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Institute for Public Relations

The Institute for Public Relations is an independent nonprofit that bridges the academy and the profession, supporting PR research and mainstreaming this knowledge into practice through PR education.

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the art of public relations

Corporate Compassion in a Time of Downsizing:

The Role of Public Relations in Cultivating and Maintaining Corporate Alumni Social Networks

By Kevin Stoker and Susan Walton

This paper contends that corporate alumni networks serve a public relations purpose more than they do a human resource purpose. Through interviews with two developers of corporate social networks and a former employee who started an alumni network, the paper shows that these networks represent an opportunity and a moral imperative for public relations. By institutionalizing an ethic of care, which emphasizes responsibility and compassion, public relations can enable these relationships to provide value to those inside and outside the organization.