Public Relations and Communication Management serves as a festschrift honoring the work of public relations scholars James E. Gruning and Larissa A. Grunig. Between them, the Grunigs have published 12 books and more than 330 articles, book chapters, and various academic and professional publications, and have supervised 34 doctoral dissertations and 105 master’s theses. This volume recognizes the Grunig‘s contributions to public relations scholarship over the past four decades. To honor the Grunig’s scholarship, this volume continues to expand their body of work with essays from renowned colleagues, former students, and research associates. The chapters discuss current trends in the field as well as emerging issues that drive the field forward. Sample topics include theories and future aspects of the behavioral, strategic management approach to managing public relations, and its linkages and implications to related subfields and key field issues. Contributions stimulate academic discussion and demonstrate the relevance of applied theories for the practice of public relations and communication management with up-to-date concepts, theories, and thoughts.

The book challenges the notion that public relations in Europe is no more than a copy of the Anglo-American approach. It presents a nation-by-nation introduction to historical public relations developments and current topics in European countries, written by noted national experts in public relations research and well-known professionals who are able to oversee the situation in their own countries. The contributions take an "insider" point of view and combine researched facts and figures with qualitative observations and personal reviews. In addition, the book provides conceptual statements that offer an insight into theoretical approaches.

The Future of Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management brings together an outstanding group of public relations scholars and practitioners to consider the indelible theory building in public relations of James E. Grunig and Larissa A. Grunig, who with David M. Dozier, produced the 1992 IABC Excellence Study, a benchmark body of work examining best practices in the public relations field. In this assembled collection, editor Elizabeth L. Toth and the contributors show how and in what ways the theories of the Excellence Study have developed and changed. They present research that advances excellence theories, adds new dimensions and directions to the excellence theories, and shows how the excellence study has moved on to a global stage. Toth and her colleagues challenge future researchers to continue the theory-building that will lead to understand how strategic public relations management contributes to organizations and society. Public relations and communication management scholars, in addition to practitioners and graduate students studying these areas, will benefit immensely from the work included here.

An increasingly important element of sport business is the management of the myriad of relationships in which sport entities are involved. It is the relationship management aspect of sport which is the unique focus of this book. Sport Public Relations and Communication discusses and reformulates the principles of public relations and communications by demonstrating how they can be successfully applied in practice within a sports context. Features include: discussion customized to apply directly to sports management, thoroughly exploring the nuances of the field case studies used throughout the book to illustrate the practical application of theory discussion questions to help formulate and articulate defensible arguments in relation to public relations and communications strategies, forging strong links between theory and practice examples used to draw from the authors’ extensive experience in North America, the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia and New Zealand, providing a well rounded and global understanding of the field. This is the first book to explore public relations and communications in the sports industry in a global context. It brings together applicable strategies for the sport management or marketing student, and provides a concise guide to how public relations and communications strategies and principles can be applied to sport management and marketing issues.

The emergence of relationship management as a paradigm for public relations scholarship and practice requires a close examination of just what is achieved by public relations--its definition, function and value, and the benefits it generates. Initiated by the editors' interest in cross-disciplinary exploration, this volume evolved to its current form as a result of the need for a framework for understanding public relations and the potential impact of organization-public relationships on the study, practice, and teaching of public relations. Ledingham and Bruning include contributions that present state-of-the-art research in relationship management, applications of the relational perspective to various components of public relations, and the implications of the approach to influence further research and practice. The discussion conducted here is certain to influence and promote future theory and practice on the concept of relationship management.

This book is the initial volume coming out of the "excellence project"--a comprehensive research effort commissioned by the IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) Research Foundation. The purpose of this project was to answer two fundamental questions about public relations: What are the characteristics of an excellent communication department? How does excellent public relations make an organization more effective, and how much is that contribution worth economically? The research team began its work with a thorough review of the literature in public relations and related disciplines relevant to these questions. What started as a literature review, however, has ended in a general theory of public relations, one that integrates most of the wide range of ideas about, and practices of, communication management in organizations.

This book reports findings of a three-nation study of public relations and communication management sponsored by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Research Foundation. The Excellence Study provides communication managers and public relations practitioners with information critical to their own professional growth, and supplies organizations with tools that help them communicate more effectively and build beneficial relations with key publics. Communication excellence is a powerful idea of sweeping scope that applies to all organizations -- large or small -- that need to communicate effectively with publics on whom the organization's survival and growth depend. The essential elements of excellent communication are the same for corporations, not-for-profit organizations, government agencies, and professional/trade associations. And they are applicable on a global basis. The study identifies three spheres of communication excellence. These spheres consider the overall function and role of communication in organizations, and define the organization of this book. They are: * the core or inner sphere of communication excellence -- the knowledge base of the communication department, * the shared expectations of top communicators and senior managers about the function and role of communication, and * the organization's culture -- the larger context that either nurtures or impedes communication excellence. This text also examines communication excellence as demonstrated in specific programs developed for specific publics.

This volume is a major contribution to the trans-national debate on public relations research and communication management. It presents dominant concepts and findings from the scientific community in Germany in English language. At the same time, the compilation contains a selection of the most influential and relevant approaches from European and international researchers. Editors and contributors are renowned academics from all over the world. This books honours Guenter Bentele, one of the international spearheads of public relations research, and gives academics, students and communication managers a focussed insight into the field.

This book is the final product of the "excellence project"--a comprehensive research effort commissioned by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Research Foundation. Going well beyond any of the previously published reports on the Excellence study, this book contains many new statistical analyses of the survey data and more details from the case studies. Discussing theory and data related to several ongoing discussions in the communication profession, this book answers the following questions: *How can we show the value of public relations? *What is the value of relationships? *How do relationships affect reputation? *What does it mean to practice communication strategically? *How can we measure and evaluate the effects of public relations programs? *Should communication programs be integrated? *How does the new female majority in the profession affect communication Excellence? This book, as well as the research it reports, is the product of symmetrical communication and collaboration. As such, it is intended for scholars, applied researchers, students, and informed professionals who understand the value of research in developing a profession, such as public relations. Knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research methods will make it easier to understand the book; however, the results are interpreted in a way that makes the analyses understandable even to those with little or no knowledge of statistics and research methods.

Taking a managerial perspective on the field of public relations, this book explores PR and its role in the wider organizational world. Contributors explore a variety of contexts in which the relevance of understanding these two interlinking domains is so paramount, such as corporate branding and reputation, government relations and community communications, as well as drawing on expertise of legal considerations and ethical awareness. The range of PR and corporate communications within any organization is critical and a managerial awareness of this is all the more important. In providing a framework and examination of the issues, Public Relations: A Managerial Perspective offers an original and vital discussion.