PR & Communications Theory

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It’s important to understand how and why public relations is practiced. Theory helps scholars and practitioners make the practice of PR more effective for organizations and society.
We’re not going to be able to cover all the theories in your book in this class. You need to read your book.
A theory is a prediction of how events and actions are related. Theories make a difference in whether our actions are informed or not. As a PR manager you should have knowledge of different theoretical models so you can make the right decisions for your public relations plans and programs. Your value to your employer or client will be directly related to how well you can use theory in your work.

This theory emphasizes the interdependence of organizations with their environments.
Organizations depend on the environment for resources such as; raw materials, a source of employees, clients or customers. The environment depends on the organization for its products and services.
Open systems vs. closed systems are an important concept with this theory.
In an open system – the public relations professionals in an organization bring back information on how productive the organization’s relationships are with clients, customers, and other stakeholders.
In a closed system – the organization does not seek new information from publics, but operates on past history or preferences of decision makers.
Any organization is part of a greater environment that is made up of many “systems”
Each system involves “stakeholders” – groups that have consequences for the organization and the organization has consequences for the group.
In an open system – the public relations person serves as a “boundary spanner” between the organizations and the various stakeholders. Let me show you what that looks like.

Systems Theory, and the concept of stakeholders is a good way to start. But according to scholars, not all people in stakeholder groups would be equally likely to communicate with the organization. They felt that PR people could more effectively manage communications by identifying specific publics within stakeholder groups.
Publics – Example: active voters within the larger group of all registered voters.
Problem recognition: publics must first be aware of an issue and recognize its potential to affect them.
Constraint recognition: how publics perceive obstacles that may stand in the way of a solution. If they believe they have a shot at influencing an issue, they will seek and process information on that issue.
Level of involvement: How much an individual cares about an issue. Those who care a lot will be active communicators on an issue. Those who care little would likely be more passive.

“bubbas” - raise problem and lower constraints... increase involvement

As it applies to PR – your messages or your strategies often have an “action” that you want your audience to take. Maybe it’s responding to a survey, maybe it’s attending an event, maybe it’s voting for a certain candidate… to get “action” you need to consider that people, in general, want to keep their costs low and their rewards high.
The costs can be financial costs or they can be social costs. Social costs can be time, energy, level of involvement, etc.
Who is involved with sorority and fraternity recruitment this week?
When you are recruiting, you should keep in mind social exchange theory…
What are the costs a potential new member might have (financial and social)?
What are the rewards?
Are the costs and rewards the same for everyone?

The basic tenet of Uses and Gratifications (called UG for short) is that people are not helpless victims of all powerful media, but use media to fulfill their various needs. These needs serve as motivations (gratifications sought) for using media. Gratifications obtained should correspond with gratifications sought for the media to be able to meet the needs of the users.

Jay G. Blumler and Elihu Katz devised their uses and gratifications model in 1974 to highlight four areas of gratification in media texts for audiences. These include:

1. Escapism — a media text which provides escapism. When a media text temporarily partially covers one's senses. For example playing a video game.
2. Personal relationships — People create personal relationships with the characters in a media text, they start to feel they know them. This can become dangerous if people start to trust them as well, for example if one trusted a news reporter too much they may take everything they say at face value and not question it, this trust could then be abused.
3. Personal identity — When a person creates part of their own identity from things they find attractive in people from media texts, for example someone may have a haircut because they liked the look of a similar one in a magazine. This can go a long way in shaping people and people's ideas of values, norms, ideologies and fashions.
4. Surveillance — the audience gain an understanding of the world around them by consuming a media text, for example print and broadcast news.

