The many paradoxes of public relations

Six months into PhD research studies I know more and more about less and less. But that’s a good thing because I know exactly where I'm heading.

I’ve been publishing my research diary as I progress in my studies as a PhD research student. This is the latest post.

Academic study strips back a subject to its foundation and rebuilds it around a hypothesis to create new knowledge that is tested by peers. It’s the basis of human philosophy and progress.

The process is robust but it is also fragile and uncertain. The deconstruction of knowledge to tackle a research question requires critical appraisal and self-examination on the part of the researcher.

In my case the addition of 25 years in practice has led me to question the very foundation of my subject and its contribution to society.

I’m heading towards an important deadline where I must resubmit my original PhD research proposal based on what I’ve learnt during my initial six months of study.

Nothing of my original proposal remains apart from my name.

My study was originally motivated by observing how public relations contributed to organisational innovation and was elevated during COVID-19. I wanted to determine whether the conditions that enabled this could be captured and applied to future practice.

I naively believed at the outset of the process that I’d be able to develop a new codex for practice.

It took less two weeks to discover that there was a more fundamental issue and gap in research literature to make the case for the contribution of public relations to organisational decision making and strategy at a management level.

Herein lies the challenge in studying public relations. It is a professional activity that has evolved within the context of social systems. It is built on a foundation of contradictions and paradoxes.

This is fertile ground for a researcher. It provides the basis for creating new knowledge but there are so many gaps between theory and practice that is hard to know where to focus my studies.

It results from the relative immaturity of practice but also its failure to learn from the body of knowledge that has been developed in the sphere since the 1930s. It is incredibly frustrating.

Here are some examples.

A universal theory of public relations

There is no universal definition or theory of public relations. Instead, various ideologies have developed over the last century or so. I’ve identified seven. There are almost certainly more. They range from a study of social sciences to idealised theories of public relations practice.

What is public relations?

Public relations practiced in a professional context is used to describe a range of activities including publicity, stakeholder management, internal communications, and public affairs. There is limited evidence that the function or the value that it delivers to organisations is understood by practitioners let alone management.

A developing profession

Anyone can decide to work in public relations practice and call themselves a practitioner. The failure to adopt professional standards is a potential explanation for the failure of public relations to realise its potential as a management discipline.

Professionals are from Venus, scholars are from Mars

That’s not my line. It’s the title of a research paper by the inspirational Dutch scholar Betteke van Ruler. Academics and practitioners work in different communities. They read different media and attend different events. It’s a possible explanation for limited progress made on issues such as diversity and measurement.

Technical versus management

Public relations has two primary modes of operations in practice. At a technical level it can act as a means of content creation and communication with a group of stakeholders. At a management level it can contribute to strategic planning and decision making. The latter is far more valuable than the former.

Practitioner versus management perspective

There are countless practitioner studies of best practice and idealised examples of excellence in public relations. There are fewer management perspectives. Academics like practitioners have failed to prove their value to management aside from the work of an isolated number of committed researchers.

There’s a dozen or more of these paradoxes within public relations that could be set up as topics for debate. It is a truism that as I progress I know more and more about less and less.

I spent yesterday completing my research paper and purging my reference management system. It’s a database for recording books, papers and reports that you gather throughout the research process. Mine now houses more than 130 peices of content.

So, what’s next?

COVID-19 hasn’t resulted in the elevation of the public relations function within organisations. That’s a second order effect. But it has demonstrated its value. Management for its part faces a unique set of future challenges that fall within the sphere of public relations. This gap between practice and management is where I’m heading.