This thesis created a profile of Indiana's association public relations practitioners to see what type of roles they performed and how involved they were in the decision-making processes of their association.Because of the lack of research done on associations and their public relations practitioners, this descriptive study attempted to draw a profile of association public relations practitioners in Indiana that could be applied to different parts of the country or nationwide. The study also provided a foundation on which future research concerning associations can be based.Of the 129 associations in the population, 83 practitioners responded (64.3 response rate) to the phone survey. Information was gathered concerning the practitioner's job roles, their involvement in the decision-making process as well as demographic information about the associations and themselves.Broom and Smith's four public relations roles (expert prescriber, problem-solving process facilitator, communication facilitator and communication technician) were used to see if the practitioners primarily played any specific role in their association.The findings of the study indicated that public relations practitioners in associations don't play any one of the roles primarily but perform all four to varying degrees. All of the practitioners, both men and women, were equally involved in the decision-making processes of their associations. Previous studies in these topic areas indicated that men would primarily perform the role of expert prescriber and women would primarily perform the role of communication technician. Previous research also showed men would also be more involved in the decision-making process instead of women because they performed the necessary roles that allowed for that involvement. The results from the association survey show that association public relations practitioners are quite different from the norm. These differences can be attributed to several reasons. The lack of departmentalization and smaller staff sizes cause association public relations practitioners to wear more than one hat or perform various roles to varying degrees. It is because of the multiplicity of roles they perform that public relations practitioners are allowed to be more involved in the decision-making process as opposed to other practitioners who perform a certain role a majority of the time. / Department of Journalism

This study attempted to determine whether or not there was a gender difference in students' ethical expectations of the public relations profession. Forty-two Ball State University public relations students participated. The students were given 49 statements that either supported or opposed a specific action that a public relations practitioner may take in an ethical dilemma, or a belief that public relations professionals may hold. Each student was asked to indicate how strongly he/she agreed or disagreed with each statement.The students' answers were analyzed using the QMETHOD factor analysis program. Two groups of individuals were defined: Factor I, "Female Dominated"; and Factor II, "Male Dominated." As the names indicate, the defining characteristic of these groups was the gender composition. The majority of females in the study fell into the first group, and the majority of the males in the study fell into the second group. Factor I z-scores were predominantly positive, whereas Factor II z-scores were predominantly negative-the results were close to perfect mirrors of one another. The findings supported the researcher's hypothesis that there is a gender difference in ethical expectations. / Department of Journalism

