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This paper reports research results from a replication of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) ‘Excellence’ study of 30 Slovenian organisations. It has been theorised that the Excellence principles are generic throughout the world but that these principles must be applied differently in different cultures, political and economic systems, stages of development, media systems and levels of activism. Results of this quantitative study showed that the principles of Excellence clustered into an identical index for Slovenia and for the Anglo countries. Differences among the four countries emerged, however, which had implications for specific application of the principles in Slovenia. Slovenian organisations had somewhat lower overall Excellence scores. Public relations departments in Slovenia had less support from the dominant coalition and were involved less in strategic management than in the English‐speaking countries. Slovenian public relations departments reported less knowledge of practising four models of public relations and two roles. However, Slovenian CEOs were somewhat more supportive of symmetrical public relations than their English‐speaking counterparts. Slovenian organisations reported equal levels of activism to the Anglo organisations. However, Slovenian organisations reported a less conducive internal context for Excellence — more authoritarian organisational cultures, more asymmetrical internal communication, and lower levels of individual job satisfaction and satisfaction with the organisation.

The 15‐year study of excellence in public relations and communication management in the USA, the UK and Canada produced an explanation of the value of PR to an organisation and a set of theoretical principles describing how the communication function should be organised, structured and practised in an organisation. These principles provide a theoretical benchmark for auditing the quality of a PR unit. This paper identifies the implications of these principles for PR education at the undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education levels and for management education in MBA programmes. The excellence study suggests, first, that all PR education must instil in students the view that PR is a strategic managerial function rather than a technical support function for other managerial functions. Undergraduate programmes should continue to develop superior communication skills in their students, but they must frame these technical skills in principles of strategic management, research and ethics and social responsibility. Postgraduate and continuing education programmes should focus on strategic management and research skills and educate future managers to be ethics officers in the organisation. MBA programmes should include a unit on PR in a subject area such as strategic management, public affairs or corporate social responsibility to prepare them to work with PR professionals when they become senior executives. PR education at all of these levels and in both communication and MBA programmes should educate students to practise PR globally.

This study combines survey research with case study analysis to explore the implications of culture and gender for governmental public affairs. The data base, developed for the IABC Research Foundation's Excellence project, establishes that participative culture is most conducive to effective public relations. Governmental agencies in the USA, Canada and the UK tend to be less participatory than two of the other three types of organisation studied: corporation and non‐profit. Women in the agency analysed in greater depth, a state lottery, formed the majority of the public affairs staff, yet encountered the ubiquitous glass ceiling in their attempts to ascend front the technical to the managerial role. Public relations in general in governmental agencies exhibits remarkably more similarity than difference across organisational types and among the three countries studied. Any factor, such as authoritarian culture or gender discrimination, that limits the effectiveness of the communication function is particularly significant there, however, given the size and scope of governmental public affairs.

Explores the resurgence of interest in public relations as relationship building; and the three‐stage model that has been developed to research this. Concludes that the present chaotic environment requires public relations professionals to assume the responsibility of identifying the organization’s most strategic publics as part of the management process.

On 9th July, 1998, the Journal of Communication Management organised a seminar on innovation in public relations practice with the Institute of Public Relations special interest group, Mindlink, and City University Business School in the City of London. This paper summarises the thinking which led to the seminar, and some of the discussions which took place at the seminar.

This paper examines the evolution of two separate fields, which are essentially concerned with the same issues but are framed by different academic and professional disciplines and practice. It appears that public affairs management researchers often fail to take into account parallel literature from the discipline of public relations — even when purporting to offer an interdisciplinary approach. Equally, the public relations literature frequently fails to speak the language of business management and narrowly defines such key business activities as marketing, policy and strategy. In this paper, the authors present evidence prescribing the differing evolution of public affairs and public relations. They compare and contrast public affairs and public relations in terms of their definitions, scholarship, survey evidence, leading writers, academic and professional associations and educational programme content. They conclude by offering several suggestions for closing the gap between the two areas.

Communication technicians are engaged in electronic public relations activities such as producing e‐mail newsletters, setting up teleconferences, creating Web pages, and generating electronic press releases. This paper explores how and why communication managers should use computer‐based technology and new media. The concept of cyberbridging is introduced, whereby communication managers can use electronic communication technologies (eg, the Internet, WWW and on‐line databases) to conduct environmental scanning and informal and evaluation research. Through cyberbridging activities, communication managers gain power, connect with the dominant coalition, and have input to an organisation's broader decision‐making processes. The linkages with the dominant coalition and improved relationships with key publics result in greater organisational effectiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to review the historical development of the models/dimensions of public relations. The extensive criticism of the models and dimensions is provided to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the concept.

The paper is based on a critical literature review to understand the roots of the models, their empirical tests, the modifications applied to the models over time, and finally the proposed shift from models to dimensions of public relations.

The study concludes that the attempt to translate the public relations models into the dimensions failed because of a variety of conceptual and methodological flaws. Yet, the idea of developing dimensions of public relations is a viable and practical step in advancing public relations research; however, such dimensions must be continuous, dichotomous and measurable.

Models of public relations first became a dominant theoretical perspective in public relations only to virtually disappear from the research agenda later. This paper calls the attention back to the models/dimensions to revive the research in this area.

Public relations professionals frequently maintain that public relations is different in governmental organisations than in corporations, associations and not‐for‐profit organisations. Textbooks commonly include separate chapters on government public relations; and some universities in the USA teach separate courses on government communication programmes. Most public relations theorists, however, have not constructed separate theories of public relations for government. In this paper, the authors theorise that the principles of public relations for government are the same as for other types of organisation, but that the specific conditions to which the principles must be applied are different. Research has shown, however, that governmental organisations are more likely than other organisations to practice a public information model of public relations and less likely to engage in two‐way communication. The authors suggest theoretically that governmental organisations, especially in the USA, are more likely to practice one‐way, information‐based communication programmes because of a pluralistic view of government. In countries where government is based more on a societal corporatist view, organisations are more likely to practice strategic, two‐way communication. This paper analyses the information policies of Canada and Norway as examples. It concludes with the proposition that strategic, symmetrical public relations requires an agency to view its relationship with publics from a societal corporatist perspective rather than from a pluralistic perspective.