires a thorough understanding of how things actually get done in those organizations. Michael Foucault (1988) claimed that every relationship is to some extent a power relation, and we are surrounded by ongoing strategic relations. Our own professional experiences suggest we encounter relations of power at our first moments in practice, and such relations attach to us like shadows as we march through assignments and years, whether we so name or engage them.
Our approach is counterintuitive:We argue that public relations professionals can increase their influence and legitimacy with organizational decision makers by engaging in resistance activities against the forces that constrain them. Longtime approaches to legitimate the profession— we call them Alpha approaches—have relied on case studies, accreditation and measurement initiatives, and repeated claims about the value and crucial role of the practice, among others. Despite such efforts to induce support from top decision makers, and there have been some successes, many professionals still do not hold a seat at the table, and the public image of the profession remains taished.
We contend that practitioners have many power and influence resources available for use, and they can benefit from developing and mobilizing more of them. They also may gain influence by supplementing traditional Alpha approaches with Omega approaches, which are forms of dissent, professional activism, and more controversial influence tactics that represent potentially rich but largely untapped power sources. Above all, professionals must possess the political will to engage in the often messy and confrontational power relations that occur in organizational decision-making arenas.
Ultimately, our conces are to first make sense of power relations and then to develop a portfolio of influence resources and tactics that practitioners may call upon when they engage in power relations. To do so, we have grounded the book in the workplace and the routines and structures of practice. Our combined 30 years of professional experience helped us construct our questions about power. For the answers, we tued to those in the practice fields.
Through depth interviews with nearly 200 diverse professionals, and survey responses from more than 1,000 others, we examine perceptions about power, influence, professional roles, constraints on practice, organizational politics, dissent, and activism. We also try to answer a number of related questions along the way. For example, how do PR professionals engage in power relations? What influence resources and tactics do they draw from, which ones are in short supply, and which ones are underdeveloped or underutilized? To what extent, and under what conditions, are practitioners willing to advocate forcefully and use dissent approaches? And what does it mean to do the right thing in public relations when organizational leaders make an inappropriate or questionable decision?
Influence in Public Relations and Why It’s Important
Public Relations Roles, Responsibilities, and the Right Thing
Resistance, Politics, and Power Relations
Identifying and Using Influence Resources in Public Relations
Alpha Approaches in Public Relations: The Use of Sanctioned Influence Tactics
The Communication Change Project at Whirlpool: Converting Power Into Performance
Omega Approaches in Public Relations: The Use of Unsanctioned Influence Tactics
The Use of Dissent in Public Relations
The Power of Political Will and Intelligence
Breaking Out of the Iron Cage of Practice
A Public Relations Manifesto
Appendix: The Dissent Survey