Public relations in strategic management

Strategizing in the communicative organization

Abstract

This article proposes that it is advantageous for organizations’
public relations (PR) departments to adopt strategic management
as a core function. A series of theories that have shaped
our understanding of organizational strategy were reviewed
to identify links to PR practice and scholarship, suggesting PR
should move beyond providing information and assisting in
the implementation of strategy. Instead, PR should facilitate
the ongoing process of becoming ‘strategized’ towards desired
organizational characteristics. This perspective provides a link
between strategy and PR theory, allowing each to bring new
thoughts and insights to the other, providing a future research
agenda for PR. Findings also support a resulting pathway per
Grunig’s (1992, 2013) desire that PR practitioners be included in
the strategy apex of an organization (Mintzberg, 1979).