Still in vogue? Evaluating 20 years of trends in

communications education and practice

Inaugural lecture of Dr Ralph Tench

Professor of Communication Education

24th March 2010

Image problems?

Definitions

• Mexico 1978 World Assembly “the art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counselling organizational leaders, and implementing planned programs of action which will serve both the organization and the public interest”

• PRSA 1988 “helps an organization and its publics mutually adapt to each other”

• DTI/CIPR (2003) “Influencing behaviour to achieve objectives through the effective management of relationships and communication”

• CIPR (2004) “About reputation – the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you…”

Trends in education and practice• History

– 21st birthday PR at Leeds Met– Growth since 1988 (Stirling, Bournemouth, Leeds)– JCM special issue (2008); book on the history of UK

Public Relations (2004); Bournemouth 2010 conference

• Research agenda moved on since 2002– Ethnicity (Edwards, ESRC 2009-10)– Gender (Fielden, Tench and Fawkes, 2003)– Propaganda (Fawkes in ‘Exploring Public Relations’

2006 and 2009)• Theme for the rest of the talk is on ‘trends’

Researching education

• Public Relations in the UK (Tench and Fawkes 2004, CIPR)

• Reported on:– ethics– balance of theory and

practice– scope for a core curriculum– professionalisation– and departmental location

(business versus media schools)

• Theory v practice divide – ‘Mind the Gap’

How can it take three years?

• 66% of practitioners said PR education makes a positive contribution to UK industry– Pro: “adds credibility to

profession”; “provides skilled employees”; “PR graduates more committed to profession”

– Anti: “how can it take 3 years to teach?”

International education trends and issues

• US– Port of Entry (1999)– Professional Bond (2006)– PRSA follow up (2010 pending)

• Europe– EduProj (2009)

• Theory-practice integration• Use of work placements• Curriculum content• BA and MA level

Balance ‘theory-practice’ Bachelor

11EduProj (2009), Cotton and Tench

Graduate employment

National first destination statistics (CIPR, 2005) – 77% PR graduates find employment – 46% earn 16-20K – 19% earn over 20K – 45.6% work in London – 31.4% work around the UK – 54.6% work in consultancy – 44.1% work in-house

Employment successes (First destination statistics BA Public

Relations Leeds Met)Year In work/available as %

2007/08 97.92%

2006/07 95.52%

2005/06 94.59%

2004/05 86.89%

2003/04 96.83%

Who and how many?

• Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) estimated 48,000

• 4,200 agencies (Actimedia 2010)

• Not all in London!

http://www.actimedia.com/statistics/

County Number of PR Agencies PR agencies per 100,000 Population PR Agencies per 100km2

Berkshire 131 16.12 10.38

Bristol 56 13.29 50.90

Buckinghamshire 118 16.26 6.29

Greater London 709 9.43 44.95

Greater Manchester 119 4.62 9.32

Lancashire 34 2.34 1.10

Lincolnshire 17 1.67 0.24

Merseyside 46 3.36 7.13

North Yorkshire 32 2.98 0.36

Northumberland 12 3.85 0.23

Oxfordshire 82 12.81 3.14

South Yorkshire 18 1.38 1.15

Tyne and Wear 44 4.02 8.14

West Midlands 102 3.89 11.30

West Yorkshire 85 3.93 4.18

Location of PR agencies March 2010 www.actimedia.com/statistics

What does the research tell us?

• Consensus on value – different perspectives on content

• Agreement on theory and practice integration• Professionalisation through education and

training (international growth)• Will expansion continue?• HE challenges (Mandelson, Feb 2010)• Have we changed what we teach?• Should we?

– What is the difference today from when our first graduates studied the discipline?

