Ways to Promote Your Business

What Are Public Relations Theories?

The importance of public relations theory is to give an understanding to public relations practitioner of how and what makes public relations work. During the early days of public relations there were no theories that had been formulated, so early practitioners had little or no guidelines for directing them to crafting communications plans, tactics, strategies, or programs.

James E. Grunig who has been practicing public relations for over 20 years and is widely regarded as a public relations guru and Todd Hunt suggested models that have helped tremendously to create advances in the field of public relations. His theories have guided practitioners to become better and more ethical in their field.

 

What Are These Theories By Grunig and Hunt?

The four models in Grunig’s and Hunt’s theories have developed into models by which the practices of today are analyzed and judged by. Here is a review of the four models:

 

Press Agentry Model

During the 19th century press agents labored to create news to influence public opinion. A press agent does not conduct surveys or research: they just want to manipulate behavior. Accuracy and credibility are not priorities with this kind of model.

This is a one way communication from the press agents to their publics that uses persuasion and manipulation to influence behavior of an audience. This method is usually employed by practitioners for one way communications to sell products or services without any quantitative analysis of the results.

 

 Public Information Model

This model is still a one way communications method but accuracy of the message becomes more vital. This model does not consider information about the audience to be essential in constructing messages and releases. In the early 20th century there was move among some enlightened public relations practitioners towards more truthful and accurate messages.

The move away from half truths and outright falsehoods was the precursor to increasing ethical practices. Although this model still does not have any methods for quantitative analysis of the results practitioners are slightly more inclined to gather feedback from their audiences. This model is used mostly by government agencies, military units, and law enforcement agencies.

 

 Two- Way Asymmetric Model

Feedback is more important to practitioner but the aim is not to improve organizational practices but rather to influence attitudes of their audiences. After World War I there was an increase in consumer products which also dictated the need for marketing that was targeted specifically for a definite demographic or audience.

Although this model advocates two way communication practitioners are hardly thinking about balanced communication. The goal of this model is to get into the psychology of their audience so that messages can be tailored to get the most effective reaction. This is the method most used by advertisers all round the world.

 

Two -Way Symmetric Model

James Grunig, one of the leading public relations scholars in the world, proposes his model of two-way, symmetrical communication as the best way to achieve ethical decisions. He bases his theory on the following assumptions:

• Collaboration, working jointly with others, is a key value in ethical decisions.
• The process of dialogue with different people allows for both listening and arguing.
• Not everyone will get what they want, but dialogue will lead to the most ethical outcome.

This is probably the most ethical method of all the models. The aim of this model is dialogue not monologue. The feedback that the organization gathers is used to change organizational practices.

Negotiation, resolution of conflict, mutual understanding, and mutual respect between the organization and its publics are the desired results of this model. This model is often employed by business or non-profit organizations that find themselves in a conflict situation. This model attempts to find a mutually advantageous solution to a problem.

This approach requires the public relations practitioner to balance their role as advocate for their client with their role as social conscience. Opponents of this model say it falls short for failing to address the question of how far PR professionals should go in counseling their clients and employers to address the needs of others. Other critics contend that two-way symmetrical public relations are an unrealistic, utopian ideal.