Glen M. Broom

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.

Testing the practitioner's impact on clients

How do public relations clients view their consultants? What type of performance will earn high ratings and what type will rate low? These questions were considered by researchers who constructed a typology of public relations roles which were scrutinized in a laboratory situation. Their conclusions will be enlightening to the public relations practitioner who is trying to decide what new clients expect of him or her.

A comparison of sex roles in public relations

This article reports on the authors survey of members of the Public Relations Society of America in which he evaluated mens and womens perceptions of professional role models. Glen M. Broom asked a systematic sample of PRSA members to respond to questions about four conceptual role models: the expert prescriber, the communication technician, the communication facilitator and the problem-solving process facilitator. The results indicate that public relations practitioners see themselves in only two roles—those of communication technician and some combination of the other three models. He found that men and women differ significantly: Men see themselves primarily in the expert prescriber role, while women reported the communication technician as their dominant role.

Coorientational measurement of public issues

Public relations practitioners traditionally use public opinion surveys to measure the effectiveness of their programs. The more the public agrees with the organizations point-of-view, according to this traditional approach, the more successful the program has been. Broom argues, however, that such public opinion surveys “do not provide all the information needed to adequately describe corporate-public relationships on issues of mutual concern.” He introduces the coorientational approach to measurement, which he says provides additional indicators of public relations effect. These indicators include mutual understanding, accuracy, and congruency-in addition to the traditional objective of agreement. Broom discusses how these concepts can be used in identifying public relations problems, planning PR programs, and in measuring effects of programs. He then provides examples of actual use of the coorientational framework in public relations-related research.

Public relations and marketing: Dividing the conceptual domain and operational turf

Abstract In January 1989, four national leaders in marketing and public relations met in San Diego to clarify the concepts underlying these two management functions. Colloquium participants agreed that public relations and marketing use the same techniques to build and maintain relationships, but the relationships are different. They conclude that while public relations and marketing must work together to achieve organizational goals, they draw from fundamentally different philosophies to achieve their different missions.

Case study effects on student opinions of big business

The authors of the article report favorably on the use of case-study kits prepared by industry for use by public relations students. In this case, Standard Oil of Indiana furnished public relations packets about the issue of divestiture of the oil industry to 3,500 students. A purposive sample of participating students and their professors was then polled as to the packets effectiveness in increasing positive opinions about business among students.