The role perceptions of public relations practitioners in South Africa

Abstract

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.