Chapter VI
alternative concept in contemporary management of public relations firms to keep apace with growth and development.
These senior members have observed that the owners and founding persons of public relations companies have relied on the management orientation concerned with personal rather than organizational goals. Their firms did not age well and long. They suffered from shorter life cycle “due to their inability to be nimble and adapt to changes in a dynamic environment.” (Conner, 1998)
These observations tended to show that the life cycle of public relations firms is directly dependent on the management orientation of their owners, since their enterprise is a person-dependent one. The theoretical framework of this study, is based on the Soriano & Nehrt theory where the antecedents or causes, the firm, strategy, and environment are identified as variables. Under each variable are the dimensions, which in turn are measured in regard to the organizational life cycle.
(see Figure 2) The antecedents or causes are elements which have affected the conduct of operation of a firm, in this case, the public relations firms.
In the world of harsh realities, the practitioners may have to consider the theories in management propounded by writers and those in the academe.
Generally, they advocated a proactive and responsive management style (Caywood, 1997) to align the organization and adapt it with the environment. (Lawrence, 197 7) The demand for an adaptive and nimble organization or enterprise (Haeckel, 1999;
Fulmer, 2000) has been felt more. But these are more identified as antecedents or causes in the existence and survival or decline and demise of a firm.
Collins (1992) claimed that to create a great company, it must be instilled with leadership style, vision, strategy, innovation, and tactical excellence to boost performance, deliver impact, enhance reputation, and ensure longevity, which are characterized as dimensions. Drawn from practical business experience, consulting work, academic research and theory, these are the dimensions of a great company which public relations practitioners-owners of their firms should muster.
Prolonged Life Cycle
The Soriano & Nehrt theory adapted in the Theoretical Framework of this Dissertation, follows the process of (a) finding, identifying and describing the antecedents or causes in the life cycle of public relations firms and (b) strategy, to ascertain the continuous existence or demise of a firm in relation to its environment.
The antecedents or causes are those which refer to such dimensions as the vision, rareness, imitability and technological changes which in turn, have affected the public relations firm’s existence and survival or stages in their life cycle. Under the variable “the firm,” the dimensions are leadership profile, client management, financial management, risk-taking propensity, stewardship, value, imitability, and life cycle.
The interrelation between “the firm” and the “strategy” it should adapt to draw the desired effects subsequently determine its success or failure. “Strategy”
refers to such dimensions as preferences for innovation, cultural orientation, and adaptation/selective. Under “environment” as a variable, the dimensions are stewardship and adaptation/selective. All the variables and their dimensions are measured through organizational situations, decision- making style and strategy.
Lester et al., (2003) however, found out in their study that organizations in their early stages of development showed no preference for any particular form of strategy.
VARIABLE DIMENSION MEASURE
Vision Decision-making style
Antecedents/ Rareness Organizational Situation
Causes Value Organizational Situation
Imitability Organizational Situation Technological Changes Organizational Situation
Value Organizational Situation
Imitability Organizational Situation Leadership Profile Decision-Making Style Firm Risk-Taking Propensity Decision-Making Style
Stewardship Decision-Making Style
Client Management Organizational Situation Financial Management Organizational Situation
Life Cycle Organizational Situation
Preferences for Innovation Strategy Strategy Adaptation / Selective Strategy Cultural Orientation Strategy
Environment Adaptation / Selective Decision-Making Style
Stewardship Decision-Making Style
Changes, alterations, and modifications occur at any stage in the life cycle of public relations firms. True to the real nature of public relations, which is preventive, the firms’ are generally expected to activate their early warning systems to utilize measures for uninterrupted operation, existence and survival. Through the tedious process of “institutionalization,” (Hodge, 1996) which is characterized by years of undisturbed and productive operations, the companies gain public approval. Most of all, it deepens the public’s respect for them to exude credibility and reliability throughout its societal existence.
Public Relations Counsellor Alexander C. Escucha, Vice President of China Banking Corporation, an expert in corporate planning, strategic management, and public relations, pointed out that “Any deviation, especially a sharp one from the marked path or direction will perforce seriously threaten, if not conclusively spell failure, for any legitimate and operational public relations firm.” The management of companies should have a stronger grip on strategic management, through the dimensions of selective adaptation and alignment.
Senior PAPRC members, especially member emeritus Leoncio R. Parungao and Virgilio Q. Pantaleon observed that practitioners who have established public relations firms are to be those who usually have no business-orientation or those plainly not cut out to be businessmen. Past PRSP President Maximino J. Edralin, Jr., exclaimed that they went into the public relations business for the “love of the profession.” They capitalized on their knowledge of, and linkages with, media and
media men. He said majority of them were “retreads from journalism and mass communications.”
