37 research outputs found
The Public Relations Process - A Rethink
Much new work has been undertaken in the field of strategic management in recent years. Corporate planning, especially popular in the 1980s, has given way to new and dynamic management models. Similarly, various techniques for making organisations more effective such as âmanagement by objectivesâ (MBO) and âtotal quality managementâ (TQM) have been employed. Business process reâengineering (BPR) as proposed by Hammer and Champny was regarded as a radical leap forward in business organisation, but that is being challenged by the newer business transformation as propounded by Gouillart and Kelly and by the concept of the supply chain. Whatever management techniques are used, slimmer, flatter organisations are emerging as ârightâsizeâ and reâorganised organisations. The role of public relations in strategic management and organisation is crucial. Management theorists agree that good communication is vital to successful organisations. Despite the problems associated with it, BPR and its successors are expected to be major infuences on the way in which enterprises are organised. What is now required is a reâthinking of the structure and role of public relations within processâoriented organisations. This paper offers some initial thinking on how this could be done and the inherent difficulties. Some of the ideas are borrowed from BPR, but no judgement is made as to whether BPR is a ârightâ approach. The paper then goes on to look at the implications for the way in which public relations can effectively contribute to ânewâ organisations and the critical role of information technolog