Excellent public relations and effective organizations: a study of communication management in three countries

668 Pages·2002·51.54 MB·English

by  Larissa A. Grunig

EXCELLENT PUBLIC RELATIONS
AND EFFECTIVE ORGANIZATIONS
A Study of Communication Management
in Three Countries
COMMUNICATION SERIES
Jennings Bryant/Dolf Zillmann, General Editors
Selected titles in Public Relations (James Grunig, Advisory Editor) include:
Austin/Pinkleton Strategic Public Relations Management: Planning and
l
Managing Effective Communication Programs
Culbertson / Chen International Public Relations: A Comparative Analysis
l
Dozier / Grunig/ Grunig Guide to Excellence in Public Relations
l
and Communication Management
Fearn-Banks Crisis Communications: A Casebook Approach
l
Grunig Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management
l
Ledingham / Bruning Public Relations as Relationship Management:
l
A Relational Approach to the Study and Practice of Public Relations
Lerbinger The Crisis Manager: Facing Risk and Responsibility
l
Spicer Organizational Public Relations: A Political Perspective
l
For a complete list of titles in Communication Series, please contact
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers at www.erlbaum.com.
EXCELLENT PUBLIC RELATIONS
AND EFFECTIVE ORGANIZATIONS
A Study of Communication Management
in Three Countries
LARISSA A. GRUNIG
Department of Communication
University of MaryZand
JAMES E. GRUNIG
Department of Communication
University of Maryland
DAVID M. DOZIER
School of Communication
San Diego State University
The Excellence Study was funded through a grant
from the International Associition of Business
RESEAI(~~TMI ON Communicators (IABC) Research Foundation
1
EL
LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS
2002 Mahwah, New Jersey London
Copyright 0 2002 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in
any form, by photostat, microform, retrieval system, or any other
means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers
10 Industrial Avenue
Mahwah, New Jersey 07430
Cover design by Kathryn Houghtaling-Lacey
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Grunig, Larissa A.
Excellent public relations and effective organizations : a study of communication
management in three countries : Larissa A. Grunig, James A. Grunig, David M. Dozier.
p. cm. - communication series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8058-1817-O (casebound : alk. paper) - ISBN o-8058-1818-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Corporations-Public relations-United States. 2. Corporations-Public
relations-Canada. 3. Corporations-Public relations-Great Britain. I. Grunig, James E.
II. Dozier. David M. III. Title. IV. Series.
HD59.6.U6 G78 2002
2002016471
CIP
Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on acid-free paper,
and their bindings-are chosen for strength and durabili-q.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
We dedicate this book to our friend and colleague Fred C. Repper, who died
May 5,2001, before he had the chance to read this final product of our collabo-
rative work. Fred was a valuable member of the Excellence team. He provided
insight into the world of working professionals to which we-as academics-do
not have such ready access as he did. We remember fondly his insights, his sup-
port and encouragement, and the good times we had with Fred and his wife,
Dorothy Repper.
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Contents
ix
Preface
1 Excellence in Public Relations and Communication
Management: A Review of the Theory and Results
2 Methodology of the Excellence Study 31
3 Isolating the Excellence Factor 55
4 The Value of Public Relations 90
5 Empowerment of the Public Relations Function 140
6 Communicator Roles 196
7 Organization of the Communication Function,
Relationship to Other Management Functions,
and Use of Consulting Firms 262
8 Models of Public Relations 306
9 The Origins, Management, and Outcomes of Programs
for Key Publics 383
Vii
*..
Vlll CONTENTS
10 Activism and the Environment 442
11 Inside the Organization: Culture, Structure,
Systems of Internal Communication, Job Satisfaction,
Gender, and Diversity 480
12 New Directions for Research Suggested
by the Excellence Study 538
Appendix A. Questionnaires for Heads of Public
Relations Departments 563
Appendix B. Questionnaire for CEO or Other Member
of the Dominant Coalition 601
Appendix C. Employee Questionnaire 610
Appendix D. Qualitative Interview Protocol 619
Author Index 625
Subject Index 631
Preface
During the summer of 1984, the IABC Foundation (now the IABC Research
Foundation) issued a request for proposals for a research project that gave us a
chance to conduct what is probably the largest study ever of the public relations
profession. The IABC Foundation wanted to know “how, why, and to what ex-
tent communication affects the achievement of organizational objectives.”
Project director James Grunig assembled a research team of both scholars and
practitioners from the United Kingdom as well as the United States. The team
consisted of the three of us, James Grunig and Larissa Grunig of the University
of Maryland and David Dozier of San Diego State University, along with Wil-
liam Ehling, then of Syracuse University and now retired, Jon White, then of
the Cranfield School of Management in the United Kingdom and now with City
University of London, and Fred Repper, the retired vice president of public rela-
tions for Gulf States Utilities in Beaumont, Texas.
This team demonstrated what true collaboration means. Together, we put
together a proposal that promised to review the literature on organizational ef-
fectiveness to develop an answer to the question of how and why public rela-
tions has value to an organization. Because we believed that not all public rela-
tions units have value to their organizations, however, we also promised to do
an extensive review of the literature on public relations to isolate the character-
istics that make it more likely that a communication unit will add value to an or-
ganization. We could do that because each member of the team had been
heavily involved in research on different, but complementary, aspects of com-
munication management-such as strategic management, practitioner roles,
gender and diversity, models of public relations, operations research, employee
communication, organizational culture, and activism.
In the summer of 1985, the IABC Foundation awarded us a grant for
$400,000 to conduct the project we had outlined. The literature review started
ix