global discussion. local perspectives.
A lively discussion came up last Thursday evening in Rome, at the second of the six sessions scheduled for the production of the video book on ‘What is Public Relations’, which my friend Joao so acutely and courteously described here, following up on the first session. The general topic has to do with many issues my co-bloggers have touched upon in this blog as well as with the content of a recent (the plum of...
I am nearing the end of this highly intense and fantastic cultural experience of teaching global relations and intercultural communication at NYU’s Master of Science in Public Relations and Corporate Communication (see earlier post) and the last session will be next Wednesday when every student will have five minutes to present to the whole class the core concepts of a 15 page final essay.
Aaron Shardey gained a first class honours degree in public relations at London College of Communications this Summer with his undergraduate dissertation offering case study research into crisis management in the automotive industry. Given the topicality of the VW crisis, PR Conversations asked Aaron about his research and the lessons he would take from the classroom to the boardroom: One of the things you quickly realise when you study crisis management is that there are...
What, not another “year in review” post?! So you may be groaning and thinking, and I’m sympathetic with your reluctance to get dished yet again reheated bits of the recent past…. But please bear with me: This is intended to be more of an introspection than a retrospective. As the resident Techster, I’m inviting you faithful readers, to share a look with me under the hood of PR Conversations. As I’m not a number-crunching geek I...
This Summer, academics have travelled across Europe chasing the conference season. For Toni Muzi Falconi, the journey started with the Bledcom 20th anniversary symposium in Slovenia, followed by a political PR post-conference after the ICA conference in London, and then the International History of PR conference in Bournemouth (IHPRC). I caught up with Toni in Bournemouth – where we were both presenting – for his thoughts on the ‘season’. As well as IHPRC, I’m participating in the...
In the last PR Conversations post, Toni Muzi Falconi presented a revised conceptual framework that proposed an organization should apply six generic principles of public relations within the operative context of six infrastructural characteristics to determine specific applications. The paradigm was subsequently developed with input from Rob Wakefield from Brigham Young University (the first scholar to theorize the paradigm a couple of decades ago), and Jim Grunig, who originated the Public Relations Excellence study in...
All conversations about public relations reflect specific worldviews – and this is something we should examine when developing theory, considering practice or undertaking research in the field. Our opinions, prejudices and arguments are the outcome of personal and professional experience, our educational background, our values and perspectives on how things are – or should be – and how we assimilate the views of others into our existing mental frameworks. Likewise when reading the work of...
Toni Muzi Falconi shares his impressions of the first Global Congress for Muslim PR Practitioners In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from December 5 to 7, 20011, 197 Muslim colleagues from 33 countries, plus two non-Muslim Canadians (Jean Valin and Dan Tisch) and one non-Muslim Italian—the author of this guest post—gathered together for the inaugural Global Congress for Muslim Public Relations Practitioners (GCMPRP). Notably, many of the attendees indicated they were regular readers and ardent fans of...
Global Public Relations: spanning borders, spanning cultures Review by Toni Muzi Falconi I’ve now been teaching Global Relations and Intercultural Communication at New York University’s Master’s in Public Relations for five years, including reviewing my (ever-changing) syllabus involving some 150 students to date. From the very beginning, as mandatory course books I have opted to use the Vercic and Sriramesh’a Global Public Relations Handbook (edition 1, and then 2), in tandem with the fundamental Post, Preston, Sachs’ book. Redefining...
…in a July 17 column, Stefan Stern, the Financial Times commentator, confesses he is not comfortable with ambiguity, and argues against the recent consultants mantra by which organizational leadership must learn to ‘cope with ambiguity’.