Editorial

Citation

Gregory, A. (2009), "Editorial", Journal of Communication Management, Vol. 13 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom.2009.30713aaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Communication Management, Volume 13, Issue 1

According to the Arthur Page Society’s Report, The Authentic Enterprise1, Chief Executives “believe that we are at one of those inflection points in business history when new technologies combine with new economic and societal conditions to change the game in fundamental ways” (p. 10).

The Authentic Enterprise goes on to explore the unique opportunities that are presented to Senior Communicators because of this new realty and concludes that the public relations profession too “finds itself at a historic inflection point” (p. 9).

The principal drivers behind the new reality they identify as being the digital network revolution, global integration and stakeholder empowerment. Together these drivers are leading to both the fragmentation of an organisation’s market place and environment and the generation of a new set of expectations from rapidly forming, empowered and disparate groups.

Explicit in this analysis is a simple but profound truth. The public relations profession has to move on. Gone are the days when messaging, segmentation and channel expertise are enough. Now, helping define the company itself, building relationships and changing the realities of behaviour are also the communicator’s responsibility. Finally the Report notes four new forms of leadership that senior communicators must embrace: the first is in defining and activating organisational values; second in building and managing multi stakeholder relationships, third in enabling the enterprise with “new media” skills and tools and fourth, in building and managing trust.

Reflecting on the contents of Volume 13 of the Journal of Communication Management it is clear that some of these themes are being explored in some detail. The growing number of papers being submitted by academics and practitioners from continents and countries that have, until now, been significantly underrepresented in the literature is most welcome and deeply enriching for the profession. It also attests to the globalisation of the profession and the increasing numbers and confidence of academics and practitioners from outside the Anglo/US/European mindset to activate their own perceptions and theories.

The impact and uses of and the theories surrounding the new technologies also featured significantly in Volume 13 as did papers covering risk and crisis management. These are expected themes in this new environment. Surprisingly, noting The Authentic Enterprise’s call for public relations to be the guardian of values, there were very few papers on sustainability, CSR, ethics or values-based topics. It would be good to see this imbalance redressed.

There was also a tremendous response to the special issue on public relations history; edited by Dr Tom Watson; so much so that another Special Issue on the topic is planned within the next 18 months. Its popularity could well be explained not only by the need for public relations to explore and understand its origins and foundations, but also to use historic perspectives to envision its future role.

Looking forward to this coming year we have one special issue planned featuring the best papers from the EUPRERA Conference in Milan in October 2008. The Conference theme was “Institutionalising Public Relations” and a range of papers looked at this subject from country, organisational and personal perspectives. Issue 14.1 will cover this conference.

A new feature of the Journal is the regular Book Review Section. The editors are grateful to Jo Fawkes of Leeds Metropolitan University for taking on the role of book review editor. It is planned that this section will not only look at public relations books, but at related publications that will inform the field. Please send any suggestions for reviews directly to Jo atJ.Fawkes@leedsmet.ac.uk

As public relations enters that “historic inflection point”, the ambition of this journal remains to provide a forum for new thinking about the public relations profession, from both academic and practitioner standpoint. The journal seeks to promote debate and to build theory, but most of all, it wishes to develop and enhance the practice of public relations so that its full potential as a formal discipline is realised. To that end, your papers and contribution for Volume 14 are most welcome.

The Authentic Enterprise Report is available from the Arthur W Page Society, available at: www.awpagesociety.com/images/uploads/2007AuthenticEnterprise.pdf

Anne GregoryEditor-in-Chief