Useful for explaining how we reach important decisions – not acts of impulse.
Mass media are important in the first two stages – personal contacts are important in the 2nd two stages.
Each adopter's willingness and ability to adopt an innovation would depend on their awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and adoption.
People adopt an idea or behavior only after going through five steps: Awareness—exposure to the idea; Interest—idea has to arouse the individual; Evaluation—individual must consider idea to be useful; Trial—individual tries out the idea on others; and Adoption—final acceptance of the idea or behavior.
Some of the characteristics of each category of adopter include:
Innovators. On the left of the curve, making up 2.5% of any given population, are the innovators. These are individuals who love the newest bells and whistles, and will try anything simply because it's new. This is not the most important group for entrepreneurs to focus on, because they don't relate their interest to any practical use or application.
Early adopters. This is the critical group for entrepreneurs to identify and work with. They like trying new things because they want something that performs tasks better. More importantly, these people are opinion leaders. They are the consultants, industry luminaries, business experts, company groundbreakers, trade journal writers, and media and Wall Street analysts who are constantly looking for the new, new thing that will enhance performance. As opinion leaders, they can accelerate the introduction of a new product into a marketplace because they influence others to buy. Whom do they influence?
Early/late majorities. The largest segment of a population, like a market, is the early and late majorities. Each comprises 34% of the people in that population. The early and late majorities look to the early adopters to help them determine whether or not to buy a new product or service.
Laggards. These are people like the king on the horse. They simply want nothing to do with the latest-greatest, whatever it might be. These folks believe the computer is a passing fad and the typewriter is about to make a comeback.

Favorites, Groups & Events

PR & Communications Theory - Presentation Transcript

Theories of Public Relations
Theories are nets cast to catch what we call “the World”... Sir Karl Popper
Systems Theory
Systems Theory Organizations & their Environments are Interdependent Open systems vs. Closed systems Stakeholders “Boundary Spanners”
U of O
Media Faculty Neighbors & Staff U of O Students
Media Faculty Neighbors & Staff Gov’t Parents U of O Students Donors Alumni
Media Vets/Vet Vendors Techs Retailers
Media Vets/Vet Vendors Techs Customers Gov’t Retailers Employees Suppliers
Situational Theory
Situational Theory Active vs. Passive
Situational Theory Active vs. Passive
Situational Theory Active vs. Passive Three Variables: Problem recognition, constraint recognition, level of involvement.
Situational Theory Active vs. Passive Three Variables: Problem recognition, constraint recognition, level of involvement.
Situational Theory Active vs. Passive Three Variables: Problem recognition, constraint recognition, level of involvement. Those publics who have high problem recognition, low constraint recognition, and high involvement in an issue are much more likely to actively engage in communication about it.
Don’t mess with Texas
Social Exchange Theory
Social Exchange Theory Costs and beneﬁts: Individuals and groups choose strategies based on perceived rewards and costs.
Social Exchange Theory Costs and beneﬁts: Individuals and groups choose strategies based on perceived rewards and costs. In general, people want to keep their costs low and their rewards high.
Uses & Gratiﬁcations People actively choose and use particular media to satisfy speciﬁc needs. Media has a limited effect because users are able to exercise control and choice People are self-aware and able to understand and articulate the reasons they use media. What do people do with media?
Needs Gratiﬁed by Media Escapism Personal Relationships Personal Identity Surveillance
Diusion of Innovation • Explaining and predicting how people will adopt a behavior, idea or product. • Five stages: awareness, interest, evaluation, trial and adoption • Categories of Adopters
Popular Diets
Other Examples..
Social Learning Theory We learn though observation ** Role Modeling Mass Media Personal Observation Positive Negative Transitional
Entertainment-Education Rachel’s unplanned ★ pregnancy Among 12 – 17 year olds ★ who were regular Friends viewers: 65% remembered specific storyline ★ about an unplanned pregnancy caused by condom failure 40% watched episode with an adult; ★ 10% discussed with an adult the effectiveness of condoms 47% who discussed with an adult ★ recalled the characters describing condoms as 95% effective Teens who watched with a parent ★ were more likely to say they learned something new. Six months later – teens who watched ★ the episode were more likely to rate condoms as 95-100% effective.
Stop AIDS, Love Life
Agenda Setting The news media provide “not what to think... but what to think about.” What’s on the agenda? Public opinion is shaped by media coverage. The public reﬂects the news media: the news media present an “agenda” for what events “should” be considered important. Two primary criteria: story length & position
What issues can be “”set? The media are effective in creating public interest in: * political issues: campaigns and campaign strategies * chronic social issues: human rights * chronic disease * teen violence (?) Need for Orientation * depends on both a topic’s relevance and a person’s uncertainty about an issue
What’s on the agenda?
Priming An extension of agenda setting Benchmarks: media provides benchmark issues by which to evaluate the performance of leaders & governments. By making some issues more salient (agenda setting), mass media can shape the factors people take into account when making judgments about candidates or issues (framing).
Framing How an issue is characterized in news reports. Role of news production? Media gatekeepers select, emphasize, elaborate and exclude news stories to create effect.