Reflective Communication Management, Future Ways for Public Relations Research

In this chapter, we propose a two-by-two-dimensional definition of communication and management deriving four basic models of communication management as a result. These analytical models reveal four historical public relations approaches, and looking at these models, it is striking that all are positioned at the behavioral level, that is, on (members of) organizations and their publics. The societal level remains totally neglected. We argue that this is a fundamental misunderstanding of the organizational legitimacy problem, which is one of the most important problems of the future for organizations. To address this, we will propose a new view of practical public relations called reflective communication management that is derived from social sciences rather than behavioral sciences. In this view of communication management the four existing models are combined as strategies.