chapter title: International
Public relations: Opportunities and Challenges for the 21st century
This chapter of the
book examines public relations under different topics and as it is practiced in
different countries
The topics are
Extensions of symmetrical research
Many researchers have
tried to study symmetry in public -relations around the world. Symmetry here
means Mutual understanding
These research results
below are extensions of the efforts of the IABC Excellence project. In an
attempt to come about these results, the researchers have;
1)
Tested and retested existing models of
research
2)
Merged different models of research to
make for better results
Their result conclude
that -
·
Public relations is better practiced
when Public relations is made part of the management – China.
·
International public relations messages
are better understood when they are applicable to large audience – India,
Greece and Taiwan
·
public relations also involves ‘Personal
influence relations” with government/and journalists often evading the masses
–Developing countires
·
excellent public relations practice is
reduced when practitioners are not involved in Strategic communication and
planning –Slovenia
·
at the organizational level, a
participatory culture is better than an authoritarian culture because
participatory culture provides a better environment for symmetrical
relationship building.
Contextualized/comparative research
This path of research
seeks to compare public relations practices from around the world. This is
based on the premise that cultural, social and political environments affect
the practice of PR
·
In Hungary, PR is often misinterpreted
to mean advertising. Employee relations and international communication is
becoming more important than public and media relations.
·
Public relations together with new
technologies are changing the face of public communications in former communist
states – public attitudes can be assessed and the right communication is
tailored to suit them.
·
In Romania public relations research
discovered two opposing attitudes. On one hand, PR is still being viewed
against the backdrop of Romania’s’ communist days, but on the other hand, efforts of creating mutual
understanding, are in existence.
·
In many other post-communist Countries also,
skepticism is the attitude that citizens of such countries have towards PR and
so the practice must be approached with care.
·
In Europe, the government policies make
it in a way inevitable for the lobbying to be practiced, because it is needed
to gain favorable influence.
·
Scholars encourage that PR practitioners
be included in the top level management.
·
Cultural backgrounds affect PR
practitioners - Austrian and Norwegian practitioners are less interested in
prestige and are more concerned with avoiding uncertainties as opposed to their
American counterparts
Pedagogy and ethics
This path of study examines the various bodies of
knowledge that guide practitioners in
other parts of the world. Many parts of the world need more improvement in
their teaching and knowledge base of PR.
·
In India , there is a short supply of
experienced teachers
·
In Thailand, the teachers lack Thai
content, and teaching is done based on knowledge gathered from other countries
·
In England Public relations is cloaked
under business studies
·
On the ethical path, practitioners are
encouraged to develop a universal set of ethics so that external publics will
see the practice more seriously
Exploring presuppositions
This path is concerned with looking into the
assumptions associated with international public relations. The findings are
that
·
Cultural bias affects how far public
relations is perceived as being able to better understand international publics
·
Therefore, practitioners must look
beyond these biases to practice their proffession more effectively. These
assumptions must be flexible in order to allow easy adjustment to whatever
situation presents itself in a new country
·
There is a political angle to every PR
activity that influences organizations decision making
