Thesis (MTech (Public Relations Management))--Cape Technikon, 2004 / The role of public relations as a management function is currently under discussion among public relations practitioners in South Africa. PRISA - the Institute for Public Relations and Communication Management (Southern Africa) has also immersed itself in this discussion and is actively involved in a number of activities aiming at repositioning public relations as a strategic management function. This discussion is the latest development in a discourse on the role of public relations spanning a number of decades, and is a logical outcome of an evolution of the understanding of the contribution that public relations makes to the success of organisations. The discussion, however, has several dimensions - the role of pUblic relations in regard to marketing; the contribution that public relations makes to integrated marketing communication; and the role of public relations as a management function on the top level of the organisation. Clarity about, and an understanding of, the role of public relations in the organisation is therefore crucial to the practical implementation of "new" thinking on public relations. Literature - especially in the sphere of public relations - seeks to give theoretical manifestation to a relatively young discipline seeking to carve its own niche in the organisational sphere of operation. While a number of authors agree on the valuable contribution that public relations can make to the organisation's strategic success, some measure of confusion seems to exist regarding the precise relationship between public relations and other functional departments within the organisation, most notably marketing and marketing communication.

There is lack of a strategic body of literature and books of the practice of public relations (PR) in Uganda. This prohibits the public relations practitioners to participate in African and disadvantages the PR practitioners in terms of participating in African and global debates about their discipline. The lack of knowledge in PR has an impact on the way practitioners carry out their duties in an organisation and it also has an impact on the way top management views practitioners. This treatise focuses on PR practitioners in Kampala, Uganda. The research focused on global literature on what roles practitioners carried out in the rest of the world, and this was then compared with the roles of Ugandan practitioners The research discusses current literature in the field of roles research and empirically analyses the role of technician, manager and strategist in Uganda. The data was collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire mainly through email and door-to-door distribution of questionnaires and lastly through telephone interviews. The research was conducted in the Kampala District. The majority of the practitioners in Uganda currently do not fulfill the roles of technician, manager and strategic role.

This study examines the types of and frequency with which computer-mediated communications (CMC) services are used by international public relations (PR) specialists for advertising and information gathering and the judged effectiveness of these services. International PR specialists were surveyed to identify the types of and frequency with which CMC services were used for advertising and information gathering. Services focused on World Wide Web (V./WW) pages, electronic mail (e-mail), Internet search engines, and large commercial on-line services. This study also focused on: the use of the Internet for advertising, the judged effectiveness of using CMC for information gathering, the possible differences in the use of CMC between PR specialists from small large firms and a comparison of judged effectiveness based on firm size. A summary of CMC services was included to provide background information. The results indicated fairly high usage for information gathering and a lack of agreement regarding the effectiveness of CMC for advertising. No significant differences of type or frequency of usage were found when comparing small firms and large firms.

Thesis (MTech (Public Relations Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2015. / Public relations (PR) is still a generally unexplored terrain in Botswana and many public relations practitioners (PRPs) are therefore experiencing challenges to either obtain worthwhile training and valid and applicable job descriptions or support from management where they are working. This is due to a large misunderstanding of what the profession entails. This career and study discipline certainly seems to be misconceived, misunderstood and misappropriated in many organisations and even in individual managers’ minds. Some of these misconceptions reflect that public relations is not sufficiently separated and distinguished from the other study fields and career descriptions in the discipline of communication studies, such as marketing, journalism, integrated marketing communications, corporate communication, branding, propaganda, publicity and advertising. This is a residual effect of earlier appointments of so-called public relations practitioners as the wine-and-dine attendees on the social circuit of a company who need to make a favourable impression of the business and the people on other stakeholders. There is no formal and professional public relations body in Botswana. The Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA) is in the process of establishing a local chapter, which could be the beginning of an answer to the misconceptions about the country’s public relations industry. Qualitative and quantitative research approaches were used to collect data, the questionnaires were self-administered and the researcher carried out interviews. The triangulation method was used as one of the strategies to validate the research results. The total population of the study amounted to 110 participants. Unfortunately not all participants completed and returned the questionnaires, but 89 have completed and returned them, while seven interviewees participated. As for the collection of data, the pilot questionnaires were carried out with 18 participants and the pilot findings formed part of the research findings. For sampling of the population, the purposive or judgmental sample was used, based on the fact that the sample had knowledge on the researched title.