Trends in practice - skills• Writing as core for all

stakeholders (Tench, 1999, 2003)

• Communication competencies (Hargie, 2000)– Cognitive – Technical– Social

• 10 Competency factors (Gregory, 2008)

Trends in practice

• European Communication Monitor– Since 2007– 11 advisors and 5 universities (Leeds Met;

Ljubljana; Amsterdam; Madrid and Leipzig)– EUPRERA and commercially sponsored– Managers and directors of communications

from 34+ European countries– 2009 focussed on challenges for

communications in the recession and media crisis

Worldwide patterns of ‘professional’ behaviour

• Studies mapping the contours of the PR sector internationally (e.g., Shiramesh & Kim, 1999; DeSanto & Moss, 2004; Grunig et al., 2002; O’Connor & Musi, 2004; Moreno & Molleda, 2006; Molleda et al., 2008)

• These studies described professional practice all over the world and shaped the debate about the context and the generic principles of public relations (e.g., Shiramesh & Verčič, 2003; Tilson & Alosie, 2004; Lim et al, 2005; Kent & Taylor, 2007)

• European practice studies– EBOK (2002; 2004) Qualitative– ECM – Quantitative since 2007

• US – GAP study (Swerling et al 2008)

ECM theoretical perspective

• New institutionalism (Tench et al 2009; Sandhu, 2009)

• Institutions defined as: “regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive elements that, together with associated activities and resources, provide stability and meaning to social life” (Scott, 2008: 48).

• ECM hypothesis is that public relations becomes more and more institutionalised until it finally becomes a condition for obtaining social legitimacy for the activities of the organisation

ECM research questionsRQ1 What are the individual characteristics of European

public relations professionals (demographics, job status, education, salary, qualification needs and self perception. What are the characteristics of their organisations?)

RQ2 What is the influence of public relations professionals in Europe on management decisions and corporate planning and strategy. How does it relate to individual and organisational characteristics?

RQ3 What is the perceived importance of several sub disciplines in communication management, communication instruments and strategic issues?

RQ4 How is the economic recession and the media crisis affecting communication management in Europe?

RQ5 What is the current state of affairs in communication research, internal communication and in interactive communication?

Research framework and questions

Selfperception

EducationJob

statusDemo-

graphics

Person (Communication Manager)

CountryCultureStructure

Organisation

Present

Situation

Future

Perception

B

C D

E

Age, Q17Gender, Q17Association Member, Q17Social NetworkMember, Q17

Experience, Q17Hierarchy, Q17

Academic, Q17Communicative, Q17

Professionalrole, Q7Optimism, Q16

Type of organisation/agency, Q17

Characteristics of organisational culture, Q15

European homebase, Q17

Communication objectives, Q8Evaluation practice, Q9Economic recession, Q1

Disciplines and fields of practice, Q4Communication channels, Q5Strategic issues, Q6Impact of the media crisis, Q2Emerging interactive channels, Q10Online communities, Q11Internal communication, Q12, Q13Needs for training and qualification, Q14

PositionAdvisory/executive influence, Q3Personal income, Q17

E

A

Geographical distribution• Participants from 34 European

states:– Northern Europe (e.g. Norway,

United Kingdom, Latvia) 31.1%– Western Europe (e.g. Germany,

Netherlands, France) 41.4%– Southern Europe (e.g. Italy,

Slovenia, Croatia) 19.0%– Eastern Europe (e.g. Poland, Czech

Republic, Bulgaria) 8.5%

• Membership in a professional organisation

– EACD 12.7%– Other international communication

association 16.2%– National PR or communication

association 55.4%

Sample: 1,863 participants from 34 European countries

Position Organisation

Head of communication, Agency CEO

53.8% Communication department, Press office- Joint stock company 29.7%- Private company 18.4%- Government-owned/Political org. 12.7%- Non profit org./Association 11.5%

72.2%

Responsible for single communication discipline, Unit leader

29.8%

Team member,Consultant

12.7% Communication consultancy,PR Agency, Freelance Consultant

27.8%

Other 3.7%

Job experience Gender / Age

Up to 5 years 14.8% Female 50.7%

6 to 10 years 26,9% Male 49.3%

More than 10 years 58.3% Age (on average) 41.7 yrs

www.communicationmonitor.eu / Zerfass et al. 2009 / n = 1,863 PR Professionals from 34 European countries; Q 17

Annual salaries of female and male PR practitioners

www.communicationmonitor.eu / Zerfass et al. 2009 / n = 1,768 PR Professionals from 34 European countries; Q 17: In which of the following bands does your basic annual salary fall?; What is your gender?

Individual and organisational characteristics of European communicators

• Significant difference between women and men in highest positions: – only 45.8% of the CEOs and Head of Communication are

women against 54.2% men ( t = -4.651, p < .001) – Earnings - significantly more men than women in the

categories of annual salaries over €80.000, χ2 = 104.107, df = 11, p <.001

• Mode salary range reported by the respondents is between €100,000 and €150,000 per year

• Practitioners in Western and Northern Europe earn significantly more than professionals in the south and the east of Europe, χ2 = 286, 830, df = 33 , p <.001.

