Editorial

Citation

Wood, E. (2006), "Editorial", Journal of Communication Management, Vol. 10 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom.2006.30710baa.001

Editorial

The key significance of the Journal of Communication Management is the forum it provides for the interaction of academia and practice. If public relations is ever to become a profession, it is essential that we always consider its role in, and impact on, society and the ethical frameworks by which it is governed as well as identifying and implementing the most effective and appropriate strategies to promote best practice globally.

In my years as editor I have seen this happen within these pages at many levels. Thorny issues are identified and rigorously analysed both within the papers themselves, and also through debates such as that of Dinan and Coldwell about the registration of lobbyists at the Scottish parliament.

One of the highlights of my term is the debate about the role of theory in issue 10/1 where leading academics shared their ideas about the role of theory with cutting edge practitioners. And of course the relationship between academia and practice, or the role of theory, is not clear cut.

One argument is that theory needs to provide us with a critical perspective with which to judge and question existing practice. Others argue that academics should develop theory with a practical application to improve practice.

In this issue we can see both types of paper at work starting with Fiona Campbell who examines public relations conceptualised as reputation management – and uses critical theory to question ideas and assumptions underlying the term and contradictions within it.

Whereas Campbell develops a critical perspective and examines the role of PR in terms of reputation management – Welch and Phillips explore dimensions of public relations conceptualised as relationship management and they demonstrate ways in which their thinking can be applied to further best practice.

In her paper, Mary Welch provides a useful review of public relations conceptualised as relationship management. She broadens previous views on the dimensions of relationships – adding distrust as a twelfth dimension to Ledingham's (2003) eleven. Welch sees trust and distrust as key concepts of relationship management and uses theory to develop a practical tool – a “zone of approval” model to help strategic communication managers recognise the mix of trust and distrust in stakeholder relationships they seek to manage.

Philips also conceptualises public relations as relationship management and extends the concept explored by Ledingham et al. (2000) to embed the practice of public relations deeper into management, hypothesising PR as the function for wealth creation. This paper is significant for practitioners in many ways – not least as a contribution to the effort to demonstrate their contribution to the bottom line.

Wolf calls for PR academics and practitioners to work together in researching factors impacting on career progression. She involves perceptions of industry leaders – but also challenges the boundaries of PR focussed literature to apply perspectives from fields of management and professional development.

Anne Gregory's paper illustrates the real fusion of academia and practitioner as they work as a team drawing from academic literature as well as research among practitioner communities to develop and launch a an original, framework to improve the consistency and performance of communication functions across government.

Jennifer Andrewes draws on theory and practice to develop an application to support the provision of online press offices. And Coombs researches the value of a favourable, pre-crisis reputation illustrating a halo effect and explores how it serves to protect an organization during a crisis and its implications for post-crisis communication.

The mix of papers represents a real diversity in perspectives and approach which serves to stimulate our ideas about the impact of what we do as well as how to do it better.

As this is my last editorial I want to thank everyone who helps make the journal a success. It is not an easy task, but is made easier by the hard work, help and support of everyone involved behind the scenes from editorial assistant Sarah Downie who works hard to keep us focussed on the tasks we have to manage, to Rachel Murawa and the editorial team at Emerald (not forgetting the wonderful Julie Kerry at previous publishers Henry Stewart). And centre stage of course is the intellectual input, hard work and practical support of managing editor Anne Gregory whose dynamism many will be familiar with; all of the associate editors who ensure we have a global perspective and the editorial board whose input to the reviewing process ensures the rigour of the journal and gives invaluable help to all those whose papers are published.

It has been a privilege to be involved with the journal and, although I am sorry to leave, I am happy to be handing over to Magda Pieczka with whom many of you will be familiar, not least as co-editor with Jacquie L'Etang of “Critical perspectives in public relations” and “Public relations: critical debates and contemporary practice”.

Emma WoodMarch 2006