Archaeological fieldwork at the William Conner House Site, home of an early 19th century entrepreneur, was performed in 1990 by Ball State University. The house, listed in the National Register, was built in 1823, occupied until ca. 1916, restored in 1934, and has since functioned as a house museum. Although restoration disturbed portions of the site, substantial undisturbed remains were found to exist on-site. Archaeological testing yielded 26,000+ archaeological specimens and revealed 22 features, including a possible outbuilding, cobble walk, brick pad, fire pit, small refuse pit, and post holes/molds. Herein, the Conner House is described and the history of its usage is recounted. The archaeological research design and methods are explained. Results of investigation are presented. Socioeconomic status theory and indicators are identified, and the site is compared to other 19th century residential sites, socioeconomically. Conclusions are stated. Sites to which the Conner Site is compared are described in an appendix. A glossary is provided. / Department of Journalism

The lack of studies relating to the ethical needs and values of public relations professionals in the European Union indicated the need for a research study to ascertain: 1. the experience of European Union public relations professionals in confronting and resolving ethical issues, 2. what the needs are in charting an ethical course for individual professional conduct, 3.what the needs are to guide organizations in the ethical performance of public relations, and 4. the social responsibility of public relations.Nearly all of the quantitative studies have been devoted to an examination of the views of members of American public relations associations. Numerous authors have pointed out the value of ethical standards and of a means of enforcement of the standards for professions. In spite of an ongoing professional dialogue as to the need, little progress has been made in defining sanctions against those who violate ethical principles while defining themselves as public relations counselors.This study was based on a mail survey created and distributed by Sharpe in the Fall of 1993. Three questions from the 1972 Newsom's research study were added. Threehundred and fifty-five public relations practitioner members of the International Public Relations Association within the European Union in 1995 were identified as the population for this study. A 35.2% response rate was attained after two mailings.The typical respondent was male, had been in the profession from 10 to 30 years, held an accreditation, was a specialist and identified himself as a counselor. He related that he confronted ethical issues with frequency particularly in relation to relationships with clients, the news media, and customers. The majority of the ethical issues, which would have or had transgressed the organizational policies and personal/religious principles, consisted of: misleading information, promising more than could and was delivered, supporting a program with which he disagreed in principle, withholding information, and failure to accept responsibilities. He said that he resolved the last ethical issue encountered, which involved their organization's management performance, by pointing out the ethical issue and influencing an ethical action. He placed some value on both IPRA Codes. He saw all ethical issues as ethically wrong, especially those relating to sexual harassment, the sale of unsafe products and services, discrimination, establishing different pay scales for men and women doing the same work, withholding information for gain at expense of others, and promotion and sale of products in other countries that are unacceptable in the EU that place people at risk. He viewed the public relations profession as having a leading role in improving relationships between peoples of different races within a country and between countries. He saw public opinion as an effective control over public relations performance. Finally, he would recommend the establishment and communication of the organization's ethics code and performance policies so organizational management would be recognized for public relations performance. The employment of public relations officials with professional memberships obligating them to uphold a code of ethical conduct was viewed as a criteria that organizations should establish as evidence of the organization's commitment to ethical public relations. / Department of Journalism

This study has presented insights into emotional perceptions surrounding ethical practices in the public relations field. The evidence resulting from the Q-sort process alluded to the grouping of practitioners as Truth Seers and students as Pragmatists. The Truth Seers revealed complete, balanced and consistent feelings identifying truth as the primary motivation for personal decision making. The Pragmatists were conversely found to believe that while truth was the basis of decision making, it was often necessary to make decisions or be confronted with moral choices that were not the most ethical out of necessity of circumstance. These groupings were general and did not apply toward all of the students or practitioners who participated. No definitive partition was established only a general theory. / Department of Journalism

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 222-234). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 222-234). Also available on the Internet.

This study compared the levels of professionalism among Indiana corporate and agency public relations practitioners. The entire population, 339 individuals, was contacted via telephone and administered McLeod and Hawley's professional orientation instrument, yielding 183 usable responses.Respondents rated the importance of 24 items on a 5point Likert scale, and provided information on age, education, undergraduate major, salary, and length of time with current organization, in public relations, and in the workforce.Professionalism scores were calculated by subtracting the sum of answers to the non-professional items from the sum of answers to the professional items. Scores were ranked, then divided at the median. "Professionals" fell at or above the median; "semi-professionals" fell below the median,following McLeod/Hawley methodology.A multiple regression analysis determined the only significant relationship between level of professionalism and demographics occurred with undergraduate major--a slight negative correlation. Frequency distribution showed journalism/public relations majors had higher percentages of professionals than either English or other majors. / Department of Journalism