Education, training and influence• Most of the participants are well educated

– 25% hold a bachelor degree – 60.2% a masters– 7.4% holds no academic degree and the same %have a doctorate

• Three main areas where extra training is necessary: – dealing with online channels (26%)– developing communication plans linked to business strategies (21%) – and coaching peers and top managers (20%)

• Bad news for the supporters of communications moving up the power structure of business leadership. – Practitioners perceive themselves more as ‘communicators’ than as

‘facilitators’ for the strategy of the organisation. – Facilitators help to define business strategies by adding a

communicative dimension to strategy formulation– On a 7-point scale respondents score significantly higher on being a

“communicator” and support business goals by executing communication programs (M = 5.60, SD = 1.19) than on being “facilitators” and help to define business strategies (M = 4.75, SD = 1.57), t = 23.596, df = 1862, p <.001.

A clear majority of practitioners execute communication based on business strategies, but

only 6 out of 10 try to define them

60.7%

feel responsible for helping to define business strategies

84.8%

focus on supporting business goals by planning and executing communication

www.communicationmonitor.eu / Zerfass et al. 2009 / n = 1,863 PR Professionals from 34 European countries; Q 7: In your dailywork, how much do you focus on supporting business goals by planning and executing communication? (1 = not at all; 7 = very much) / … how much do you feel responsible for helping to define business strategies? (1 = never; 7 = always); considered scale points 5-7

Expected development of disciplines and fields of practice

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Personal Coaching, Training Communication Skills

International Communication

Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability

Investor Relations, Financial Communication

Issues Management

Public Affairs, Lobbying

Internal Communication and Change Management

Crisis Communication

Marketing/Brand and Consumer Communication

Corporate Communication

Important discipline 2012: compared to average increase

www.communicationmonitor.eu / Zerfass et al. 2009 / nmax = 1,863 PR Professionals from 34 European countries;Q 4: How important are the following fields of practice in your organisation or consultancy? Will they gain more or less importancewithin the next three years? (1 = not important; 5 = very important); important discipline = scale points 4-5.All disciplines are considered more important in 2012; comparison shows difference to the average increase (23.6%).

-1.7

Importance today Importance in 2012

-7.6

-8.1

+9.0

-0.5

-3.3

-12.0

+11.0

+4.5

+9.0

Findings: Most important disciplines in communication management

www.communicationmonitor.eu / Zerfass et al. 2009 / nmax = 1,863 PR Professionals from 34 European countries;Q 4: How important are the following fields of practice in your organisation or consultancy? Will they gain more or lessimportance within the next three years? (1 = not important; 5 = very important); important discipline = scale points 4-5.Arrow symbols indicate changes within the ranking of most important disciplines; in general, all disciplines are ascending.

Today In 2012

1 Corporate Communication

2Marketing/Brand and Consumer Communication

3 Crisis Communication

4Internal Communication and Change Management

5 Public Affairs / Lobbying

1 Corporate Communication

2Internal Communication and Change Management

3Marketing/Brand and Consumer Communication

4 CSR and Sustainability

5 Public Affairs / Lobbying

Development of communication channels

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Social media

Sponsoring

Non-verbal communication

Paid information

Corporate publishing/media

Events

Press and media relations: online media

Press and media relations: TV/radio

Face to face communication

Online communication

Press and media relations: print media

www.communicationmonitor.eu / Zerfass et al. 2009 / nmax = 1,863 PR Professionals from 34 European countries;Q 5: How important are the following methods in addressing stakeholders, gatekeepers and audiences? Will this change within the next three years? (1 = not important; 5 = very important); important instrument = scale points 4-5.

Important instrument2012: compared

to average increase

-34.7

-1.7

-12.0

+34.6

-11.3

-13.8

-5.4

+20.2

+2.2

-9.2

+31.5

Importance today Importance in 2012

Important channels and instruments

Today In 2012

1Press and media relations: print media

2 Online communication

3 Face to face communication

4Press and media relations: TV/radio

5Press and media relations: Online media

1 Online communication

2Press and media relations:online media

3 Face to face communication

4 Social media

5Press and media relations:print media

www.communicationmonitor.eu / Zerfass et al. 2009 / nmax = 1,863 PR Professionals from 34 European countries; Q 5: How important are the following methods in addressing stakeholders, gatekeepers and audiences? Will this change within the next three years? (1 = not important; 5 = very important); important channel = scale points 4-5. Arrow symbols indicate changes within the ranking of instruments.

