Maureen Taylor

Building dialogic relationships through the world wide web

Abstract This article provides a theory-based, strategic framework to facilitate relationship building with publics through the World Wide Web. Although many essays on the Web have appeared in professional and technical periodicals, most treatments of the Web have lacked theoretical frameworks. Strategic communication on the World Wide Web can benefit from a consideration of dialogic communication. This article offers dialogic communication as a theoretical framework to guide relationship building between organizations and publics. Five strategies are provided for communication professionals use to create dialogic relationships with Internet publics.

Toward a Dialogic Theory of Public Relations.

Abstract This essay clarifies the concept of dialogue in public relations. As public relations theory and research move toward a two-way relational communication model, many scholars and practitioners are increasingly using the terms “dialogic” and “dialogue” to describe ethical and practical approaches to public relations. The concept of dialogue is deeply rooted in philosophy and relational communication theory. Its inclusion in the public relations vocabulary is an important step toward understanding how organizations can build relationships that serve both organizational and public interests. This essay traces the roots of dialogue, identifies several over-arching tenets, and provides three ways that organizations can incorporate dialogue into their communication with publics.

How activist organizations are using the Internet to build relationships

Abstract This study examines the mediated communication of activist organizations to understand how these groups use their Web sites to build relationships with publics. A study of one hundred environmental organization Web sites identified common features and examined the incorporation of dialogic communication into this new medium. The data suggest that while most activist organizations meet the technical and design aspects required for dialogic relationship building on the Web, they are not yet fully engaging their publics in two-way communication. Moreover, it appears that the activist organizations are better prepared to address the needs of member publics rather than media needs.

Dialogic Engagement: Clarifying Foundational Concepts

The principle of engagement underlies much of the relational and organization–public communication research. Unfortunately, the principle of engagement suffers from a lack of clarity in the public relations literature. Use of the term engagement varies widely. This article clarifies the principle of engagement by positioning it within dialogue theory. We posit a conceptualization of engagement as: Engagement is part of dialogue and through engagement, organizations and publics can make decisions that create social capital. Engagement is both an orientation that influences interactions and the approach that guides the process of interactions among groups.

Internet-Based Communication in Crisis Management

This article examines how organizations integrate the Internet into crisis communication. Results suggest four findings about Internet usage in crisis. First, a majority of the organizations studied are turning to the Internet to communicate with the public and the news media during a crisis. Second, organizational type does not appear to be a factor in the integration of the Internet in crisis response with financial organizations, new technology organizations, and consumer product organizations as the most frequent adopters. Third, crisis type does not appear to be a factor in an organization’s decision to use the Internet in its immediate crisis response. Fourth, although most organizations are incorporating both traditional and new media communication tactics into their responses to crisis, there is a continued preference for traditional tactics. These findings illustrate how mediated communication may create new possibilities for crisis response and are translated into suggestions for how managers can integrate new media into their mix of communication tactics in crisis management.

Cultural variance as a challenge to global public relations: A case study of the Coca-Cola scare in Europe

Abstract On June 14, 1999, school children in Belgium became ill after drinking Coca-Cola. The Belgian government ordered a recall of all bottles of Coca-Cola and banned the sale of all related Coke products. In a rush to safeguard the health of their publics, the governments of Spain and France banned the sale of Coca-Cola soft drinks. However, other nations near Belgium, including Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, did not ban sales of Coke products. Why did some nations rush to ban products made by Coca-Cola while other nations waited for more information about the crisis? One answer may be found in an examination of the cultural dynamics of these six nations. The purpose of this article was to explore cultural variability, especially uncertainty avoidance and power distance, and to examine how it affects public response to crisis. An analysis of the national cultures of each of these countries showed that publics who live in nations that are high in uncertainty avoidance and power distance tend to react more strongly, and more quickly, to perceived threats. Maureen Taylor is assistant professor in the Department of Communication at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.

Challenging assumptions of international public relations: When government is the most important public

Abstract To learn more about international public relations it is important to explore the assumptions underlying each nations practice. Through such analysis, we learn that many of the assumptions that guide Western theories and practices are not applicable in other regions of the world. This article examines one assumption—that the practice of public relations targets a variety of key organizational publics. In many developing nations it is government officials rather than the general public who are of greatest importance to effective public relations. If government is the most important public in developing nations, then this relationship will influence the practice of public relations. Maureen Taylor is an Assistant Professor of Communication at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Michael Kent is an Assistant Professor of Communication at SUNY-Fredonia in Fredonia, New York.

Toward a Public Relations Approach to Nation Building

This article advances a public relations approach to nation building. A public relations approach to nation building focuses on cooperative relationships and offers a communication-centered, participatory approach for improving ethnic relations in multicultural states. This research evaluated the Neighborliness Campaign in Malaysia and found it was effective in building cooperation between people of different ethnic groups. However, the Neighborliness Campaign also suffered from the unintended consequences of other government nation-building efforts. To improve future communication campaigns for nation building, a public relations approach, based on relational communication, is offered.

Network dynamics of interorganizational cooperation: the Croatian civil society movement

Throughout the world, social cause organizations and independent media organizations work together, despite their differences and competition with each other for resources, toward creating civil society. This paper assesses the network dynamics of a system of cooperative competitors in Croatia. The research is framed from the theoretical perspectives of resource dependency, cooperation competition, and structural holes with results that describe the roles of various organizations in the development of civil society. Network relationships are described among 18 civil society organizations from their initial participation in the Croatian transformation in the year 2000 to a democratic nation to two years later. Results identify benefits and drawbacks of the general system structure, specific organizations network roles, and reputations associated with networking activities. Theoretical implications address the complementary contributions of using multiple theoretical perspectives to approach interorganizational relationships and their pragmatic utility with respect to building stronger networks among civil‐society partners.

Media relations in Bosnia: A role for public relations in building civil society

Abstract This paper offers a benchmark of the status of media relations in Bosnia. Public relations has expertise at relationship building and, therefore, it can influence democracy building. In a place such as Bosnia, the practice can be more than merely a business function; it has an important role in the development of civil society. The media relations function of public relations is a tool to bring like-minded groups together to articulate needs, pressure government, and represent interest group needs. Thus, the function of media relations places the practice of public relations squarely at the center of building civil society in Bosnia. Maureen Taylor is an assistant professor in the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies at Rutgers University, NJ.