Public relations and professionalism: work to do to realise full potential
Public relations practitioners fall short of the expectations of a profession. It’s a limiting factor for public relations to realise its potential as a management discipline.
There is no barrier to entry to working in public relations. Anyone can decide to work in the sector and call themselves a practitioner. There’s little to distinguish it from the career path into hairdressing or estate agency. This is not to belittle any of these roles or their contribution to society, but it is a potential explanation for the failure of public relations to realise its potential both as a management discipline and function.
The characteristic and credibility of public relations practitioners is an important factor in the inclusion or exclusion of the public relations function within planning and decision making within an organisation. A lack of professional standards and broad business experience are factors that limit its role.
The European Communication Monitor reported in 2017 that four out of five public relations departments are failing to operate at their potential. This analysis is based on survey data supplied by practitioners. The situation from an organisational and management viewpoint is likely to be more even severe.
A profession provides a recognised standard by which society can identify competent and trusted practitioners. It is a form of social contract in which the attributes of a professional discipline are well understood by practitioners and the public. It also provides the basis for the provision of professional services provided by qualified practitioners.
Professions and professionalism are under threat from populism and high-profile cases of professional misconduct undermining public confidence and the general decline in trust in traditional institutions. Automation is extending from unskilled tasks to potentially eliminate professional jobs. Young people are turning away from professional careers, regarding celebrities and entrepreneurs as role models and viewing the professions as tired and elitist.
A shift to embrace the need professional public relations practice began in the 1980s as a reaction to propaganda and publicity. These activities are generally held in low regard by society. Practitioners recognised the opportunity to increase their value and public trust by adopting professional standard.
In the UK the public relations market employs 99,900 people and contributes £16.7 billion to the UK economy (Public Relations and Communications Association, 2021). In five years, it has grown from 83,000 people and £12.9 billion in 2016 (Public Relations and Communications Association, 2016). This data in each case has been collected by a third-party research agency.
Public relations practice has many of the attributes of a profession albeit practitioners commit themselves on a voluntary basis. It can be practiced in a professional context, but it does not meet all the criteria to recognised as a professional management discipline. A body of knowledge, ethics and certification are the three foundations of a profession. Eight of the key attributes of a profession are discussed as they related to public relations practice.
Skills based on theoretical knowledge
Public relations practice has weak ties with research. Practitioners and academics operate in almost entirely separate communities. There is limited interchange between the two areas. The application of even well-established public relations theory in practice is limited. Betteke van Ruler borrowed the title of a poplar book on gender issues to describe the situation between the two communities. She argued that professionals are from Venus and that scholars are from Mars and that the situation resulted from the failure of practice to professionalise.
An extensive period of education
There is no requirement in practice for a formal education in public relations despite the capabilities and skills required to practice public relations being well understood. Practitioners enter practice via a variety of routes ranging including administration, journalism, marketing, publicity, and social studies.
There is a recognition that the lack of a barrier to entry may result in broad diversity in practice, but there is no data to support this thesis. Apprenticeship schemes and public relation degrees are gaining in popularity which may be an indicator of future progress. Kevin Murray and Jon White reported the lack of high calibre practitioners as a limiting factor of the role of public relations practice within organisations.
Institutionalised training or a period of internship
There is no requirement in public relations for a conversation from theory to practice. This is related to previous point about education. Training schemes in practice are limited. Public relations practitioners learn on the job if at all.
Competence in practice
A Global Alliance project by the University of Huddersfield sought to define the competencies needed to practice public relations internationally. It sampled public relations practitioners and academics, and employers of public relations and communication management staff in the nine participant countries using a Delphi method. Participants responded to questionnaires with the results aggregated and shared with the groups for up to four rounds.
The Global Capabilities Framework emerged through the synthesis of country-based outcomes. The framework takes a high-level view in three areas: communication, organisation, and professional and is proposed as a framework for benchmarking, education, and training.