84% of European PR professionals evaluate impact on the media, but only one third tracks

effects on their own organisation

www.communicationmonitor.eu / Zerfass et al. 2009 / n = 1,863 PR Professionals from 34 European countries;Q 9: Which items do you monitor or measure to assess the effectiveness of public relations / communicationmanagement? (1 = do not use at all; 5 = use continuously); methods used = scale points 4-5

Most popular measures on different levels of evaluation

Outflow (effects on the own organisation)Business goals (i.e. with scorecards)

Outcome (effects on stakeholders)Understanding of key messages

Output (availability of messages/offerings)Clippings and media response

Input (initiation of communication) Financial costs for projects

34.4%

53.9%

84.0%

46.9%

Impact of the economic recession

• Until 2009 consecutive years of growth in Europe

• 47% reported budget cuts• 22% reduced staffing levels• Most impact on joint

stock/private companies• Consequence of the

recession (both public and private sector) need to focus communications activities on ‘most relevant stakeholders and issues’ (66% and 64% respectively

•Recession and the media landscape• Could impact dramatically on communications practitioners’ working life• Media outlets declining as well as numbers of journalists • Positive reaction from the sample – claim to be adapting their practice (72%)• 33.2% in fact believe they will help the media survive!• Death of news? Nearly a fifth state that being reported in the media will be less relevant

In spite of the recession and media crisis, European PR professionals are rather

optimistic for 2010

www.communicationmonitor.eu / Zerfass et al. 2009 / n = 1,863 PR Professionals from 34 European countries; Q 16

“Thinking of the communication function within your organisation or

of your consultancy, are you optimistic or pessimistic for the next year?”

85.1%„optimistic!“

Professionals working incommunication departments

83.0%„optimistic!“

Professionals working inagencies/consultancies

Main challenges in internal communication until 2010

www.communicationmonitor.eu / Zerfass et al. 2009 / n = 1,863 PR Professionals from 34 European countries;Q 12: What are the main challenges when communicating to employees within the next 12 months? Please pick those threewhich are most important from your point of view (1 = not important; 5 = very important); considered scale points 1-2

Coping with the digital evolution and the social web

Internationalisation of internal communication

Re-establishing lost credibility in management

Avoiding reputation risks through online word-of-mouth

34.1%

19.5%

28.7%

28.4%

Linking internal communicationto corporate strategies

68.8%

Dealing with information overload

54.7%

Supporting organisational changeand restructuring

66.1%

Trends in accountability, responsibility and ethics

Communications’ role in loss of trust?

• Trust in CEOs down to 17% (Trust Barometer 2009)

• Corporate responsibility has become a corporate imperative

• Certainly a focus for communications directors (ECM 2008, Tench 2009); business leaders and other media practitioners (Balkhi and Tench, 2009)

• 73% predict increased importance by 2011

• Reputation is the driver• Authenticity, sincerity and

legitimacy crucial• Being ‘attuned to its community’

(Heath and Palenchar, 2009)

Trends in the media landscape• Changing consumption

– Steve Busfield, head of media and technology from The Guardian, stated: “Media and communications are constantly changing. Little more than a decade ago most people in the UK had four TV channels and read a daily newspaper. Today the UK's online audience is around 35 million* (about 70% of the UK population), and most people are as likely to get their news from the internet, blogs, talkboards or Twitter as from a newspaper.” (* comScore, Dec '08)

• Means we are changing how we communicate with a range of stakeholders (customers, clients, competitors etc)

• Collapsed advertising revenue (switched to on line?)• Oriella PR Network (European survey, 350 journalists,

September 2009) stated 10% journalists switching from traditional to on line

• 40% of sample claim dependence on PR will increase

Media trends….• 60% journalists in sample

believe number of printed media will shrink

• 40% - rely more on PR• All in a context of what Nick

Davies (2008) sees as a declining quality of media with: – ‘churnalism’– ‘hidden persuaders’– ‘truth manipulation’