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Except for employing their journalistic skills in traditional positions at newspapers and magazines, journalists today also have a choice of a variety of interesting communication careers. A journalist may choose to be, among others, a copywriter at an advertising agency, a translator, a presenter on television or radio, a publisher, as well as a public relations officer (PRO). Public Relations, especially, has become an increasingly popular career choice for journalists, mostly at a later stage of their careers. Public relations is a professional career, and practitioners have long been trained as specialist in their field. Also, career-orientated courses in public relations are offered at tertiary institutions countrywide. Despite this, experienced journalists are still top candidates for positions as PROs at a variety of organisations. However, because public relations has become considerably specialised and professional over the past 20 years, journalists should acquire extra, "specialised" skills to practise public relations. Their journalistic skills do, however, form a basis for a career in public relations. But the skills and techniques of public relations should still be acquired and applied. The purpose of this mini-thesis is to discuss these skills, and ultimately prepare journalists for a career in public relations. Many definitions of public relations exist, but essentially it is a continuous, systematic and cyclical process that aims to create and maintain a positive image of an organisation. This process consists of four phases. Research is the continuous gathering and interpretation of information to determine who the organisation's publics are (demographic information) and what their attitudes towards and perspectives of the organisation and its products and/or services are. Planning is in itself a process. Through planning the PRO determines the objectives and strategy of a communication programme, which should influence the attitudes and perspectives of the publics. Communication is the execution of the planning through the techniques of, among others, writing and public addresses. Evaluation determines whether the objectives of a communication programme have been met. In addition to these techniques, it should further be noted that public relations is applied differently within different organisations because the objectives and publics of organisations differ. A career change from journalism to public relations demands adjustment. This is discussed in the second part of the mini-thesis. For a journalist to become a successful PRO, he should acquire and apply the skills discussed, as well as be prepare to experience the adjustments that distinguish public relations from journalism. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Behalwe dat joernaliste hul vaardighede inspan in tradisionele poste by koerante en tydskrifte, kan hulle vandag ook 'n verskeidenheid beroepe in die kommunikasiewese beoefen. Joernaliste word, onder andere, kopie-skrywers in die advertensiewese, vertalers, aanbieders op televisie en radio, taalversorgers by uitgewers, asook openbare skakelbeamptes. Dit is veral die skakelwese wat 'n al hoe meer gewilde beroepskeuse word onder joernaliste, veral in 'n latere stadium van hul loopbane. Skakelwese is 'n professionele beroep, en praktisyns word reeds lank as spesialiste op dié gebied opgelei. Talle beroepsgerigte openbare skakelwese-kursusse word landwyd by tersiêre inrigtings aangebied. Maar, ten spyte hiervan, is ervare joernaliste steeds van die top-kandidate VIr skakelwese-poste by 'n verskeidenheid organisasies. Omdat die skakelwese oor die afgelope 20 jaar aansienlik meer gespesialiseerd en professioneel geword het, is dit moeiliker vir joernaliste om dié beroep te betree met net hul joernalistieke vaardighede. Dit vorm wel die basis vir 'n loopbaan in die skakelwese. Vir joernaliste om suksesvolle skakelbeamptes te word moet hulle ook die "gespesialiseerde" vaardighede van die skakelwese aanleer en toepas. Hierdie werkstuk se doel is om die vaardighede van die skakelwese wat joernaliste moet verwerf, te bespreek en uiteindelik die joernalis toe te rus vir 'n loopbaan in die skakelwese. Verskeie definisies van die beroep bestaan, maar essensieel is dit 'n deurlopende, sistematiese en sikliese proses wat poog om 'n positiewe beeld van 'n organisasie te skep en te behou. Om die proses in werking te stel moet deur vier fases gegaan word. Navorsing is die gedurige versameling en interpretasie van inligting waardeur die skakelbeampte bepaal wie sy gehoor is (demografiese inligting) en wat hul houdings teenoor die organisasie en sy produkte en/of dienste. Beplanning is 'n proses op sy eie. Hiermee bepaal die skakelbeampte die doelwitte en strategie van 'n kommunikasieprogram wat die houdings van sy gehoor moet beïnvloed. Kommunikasie is die inwerkingstelling van die beplanning deur die tegnieke van , onder andere, skryf en openbare optredes. Deur evaluering word bepaal of die gestelde doelwitte bereik is deur die inwerkingstelling van 'n spesifieke kommunikasieprogram. Hierby moet skakelbeamptes daarop let dat die skakelwese op 'n unieke manier binne verskillende tipes organisasies toegepas moet word omdat die doelwitte en gehoor van organisasie tot organisasie verskil. Om 'n loopbaanverskuiwing van die joernalistiek na die skakelwese te maak verg 'n aanpassing. Hierna word in die tweede deel van die werkstuk gekyk. As 'n joernalis 'n suksesvolle openbare skakelbeampte wil word, sal hy hierdie vaardighede moet aanleer en toepas, asook bereid wees om die aanpassings, wat die skakelwese anders as joernalistiek maak, te ervaar.

This -study identifies how language usage and culture affect international PR practitioners in three Western cultures-- America, England and Australia. Likewise, this study examined how language usage and culture affect three major PR organizations-- PRSA in America, CIPR in England and PRIA in Australia. Content analysis and in-depth interviews were conducted with PR practitioners and members of all three PR organizations to address the following three research questions: (1) What is the impact of language usage on the ethics and professional practice of professional public relations? (2) What is the impact of culture on the ethics and professional practice of professional public relations? and (3) How does language usage and culture effect the professional practice of international organizations?