While there exists extensive research in the area of public relations roles, as well as the arena of organizational structure, little research focuses on the relationship between organizational structure and the role of the public relations practitioner in the organization. This study will provide a review of the different types of organizational structures, as well as a review of public relations practitioner roles. Organization theory literature supplies information on the characteristics of each structure, including levels of complexity and decentralization involved in each organizational type. Public relations literature includes research that aids in formulation of role classifications that may be assumed by the practitioner. There exists little research on organizational structure as it relates to public relations. The importance of this study lies in its ability to expand both organizational theory and roles research in public relations by examining organizational factors that may contribute to role performance by the communications practitioner. The lack of a linkage between organizational structure and public relations practice has resulted in limited understanding of the ways in which structure influences organizational communications practices. The results of this study indicated that relationships do exist between organizational structures and public relations roles. Additional findings reveal relationships between the tasks commonly associated with the public relations roles of expert prescriber, communication facilitator, problem-solving process facilitator, and communication technician which differ from previous research. This study resulted in a low response rate (N = 100), which must be taken into account when examining the results of the survey. The significance of this study lies in its ability to illustrate to public relations practitioners the importance of understanding the organizational structures in which they work, so they may better adapt their public relations practice to fill the communication needs of the organization.

Cross selling is the practice of selling additional products to an existing customer. It has the potential to boost revenues and can be beneficial for both the company and the customer. For many multi-divisional companies with product or service oriented organizational structures the attempt to realize the benefits of cross selling generates incentive problems. In this thesis, three problems spread over three business levels are identified. Firstly, management needs to (financially) motivate business units in fostering their cross selling efforts. Secondly, in order to make cross selling happen, business units need to cooperate and to exchange product-related information. Finally, in order to increase their short-term benefits business units might act opportunistically by selling products or services of other business units without paying attention to adding value for their customers. These incentive problems are theoretically examined by applying principal-agent theory and the theory of repeated games. Our findings suggest that an optimized incentive structure is required to make both the business units and the management better off. The thesis also analyses the circumstances and necessary prerequisites under which cross selling initiatives are beneficial for all involved parties. Apart from that cross selling sometimes may turn out to be non-beneficial. In addition to the elaborations above, risks and hazards of cross selling are presented in detail and applied for the extension of the underlying model. Bottom line, the work underlines that cross selling is to be realized holistically to ensure durable success. (author's abstract)