Trends in new and social media• Social media - share ideas, information and personal

detail (Bauman, 2006; Beer and Burrows, 2007)• No longer have powerful media gatekeepers• Impact of simplifying and sharing web technologies has

been to encourage sharing and collaboration• Power taken away as media controllers support UGC

(user generated content)• Generation C (Dye, 2007)

– C stands for content, creation, consumption and connectivity

– This generation want to be communicating with the world

– Want everyone to be able to trace and track them through social media

– A perfect example of this is

PR professionals anticipate increased use of online channels this year

32.8%

28.9%

24.8%

20.0%

14.0%

14.0%

12.2%

7.7%

21.8%

43.9%

38.7%

40.5%

49.4%

55.4%

69.8%

69.1%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Virtual worlds

Wikis

Microblogs (Twitter)

Podcasts (Audio)

RSS feeds

Weblogs

Online videos

Online Communities(Social Networks)

www.communicationmonitor.eu / Zerfass et al. 2009 / n = 1,863 PR Professionals from 34 European countries; Q 10: Can you indicate the level of importance for public relations today and in the next year of the following communication tools (1= not important; 5= very impor-tant); important = scale points 4-5. All are considered more important in 2010; comparison shows difference to avg. increase (29.28%).

+11.6

+7.0

-15.2

-2.8

-4.6

+2.4

+1.3

Interactive channels relevant for public relationsIncrease compared

to average

Importance today Importance in 2010

+0.1

85% of European communication professionals are members of online communities like

LinkedIn, Facebook and XING

Professional and private profile (41.3%)

Professional profile only (27.3%)

Private profile only (16.5%)

Not a member (15.0%)

www.communicationmonitor.eu / Zerfass et al. 2009 / n = 1,863 PR Professionals; Q 17: Are you a member of one of those social networks? Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Plaxo, XING, Other (With my professional profile/With a private profile)

LinkedIn is the most popular social network among communication professionals in Europe

PR practitioners with a professional profile

PR professionals with aprivate profile

12.2% 48.5%Facebook

LinkedIn 55.4% 11.2%

MySpace 1.1% 6.0%

Plaxo 14.8% 4.3%

XING 19.8% 4.7%

Other 11.3% 14.8%

www.communicationmonitor.eu / Zerfass et al. 2009 / n = 1,863 PR Professionals; Q 17: Are you a member of one of those social networks? Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Plaxo, XING, Other (With my professional profile/With a private profile)

Untapped potential? Social networks are utilised within communication strategies for a variety of reasons – not

always to support communication strategies

www.communicationmonitor.eu / Zerfass et al. 2009 / n = 1,863 PR Professionals in communication departments;Q 11: How will your organisation use social networks within its online communication strategy within the next 12 month? (1 = do not use at all; 5 = use extensively; methods used = scale points 4-5)

31.9%

37.5%

41.0%

44.1%

45.0%

47.8%

48.4%

48.9%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Running viral campaigns

Exploring digitalcommunication cultures

Monitoring opinion building

Establishing newrelationships/partnerships

Initiating dialogue withstakeholders

Stimulating new ideas

Targeting specificstakeholders/consumers

Demonstrate innovationand openness

Media engagement with SM• Twitter supports instant news (headline published faster)• European media organisations have 10s thousands

followers (El Pais; Le Monde; The Guardian)• Web used to generate as well as archive material• PROs changing how they research and present material• 3rd party/blogger endorsement• Journalists increasingly using third party on line verifiers• 68% European journalists encourage comments on stories

(Oriella). A quarter quote bloggers• UK parliamentary lobby passes for ‘approved bloggers’• UGC – user generated content• Crowdsourcing examples e.g.Kenya/Haiti and Ushahidi

Teaching the ‘new’ trade? Prize winning graduate bloggers

• European prize winners– Ben Cotton – the best

young practitioner blog http://socialwebthing.com

– Laura Fischer – the best student blogger

• And helps with employability

• Trends in recruitment– Application of learning– Role of placements– The future graduate?

Conclusion

• Complex and fast moving issues and challenges

• Understand and navigate this landscape• Thought leaders and provokers• Constructively critical voice• Responsibility; equity; fairness and

equality of voice • Education is ‘the plank’ (L’Etang, 2002)

for standards and status of the profession