Raising standards of professionalism for PR practitioners

The leading US academic writer on public relations and communication management, Professor James Grunig, suggested in his book, Managing Public Relations (1991), that the future of the practice looked bright, but not for many current practitioners. His argument was that the tasks involved in public relations are increasingly important in management, but practitioners are not, as a group, sufficiently qualified, skilled or credible to be able to provide management with the advice and service they need. There are, of course, many exceptions to this point, but it does indicate some characteristics of the future PR practice.

The public relations practitioner has sometimes in the past been described as the keeper of the company's conscience , with a professional finger on the pulse of public opinion and a hotline to the policy-makers in the boardroom. (Black 1995:134)

In the future , the PR function , involving skilful management of important relationships and communication with groups of people on whose support any organization depends, will actually come to be regarded as a management key task . (Stone 1995:230)

Public relations practitioners will need to develop their qualifications and skills, or will find that their role will be usurped by others, possibly management consultants, or advisers from other areas such as marketing or law. (White 1995:251)

In this respect, the IPR is considering how it should implement a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) scheme for its members, and the first accredited scheme, an advanced professional diploma for public sector practitioners, is under way at Leeds Business School . The emphasis placed on education and training in the PR field will contribute both to improving the caliber of practitioners and to improving the reputation of the industry.

“ Professionalization of the industry is key to the future , and this is inextricably linked to education and CPD”, said Ralph Tench of Leeds Metropolitan University . (Theaker 2001:270) “This involves strong relationships between relevant professional bodies, educational institutions and practitioners. Old models and theories will need reflection and change which will be best transferred to the practitioner community through linking training and education with innovation in practice.”

Clive Booth thinks that professionalization/the employment of higher caliber candidates could be the solution to eliminate poor practitioners: “I should like to evolve so that clients would only want to use professionally qualified practitioners, who could only retain their professional status by completing CPD. In 50 years, when image will be a daily boardroom concern for all business, the cowboys might be squeezed out.” (Theaker 2001:270)

As we could see, there is a need to take training seriously. The future looks bright for PR practitioners, but they need to have the sense of professionalization, they need to know theory in order to be able to apply it properly in practice, they need to take research seriously in order to improve their competence. Canadian-born, Joan Wasylik, European corporate communications manager for Cargill, believed that: “Having a degree in PR doesn't make you better but it ensures that you have at least been exposed as a student to standard practices, codes of conduct, ethical techniques and so on. You have had a chance to look at case studies, see what works, what the current trends are, how it has changed, what the story of the profession is.”(Theaker 2001:270)

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