Do we need public relations people to be organisational activists?
21 Jan 2009 5 Comments
in Comment Tags: activism, corporate communications, Kat Waters, public relations, research
In these days of change and taking responsibility for one’s own actions for the greater good I was thinking about professional communications as activism.
I first came across the idea of PR practitioners being organisational activists at the beginning of my PR studies. The particular paper, by Derina Holtzhausen, is called. ‘Resistance from the margins: The postmodern public relations practitioner as organisational activist’ (Journal of Public Relations Research, 14 (1), pp57-84). The whole idea really appealed to me.
It helped to change my whole outlook on public relations.
Basically Professor Holtzhausen suggests that as PR practitioners work across the internal and external boundaries of an organisation, they are best placed within any organisation to make coherent decisions. Her study also challenged the received wisdom that PR practitioners needed to be part of the dominant coalition to have any influence. She suggests that practitioners who realised their unique knowledge of an organisation and its environment gave them power to act influence. She noted that many of the practitioners she interviewed had a tendency towards activism, but had never articulated it as such, for example in resisting the dominant power structures.
So how does this compare with your experience of being a PR professional?
In my experience this actually defines the difference between in-house and consultancy work. If a client is paying big bucks they are usually expecting you to generate masses of media coverage with amazing stunts, even if it is not the most appropriate approach. As an in-house person, you run the risk of having to do several management briefings and papers for sign-off, in blood, to change the font on the internal newsletter. A bit extreme, but you get my point…
Holtzhausen suggests that PR practitioners take time to understand the power relationships within an organisation. After all, communication is all about culture, whether its with internal or external publics. Furthermore she suggests that forming ‘strategic alliances’ within organisations has helped the activists she interviewed. You don’t need to be in politics to be a politician.
It is five years since I read that article. I have spent most of my career in PR to date as an in-house practitioner. I have used this approach many times, to the benefit of the organisations I worked with and my own professional practice.
When times are hard, organisations tend to cut back on communications, and there is evidence that this is happening already. As communicators we are in a unique position, and have a responsibility to be organisational activists.
Jan 30, 2009 @ 01:20:47
Hi Kat,
At the risk of coming in from the left field here; This post prompted thoughts of the Trickster character in mythology and as you dubbed me a maverick earlier today, here I am maverick-ing.
The current internet meme or buzz word of ‘disruptive’ whatever also comes to the table.
The trickster figure is the character who, like the clown, often stumbles into a situation and stirs things up. While usually a skilled and astute performer and/or in some cultures an intuitive or possessed shaman.
I realize you are talking about serious professional in a corporate structure but the idea of first being able to assess the ills of an organization from the perspective of an outsider and also use that position to instigate change by active intervention conjures a similar vision in my mind.
I’m interested in social activism but also the cross over of social media and PR to enable and empower people. I think it is clear that the social media tool-set naturally creates more democratic social structures but a great deal of effective activism is needed to put in peoples hands.
Barrack Obama just slickly demonstrated what could be done. Who saw that coming (even though the election seemed to go on for several years)?
Massive change is in the air and smart is certainly going to do better than shiny. We can only hope.
All the best Dave.
Bin or publish as you wish. I’m just chuntering on here. I have a copy
Nov 22, 2009 @ 14:56:11
Hi Kat, Dave
I have come across your blog Kat and your comments Dave of which i find great interest.
I am a final year PR student and looking at the Practitioner as an internal activist and social media, my focusing being on the idea that ‘to engage in social media, practitioners need to not just be a corporate voice’ – Dave your comments on the cross over of activism and social media interest me and wondered if yourself or Kat had any more thoughts on the topic that could fuel my topic?
Look forward to hearing your thoughts,
Alex
Nov 23, 2009 @ 11:33:44
Hi Alex
Thanks for the comment – sounds like an interesting topic.
On a really practical level, as a PR person are you an insider outsider? (You will have by now read tons on professionalism of PR – and have practical experience I suspect!) What do you think you should be/aim to be? Are you talking about using social media within an organisation, or outside? Does it matter? And is social media a thing in itself or another communications tool?
I think the professionalism and ethics debate are central to this. As a PR person I think you should act as a consultant to your organisation, whether you are, or employed in-house. This means being able to justify your position to colleagues/management (especially when it is contrary to theirs). And having belief in yourself that you have the level of knowledge to do that (or have access to it!). This is applicable to all your work within comms, but maybe with social media there is currently a social and economic context that brings us back to the age-old craft vs management function view of communications! What are the practical implications of this? Is there an argument for using social media internally, but not externally? From an ethical point of view, what are you using social media for – just to put out information? or can it really be used for two-way symmetric communication? What are the implications of this in terms of resources etc? What are the internal pros vs cons of this?
I know there are a lot of questions here, but I would say that that the conversations that people are having about the use of social media crystalise the practical implications of the theoretical arguments that PR educators have been having for years.
Would love to know how you get on.
Cheers
Kat
Jan 30, 2009 @ 10:40:57
Totally agree. ‘PR professional as shaman’ was actually one of the things that resonated with me when I started looking at it as a ‘boundary spanning function’! (ahem!). To me, even within a corporate structure, you need to bring something to the table beyond being able to craft press releases, etc. It could be argued that the skill of the PR professional is the horizon scanning, the ability to look at things from another view, the understanding of networks and influence,risk management, the concept of planning communication…all important whether you are huge bank (and if their comms functions had had a greater role, is it possible we wouldn’t have been in this mess – who knows?!)or a tiny guerilla campaign group.
And smart is always better than shiny…and doesn’t depend on you being in your early twenties, blonde and leggy!
Thanks for the comment – very much appreciated! Cheers Kat