David J. Therkelsen and Christina L. Fiebich
This paper argues that communication is successful only if it overcomes each of six hurdles: reach, attention, understanding, belief, recall and action. The authors then map the…
Abstract
This paper argues that communication is successful only if it overcomes each of six hurdles: reach, attention, understanding, belief, recall and action. The authors then map the saliency of ten academic disciplines: demographics and psychographics from marketing; persuasion and information processing from psychology; linguistics, writing and design from communication; and sociology, anthropology and economics from the social sciences. Effective practitioners must possess a basic understanding of the bodies of knowledge in all of these fields and be able to apply them in their everyday work. Thus, the intellectual breadth required of the public relations practitioner is extensive. Acquiring and maintaining sufficient knowledge of these and other fields should be the aim of a practitioner’s undergraduate and graduate education, and a career‐long programme of professional development. The “message to desired action” model updates and builds upon an earlier model, originally published in PR Reporter in 1992 and since cited in numerous public relations textbooks.
Details
Keywords
David J. Therkelsen and Christina L. Fiebich
For every organisation there are at least several publics, the support of which is critical to organisational success. Many scholars and practitioners have argued for the primacy…
Abstract
For every organisation there are at least several publics, the support of which is critical to organisational success. Many scholars and practitioners have argued for the primacy of the employee public, because of the effect of employee attitudes and behaviours on the experience of customers, and the productivity and innovation of the enterprise. Organisations that accept this premise often respond with traditional employee communication programmes and techniques. This paper accepts the primacy of employees in the hierarchy of publics, but argues especially for the role of the frontline supervisor as the key to effective communication with an engagement of the employee population. The paper is in part a macro review of literature on the employee public going back 50 years. It comments on the new social contract between organisations and their employees. It documents business results that are associated with an involved employee public. It asserts that employee loyalty lies primarily not to the organisation itself but with the work unity – especially the immediate supervisor. The authors also examine behaviour that increases or reduces employee trust, and describe the necessary skills and support systems that organisations must provide for their supervisors in order to make them superb communicators.