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1. To align communication strategies with organisational purpose and values 2. To identify and address communication problems proactively 3. To conduct formative and evaluative research to underpin communication strategies and tactics 4. To communicate effectively across a full range of platforms and technologies |
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Organisational Capabilities 5. To facilitate relationships and build trust with internal and external stakeholders and communities 6. To build and enhance organisational reputation 7. To provide contextual intelligence |
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Professional Capabilities 8. To provide valued counsel and be a trusted advisor 9. To offer organisational leadership 10. To work within an ethical framework on behalf of the organisation, in line with professional and societal expectations 11. To develop self and others, including continuing professional learning |
Table: The high-level Global Capabilities Framework
Continuous learning
While the capabilities to practice public relations have been defined by the Global Alliance and others, there is no requirement for practitioners to engage in continuous learning, just as there is no requirement for qualifications. Continuous professional development and formal mechanisms for bench marking capability and recording progress is provided by large public relations agencies and professional membership associations.
Agency and autonomy
The tension between public relations practitioners serving organisations and serving the public interest is raised in research literature. Researchers argue that the former should be prioritised over the latter. It’s an idealised sociological perspective with limited evidence in practice. The mindset and skills required for high calibre practitioners is usual. They must display an understanding of stakeholder needs and desires, and awareness of the organisation’s business model and operating environment, and the confidence to challenge the leaders of an organisation. It led Kevin Murray and Jon White to describe public relations practitioners of the future as advocates in the court of public opinion.
Professional accreditation and license to operate
There is no requirement in Asia, Europe, or the US for public relations practitioners to be licensed. Accreditation schemes operated by a national association are voluntary and have varying levels of reputation among practitioners and employers. The CIPR and PRCA in the UK both provide accreditation to members based on a combination of served and continuous learning. Both organisations provide a range of training and professional qualifications although neither stipulates a requirement for qualifications as a condition of membership or accreditation.
The CIPR was founded in 1948 as the Institute of Public Relations (IPR). Chartered status was granted by the Privy Council in 2005 enabling it grant Chartered accreditation to practitioners. Chartered status is typically recognised a measure of competence within a profession. Chartered accreditation in public relations initially required practitioners to provide a career history, write a pseudo academic essay on an area of practice, and attend a panel interview. Fifty practitioners achieved Chartered status in the first 10 years. The scheme was changed to a one-day assessment in three areas of practice in 2014: ethics, strategy, and leadership. This has significantly changed access with more than 600 practitioners now Chartered.
Code of ethics or rules of professional conduct
The CIPR and the PRCA both have codes of conduct that cover ethical and professional conduct. Complaints that be raised by a member of the public and are heard by professional practice committees. A case in heard by the PRCA accusing Bell Pottinger of stirring racial tensions in South Africa resulted in the agency being suspended from membership (Bond, 2017). It subsequently led to the collapse of the agency (Kwan Yuk, 2017).
The challenge with professional codes of conduct like many of the attributes of professionalism is that they are voluntary and only apply to members. The CIPR has 10,000 members, while the PRCA has 35,000. There is likely to be a significant level of duplication between the two membership organisations meaning that are considerable number of the 99,900 practitioners operating in the UK are members of neither organisation.
Professionalism in public relations is a work in progress
The report card for professionalism in public relations is work in progress. A possible explanation is the relative immaturity of the discipline compared other professions such as accountancy and law.
Table: A report card for professionalism in public relations
Public relations may have the potential to function as a management discipline. It may also have an aspiration to be a profession. However, it falls significantly short in both areas. Until practitioners measure themselves by the standards recognised by other management professions and the public it will fail to realise its potential. Practitioners are challenged to benchmark their professional practice against the criteria described.
I’m a PhD research student at Leeds Business School. This article is related to my area of study investigating the potential for public relations to operate as a management discipline. I'd be really interested to hear practitioner perspectives.
