Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

In the postmodern era, as authoritative discourses are being undermined, there is an increased vulnerability of thoughts to the influence of the deliberate promotion of viewpoints. In this environment, public relations is becoming increasingly important. In this thesis I use the term �public relations� both in the sense of an extensive, specific industry, as well as in the sense of the general processes increasingly being used by all sorts of groups and organisations to get their voices heard, their effects felt, their interests defended and their aims achieved. Concomitant with this growth in public relations activity, public relations has emerged as a rapidly growing field of study within universities. This thesis critically assesses the state of this emerging university �discipline�. A claim of this thesis is that the mainstream public relations industry is dominated by a corporatist ideology stemming from a particular US business tradition. This ideology produces a problem for university teachers, researchers and ethicists of public relations because it pervades and dominates the textbooks, teaching, research and academic-industry liaison committees. I suggest that this permeation has helped to shape the conceptual tools which public relations people use to examine their own activities. The thesis warns that this interference in academic freedom results in a situation where a genuine �professional� status for graduates with degrees in public relations is rarely achieved. I suggest than many of these graduates may not have the intellectual equipage necessary for the level of detached understanding of their field which would be necessary for them to be true �professionals�. This thesis attempts to explain these inadequacies. It points to the presumption of political pluralism and an unproblematic consensual society which is implicit in the approaches of the orthodox exponents of public relations since the second world war. A contrast with the candidness of public relations theory in the more elitist and authoritarian period of the 1920s and 30s helps to make this point. In order to improve public relations theory, the more recent work of �New Rhetoric� theorists is employed. These theorists point to the inevitability and in fact the necessity of the persuasive activities which construct reality in all human cultural spheres. I opposed the negative critiques of some critical theorists for whom public relations is an abomination. Instead I argue that everyone now needs to be provided with an understanding of, and access to, their own means of generating public relations-like activity. I suggest that we all need to have some sort of control over the public relations which affects us because this activity is becoming the currency used in the maintenance of all of our postmodern identities. But in grasping the nettle of participating in public relations activity, I suggest that it is also necessary to foreground the oppositional aspects of society and draw on neo-Marxist critical and cultural theories. I employ Habermas and Beck in particular in order to expose the mainstream public relations industry�s historically rooted cultural mission to maintain the pretense that we live in a consensual capitalist culture based on conservatism and corporate American values. A reformulation of public relation theory along critical theory lines is necessary in order to provide the reflexive knowledge required by teachers and students of public relations if public relations is to justify itself as a university discipline.

Future public relations practitioners may not be as well-equipped as their predecessors due to a faculty shortage. The shortage “is severe because we are faced with a critical gap between available qualified full-time faculty and an enrollment of students that continues to climb year after year” (B. F. Neff, personal communication, September 7, 2006). Additionally, low salaries, limited training, inadequate number of Ph.D. programs and stricter faculty requirements has contributed to this shortage. How do we persuade more practitioners to transition to the classroom? The purpose of this study was to look at the practitioner/professor transition experiences to provide answers to the question above. An examination of the messages, motivators and obstacles was studied using in-depth interviews. Twenty public relations faculty representing ten states were asked to discuss their transitional journeys. Using Strauss and Corbin’s (1998) coding paradigm, five themes evolved in the analysis including mentoring, love of academe, rewards, calling and obstacles. Findings indicated that practitioners turned professors made the career transition based on perceived self-efficacy and self-determination. Those who are considering a transition from one career to another, particularly one with less tangible benefits, can be explained by not only self-efficacy as a predictor of “career decision-making intentions and behavior” (Betz & Voyton, 1997, p. 180), but also by self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985). In addition to the fulfillment of the three psychological needs of self-determination theory--competence, autonomy and relatedness--the study found an additional need, situation, also had to be met. Self-efficacy and self-determination theory with the added element of situation, presents a good model for determining success and fulfillment in career transitions.

Nowadays, organizational crisis management is one area in which PR experts truly earn their keep. Accordingly, until 2001, around 50 to 70 percent of the largest profit-making organizations in the United States haven't made any disaster plans. In Taiwan, it may not surprise to learn that, nowadays some still failed to put plans in place in anticipation of a catastrophe. As a matter of the fact, there are more examples of organizations getting crisis management wrong than doing it right. When crisis strikes, most companies are unprepared and poorly handle the situation. The overall purpose of this study is to investigate how Taiwanese companies use crisis management principles in handling public opinions at five phases of a crisis: detection, preparation/prevention, containment, recovery, and learning. The research conducted within this study determines how effectively Taiwanese organizations have communicated their corporate value to their stakeholders.

Abstract Due to the tendency of marketization of higher education nowadays, colleges and universities in Taiwan have been more engaged in public relations and promotion activities. This research aims to study the public relations strategy and interaction between press media and universities in Kaohsiung. Hopefully the research can help the schools to promote public relations and encourage more researchers in this field in the future. Through out this research process we interviewed the managers of school public relations affairs and journalists and collected news coverage for analysis. Then we have findings and suggests as followed¡G 1. research findings¡G (1) Higher education environments have changed a lot and become more competitive nowadays. It is an urge for universities to promote public relations. (2) There are many obstacles when schools implement public relations. (3) Schools news is less appealing to media report. (4) Universities can gain more effects on public relations by using business methods. 2. suggestions¡G (1) Universities should advance the idea of promotion when launching a public relations program. (2) Universities should enhance public relations units and personnel training. (3) Schools should take a good advantage of more media coverage. (4) Schools should evaluate the effects of public relations implements. Keyword¡Ginteract¡Apublic relations¡Amarketization

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Thesis (M.S.)--Iowa State University, 2007. / Adviser: Suman Lee. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ball State University, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Dec. 14, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. [70]-77).

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 24 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 23-24).

Thesis (MTech. degree in Public Relations Management) -- Tshwane University of Technology, 2010. / Explores the perceptions and opinions of a sample of South African public relations/communication management consultants on their client-consultants relationships. It also focuses on the ways in which consultants perceive the successful functioning of the public relations client-consultant relationship in South Africa.