Public relations firms seemed to have subtly maintained a defensive position before their publics amid persistent misconceptions about the profession. In the wake of this predicament, the media still remained as their staunchest ally.
Through the years, it is a fact that local newspapers have in so many ways, given an
“impressive record of support” through publication accommodation. The same goes for the management of radio and television stations. The use of non- traditional media and information communication technology or cyberspace have also contributed much to deliver the desired impact on the target publics.
Even during the 1983 economic crisis and 1997 financial crisis, the demand for the services of public relations companies in the Philippines by corporate and individual clients was still slightly felt. The PAPRC research group held the view that like the advertising industry, those in public relations assert that, “when times are not good, business wise, the more firms should advertise and pursue public relations activities.”
Public relations counsellors continue to bemoan the plight of a number of public relations firms which have met natural deaths. They observed that these firms usually start operations well, drawing impressive number of clients to their fold and exacting six-to-seven-digit fees. They extend influence to the targetted patrons and convert their client’s negative corporate factors to positive ones. Still,
their lives hang on a balance and they eventually die. For more than two decades, the update on development has left more uncertain accounts on the real status of these companies. This was greatly compounded by the widespread alarming dearth of reliable and pertinent data.
New Wave of Practitioners
The move of the new wave of practitioners altered the playing field. The
“flowering” and full development of public relations firms was never realized.
Regardless of years in the practice, these professionals gave up their companies to go solo and adapt the nomenclature of a professional public relations counsellors.
They secured themselves from organizational constraints, telling financial and operational overheads, and intrusion of vicious gatekeepers in the conduct of work.
Knowledge of the business under the entrepreneurial organization, according to Mintzberg (1985), “can be incredibly effective when concentrated in one individual who is fully in charge (having no need to convince others, not subordinates below, not superiors at some distant headquarters, nor market analysts looking for superficial pronouncements) and who retains a strong, long-term commitment to the organization.” Senge however, looked at how organizations can develop adaptive capabilities in a rapidly changing world as it becomes more interconnected and business becomes more complex and dynamic, for work must become more learningful.”
For Haeckel (1999), adaptability has come to be increasingly valued in recent years, and the terms “flexibility, agility, and responsiveness” crop up frequently in business discussions today. “Adaptation implies more than agility. It requires appropriate organizational response to change. And when change becomes unpredictable, it follows that the appropriate response will be equally so….”
(Haeckel, 1999)
Balance of Factors
Davis, Schoorman, and Donaldson (1997), advanced the “Stewardship Theory” which could infuse a balance with entrepreneurship to bring about prolonged life and upgrading of public relations firms into institutions. They said that “Stewards believe their interests are aligned with that of the corporation and its owners. Thus, the steward’s interests and utility motivations are directed to organizational rather than personal objectives.” (Davis, 1997) The “stewardship theory has its roots in psychology and sociology. It was designed for researchers to examine situations in which executives as stewards are motivated to act in the best interests of their principals.” It was further concluded that “a steward’s behavior will not depart from the interests of his or her organization. Stewards believe their interests are aligned with that of the corporation and its owners. Thus, the steward’s interests and utility motivations are directed to organizational rather than personal objects.” The equation of the concepts of entrepreneurship and stewardship could magnify the real nature of public relations which is preventive and proactive, a concept which managements ofpublic relations firms can adapt to be more productive, profitable and lead to a longer life cycle.
For Lawrence and Lorsch (1977), managerial succession refers to a situation when a chief executive retires or is away. Even given the fact that there were other capable managers in an organization, removal of a manager with omnipotence and omniscience would require a period of radical adjustment.” Mintzberg (1985), said that the entrepreneurial organization “is the riskiest, hinging on the activities of one individual. One heart attack can literally wipe out the organization’s prime means of organization. Even a leader in place can be risky. When change becomes necessary, everything hinges on the chief’s response to it.” The demise or absence of owner-managers of public relations firms’ management (entrepreneurial) focuses on the executives’ preventive andproactive tenure.
Boeker’s (1989), hypothesis bears appraisal because “Organizations in which managers have a high proportion of firm ownership at founding will exhibit less change in strategy than organizations with less management ownership… If owner- managers relinquish their ownership control soon after founding, an organization will be open to more influence from outside owners. It may be easier for firms adopting a particular initial strategy to move to other specific strategies if an initial strategy is abandoned.”
The depth and breadth of the work variants of public relations professionals capitalize on individual skills and expertise. These also include initiative and resourcefulness, ethical practice, and adherence to the time-tested traits of sensitivity and flexibility.