Institute for Public Relations

The following article was originally posted in Ken Makovsky’s blog, My Three Cents.   Public relations and capitalism have something in common.  Both rely on some of the same principles:  relationships, mutuality and community.  Capitalism is grounded in value creation for all stakeholders.  If business becomes more conscious, it can do what it does even better.  It can create more community, stronger relationships, more mutuality and…more profit, by engaging everyone in the system, and thereby creating still more value for stakeholders.    The above is the conclusion of part one of a three-part post by Sandra Duhé, on the Institute for Public Relations website.  Her ...

Employees are ambassadors of their employers. That idea of “ambassadorship” isn’t really new, and it is much more literal than figurative. Employees (and, really, members of any organization) are insiders who represent their employers to people outside the company’s walls. That insider status makes employees authoritative and authentic communicators about their employers. So the natural question is, “How well do employees represent their companies?” Notice that the question is not necessarily about better informing employees to make them more credible—there are many, many reams of research about that. Rather, the question is about results. Indeed, the better question would be, “How ...

In their 2013 book, Conscious Capitalism, Whole Foods Co-CEO John Mackey and Conscious Capitalism, Inc. co-founder Raj Sisodia discuss how the prosperity creating marvels of capitalism are so often misunderstood, maligned, or narrowly defined.  We who choose to devote our livelihoods to public relations can well relate to these same frustrations.  Whether practitioner or educator (I dare say there’s a bit of both in each of us), we work in a field commonly associated with publicity, spin, and/or propaganda alongside those who are “good with people” (or social media, party planning, etc.) but lack strategic insight, business sense, and an ...

In a previous post (see The Role of Public Relations in Conscious Capitalism), I introduced the four tenets of conscious capitalism as outlined by Whole Foods Co-CEO John Mackey and Conscious Capitalism, Inc. co-founder Raj Sisodia in their 2013 book, Conscious Capitalism.  There, I discussed the role of public relations in helping organizations enact the first tenet of conscious capitalism: a higher purpose.  Here, I delve into the relevancy of public relations for the second tenet of conscious capitalism: stakeholder integration. Edward Freeman’s stakeholder model motivates the second tenet of conscious capitalism as well as the practice of public relations.  Mackey ...

This post is the last of a three-part series in which I discuss Whole Foods Co-CEO John Mackey and Conscious Capitalism, Inc. co-founder Raj Sisodia’s outline of the four tenets of conscious capitalism in their 2013 book, Conscious Capitalism.  In each post, I share my thoughts on how each tenet relates to the practice of public relations (see previous posts, The Role of Public Relations in Conscious Capitalism and The Second Tenet of Conscious Capitalism: Stakeholder Integration). In the third (conscious leadership) and fourth (conscious culture and management) tenets of conscious capitalism, Mackey and Sisodia highlight the importance of not only ...

On April 1, the Minnesota Twins opened the 2013 baseball season. The day’s high temperature was 33 degrees. Not a great way to start, but as is always true on opening day, everywhere, there are high hopes for a winning year. The Twins have already won one 2013 accolade. They were named one of the nation’s top workplaces in Workplace Dynamic’s annual survey. (Workplace Dynamics surveyed 872 organizations with more than 1,000 employees and polled more than one million workers to determine the top 150.) It’s interesting that a sports franchise made the list of best workplaces. But to me it is more ...

The issue of public relations professionals editing Wikipedia is back in the spotlight following an article that accused BP of “rewriting environmental record on Wikipedia.” For years now, Wikipedia has asked public relations professionals not to directly edit articles of their company or clients. This is because they believe that public relations professionals have a conflict of interest. Instead of directly adding content to pages, requests should be made using the Talk page on each Wikipedia article. My research last year found that the problem with this process is that it often takes days, weeks, and some never get a ...

This is a summary of the research Cayce Myers presented at this year’s International Public Relations Research Conference. Increasingly public relations practitioners are confronted with clients who have not only PR problems, but legal ones as well.  One of the major issues of having a client facing or embroiled in a lawsuit is determining what confidentiality, if any, a PR practitioner has in his or her communications with the client.  Currently courts do not recognize any privilege between a practitioner and client, despite personal and professional PR codes of ethics.  During a lawsuit’s discovery process, when parties obtain information about each ...

IPR Trustees occasionally send me research conducted by their organizations with implications for public relations practice.  Here are a few insights from studies released recently.  *         *         * APCO Worldwide’s new Champion Brands index is based on a survey of 70,000 people in 15 countries.  What I found particularly interesting – and encouraging – was the identification of a new class of influencers who, in an age where public discourse is increasingly polarized, can pay attention to many aspects of the organization.  APCO calls these individuals “stakebrokers” – highly engaged individuals who think and act in ways that differentiate them from traditional influencers. ...

This is my second installment on research.  I just spent a wonderful three days directing the 16th Annual International Public Relations Research Conference and chairing my first meeting of the IPR Measurement Commission.  Although I am not going to report here on either, on reflection I find that a focus on basic research is needed at all levels of academia and the profession.  From a public relations perspective basic research is planned in what is known as the “developmental stage” of the research process.  At this stage we should be looking at secondary and historical data, looking for what we already ...