David M. Dozier

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

Contents: Preface. Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management: A Review of the Theory and Results. Methodology of the Excellence Study. Isolating the Excellence Factor. The Value of Public Relations. Empowerment of the Public Relations Function. Communicator Roles. Organization of the Communication Function, Relationship to Other Management Functions, and Use of Consulting Firms. Models of Public Relations. The Origins, Management, and Outcomes of Programs for Key Publics. Activism and the Environment. Inside the Organization: Culture, Structure, Systems of Internal Communication, Job Satisfaction, Gender, and Diversity. New Directions for Research Suggested by the Excellence Study. Appendices: Questionnaires for Heads of Public Relations Departments. Questionnaire for CEO or Other Member of the Dominant Coalition. Employee Questionnaire. Qualitative Interview Protocol.

Manager's guide to excellence in public relations and communication management

Contents: Preface. What Is Communication Excellence? Part I: Communicator Knowledge Base. Knowing How to Manage Strategically. Knowing Two-Way Communication Practices. Knowing Traditional Communicator Skills. Build Your Knowledge Base. Part II: Shared Expectations About Communication. The Power of the Communication Department. Shared Expectations of Communication. Building Linkages to the Dominant Coalition. What CEOs Should Do About Excellence. Part III: The Character of Organizations. Participation and Authority in the Culture of Organizations. Empowering Women and Culturally Diverse Employees. The Global Qualities of Excellence. Changing the Character of Organizations. Part IV: Putting Excellence to Work. Origins of Communication Programs. Using Traditional and Advanced Practices. Communication Excellence Makes a Difference. Appendix: How the Excellence Study Was Conducted.

Advancement for Public Relations Role Models.

In this update of Glen Brooms 1979 survey of public relations practitioners, the authors have returned to the original participants to collect data on advancement from entry-level technician levels to managerial levels. Their results are disturbing. While managers and technicians in 1985 differed little on years of formal education, the managerial category was disproportionately male—the same situation that prevailed in 1979. The large number of women at the lower-level technician role cannot be attributed to the influx of women into the profession, since the 1985 survey polled those who were already working in public relations in 1979. Salary differences for men and women remain statistically significant. The authors conclude that advancement in public relations is clearly a function of the practitioners gender and role in the profession. Glen M. Broom is a visiting professor in the Department of Journalism, University of Texas, Austin. David Dozier is an associate professor in the Department of Journalism, San Diego State University. This article was adapted from an invited paper at the Association for Education and Journalism and Mass Communication convention in Memphis, Tenn., August 1985. This research and the assistance of graduate student David Applegate were made possible by grants from the Foundation for Public Relations Research and Education.

Liberating the Intellectual Domain From the Practice: Public Relations, Activism, and the Role of the Scholar

Unlike practitioners, public relations scholars must consider unintended consequences of public relations practices at the societal and individual levels. By extending the domain in this way, logical paradoxes involving activism and nomothetic models of public relations may be resolved through the introduction of critical theory. Use of critical theory illuminates the role of invisible clients in setting the public relations research agenda and in truncating our intellectual vision. Critical theory suggests ways to study activism from a new perspective that would enhance practices and further the evolution of the intellectual domain.

Program evaluation and the roles of practitioners

Pressure from several corners is forcing public relations practitioners to think about ways to measure and evaluate public relations impact. Professional associations and publications are providing guidance to practitioners seeking to measure their activities while educators are working to introduce evaluative research instruction to communications curricula. Perhaps the strongest call for redefining public relations, according to this author, was made by Edward J. Robinson, who said that the practitioner of the future will be “an applied social scientist”. He sees public relations as moving away from “seat-of-the-pants” approaches and toward what he terms “scientifically derived knowledge”. The author of this article attempted, through a survey conducted in 1981, to determine to what extent todays public relations professionals operate as “seat-of-the-pants” communicators or as professionals increasingly dependent on scientific techniques—or some combination of both.

The Media Agenda-Setting Effect of Concrete versus Abstract Issues.

This exploratory study matches a content analysis sample of Time magazine coverage of two “concrete” issues (drug abuse, energy) and two “abstract” issues (nuclear arms race, federal budget deficit) with Gallup Poll data over a lengthy period to find confirmation of the hypothesis: The media set the agenda with news about specific news events which readers/viewers can visualize, but the effect does not hold for news abstractions hard for readers/viewers to relate to. The study develops measures, tested independently in a separate, second study reported, to divide issues into either concrete or abstract categories. In agenda-setting terms, the study concludes, concreteness increases news media agenda-setting power; abstractness decreases agenda-setting power.

Making a difference in prime time: Women on screen and behind the scenes in the 1995–96 television season

Considering the top 65 prime‐time series in the first 14 weeks of the 1995–96 television season, this study examined the relationship between women working behind the scenes and use of powerful language by female characters. Powerful language attributes included how often female characters spoke, had the first and/or last substantive word, interrupted, and advised others. The study found somewhat inconsistent relationships between women working behind the scenes and the use of powerful televisual language patterns by female characters. Female executive producers and producers appear to be more influential in the use of powerful language than female writers or directors.

Media Self-Efficacy: Validation of a New Concept

In this study, we provide evidence of construct and discriminant validity for measures of self-efficacy in using television, newspaper, and interpersonal communication to monitor politics in everyday life. Data were drawn from a survey of undergraduates (N = 576) at a large public university. Self-efficacy is a key mediating variable in social learning theory, consisting of a combination of beliefs that one can perform tasks and that desired consequences follow from successful performance. Self-efficacy subscales were correlated with media uses, exposure, intellectual stimulation, credibility, political efficacy, and participation, which supported construct validity of measures. Subscale correlations supported the discriminant validity of media self-efficacy measures.

Recognition and Respect Revisited: Portrayals of Age and Gender in Prime-Time Television

Analyzing prime-time programs from the 2002–2003 season, this study examined the recognition and respect afforded characters in varying demographic groups. Although Americans 60 and older constitute 18% of the population, findings indicate that such individuals comprised only 4% of major characters in prime-time television. Overall, up to age 60, leadership and occupational power increased with age. However, middle-aged males were more likely to play leadership roles and wield occupational power than their female counterparts.

Evening the Score in Prime Time: The Relationship Between Behind-the-Scenes Women and On-Screen Portrayals in the 2002-2003 Season

Using situation comedies and dramas airing on the 6 broadcast networks in the 2002-2003 prime-time season, this study analyzed employment of women behind the scenes and more equitable portrayals of female and male characters. In 78 separate tests, the employment of one or more women writers, creators, or executive producers was associated with reduced on-screen gender differences in leadership, occupational power, and goal-seeking behavior, when compared to programs with all-male writers, creators, and executive producers. In 5 of 9 tests, no statistically significant gender differences regarding leadership, occupational power, and goal-seeking behavior were found when women were present behind the scenes.