PR Approaches: Excellence, Rhetorical, and Critical

There are three fun­da­ment­al PR approaches:

In this blog post, I’ll explain these three PR approaches and dis­cuss why I prefer the rhet­or­ic­al approach over the excel­lence and crit­ic­al PR approaches.

Here we go:

Approaches To Public Relations

There are three schol­arly approaches to pub­lic rela­tions (PR):

The excel­lence PR approach = this pub­lic rela­tions approach focuses on object­ives and cor­por­ate value cre­ation. The under­ly­ing motiv­a­tion behind the the­ory was that pub­lic rela­tions were mainly a vari­ety of tac­tic­al tools that des­per­ately needed a man­age­ment the­ory to work well in a soph­ist­ic­ated organ­isa­tion. ¹Silfwer, J. (2022, November 6). PR Approaches: Excellence, Rhetorical, and Critical. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​r​-​a​p​p​r​o​a​c​h​es/

Notable men­tions: James E. Grunig, Larissa A. Grunig

The rhet­or­ic­al PR approach = this pub­lic rela­tions approach stems from ideas dat­ing back to ancient Greece. It’s a psy­cho­lo­gic­al the­ory of how com­mu­nic­a­tion struc­tures human cul­ture by shap­ing human minds. The rhet­or­ic­al approach is prac­tic­al and lacks mor­al judg­ment. ²Silfwer, J. (2022, November 6). PR Approaches: Excellence, Rhetorical, and Critical. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​r​-​a​p​p​r​o​a​c​h​es/

Notable men­tions: Edward Bernays, The Toronto School of Communication Theory, Robert Heath

The crit­ic­al PR approach = this pub­lic rela­tions approach is deeply rooted in the­or­ies of soci­et­al power dynam­ics. Power is seen as a means of exert­ing dom­in­ance, manip­u­la­tion, and oppres­sion. The crit­ic­al approach bor­rows many ideas from the rhet­or­ic­al approach by pla­cing them in mor­al frame­works. ³Silfwer, J. (2022, November 6). PR Approaches: Excellence, Rhetorical, and Critical. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​r​-​a​p​p​r​o​a​c​h​es/

Notable men­tions: Walter Lippmann, Noam Chomsky

The Excellence Approach to PR

Management the­ory often focuses on oper­a­tion­al excel­lence. The Excellence Study mapped value cre­ation onto stra­tegic com­mu­nic­a­tion and found that best prac­tices cre­ate value for an organ­isa­tion. They reduce costs and risks while increas­ing revenue.

“The pro­gramme of research known as the excel­lence the­ory began in the 1960s with J. Grunig’s research on pub­lics found among Colombian farm­ers. Research then fol­lowed on the role of pub­lic rela­tions in organ­isa­tion­al decision-mak­ing, the sym­met­ric­al mod­el of pub­lic rela­tions, pub­lic rela­tions meas­ure­ment, and how the struc­ture and envir­on­ment of organ­isa­tions shape pub­lic rela­tions beha­viour. […] The excel­lence the­ory has evolved into a gen­er­al the­ory of pub­lic rela­tions as a stra­tegic man­age­ment func­tion, and ongo­ing research now is adding con­cepts and tools that pub­lic rela­tions pro­fes­sion­als who serve in a stra­tegic role can use.”
Source: Excellence Theory in Public Relations: Past, Present, and Future ⁴Grunig, J.E., & Grunig, L.A. (2008). Excellence Theory in Public Relations: Past, Present, and Future. https://​www​.semantic​schol​ar​.org/​p​a​p​e​r​/​c​c​f​a​d​d​8​7​8​d​4​1​4​5​4​3​7​5​3​5​7​c​e​9​9​e​c​7​f​c​b​1​4​8​e​6​b​48f

How can PR have such best prac­tices? The answers are, non-sur­pris­ingly, man­age­ment-focused: Leadership roles, goal align­ments, high levels of stra­tegic com­pet­ency, high eth­ic­al stand­ards, and two-way sym­met­ric com­mu­nic­a­tion with cor­por­ate stakeholders.

Who typ­ic­ally prefers the excel­lence approach?

The Rhetorical Approach to PR

In ancient Greek soci­ety, pub­lic debate and per­sua­sion were con­sidered the best approaches to ensur­ing peace­ful and stable gov­ernance. This was the cradle of ideas like demo­cracy and free speech. There was no best prac­tice, only out­comes from mul­tiple voices.

“Rhetorical the­ory fea­tures how the pub­lic rela­tions pro­cess becomes enriched through the role co-cre­ated, shared mean­ing plays in soci­ety as a blend of mind and self. The rhet­or­ic­al her­it­age fea­tures the potent role of fact (as inter­preted inform­a­tion), judg­ment, and iden­ti­fic­a­tion as dis­course themes enacted in pub­lic aren­as. Public rela­tions can add value to soci­ety by assur­ing that choices become enlightened, risks are eth­ic­ally man­aged, and rela­tion­ships are mutu­ally developed. Through eth­ic­al rhet­or­ic­al prac­tice that res­ults from the reflect­ive char­ac­ter of organ­isa­tions, pub­lic rela­tions helps soci­ety to be more fully func­tion­ing.”
Source: Rhetorical Perspective and Public Relations: Meaning Matters ⁵Heath, R. L., & Frandsen, F. (2008). Rhetorical Perspective and Public Relations: Meaning Matters. VS Verlag Für Sozialwissenschaften EBooks, 349 – 364. … Continue read­ing

If you hear a PR pro­fes­sion­al talk pas­sion­ately and pos­it­ively about the import­ance of per­sua­sion and per­cep­tion man­age­ment, they are most likely sup­port­ers of the rhet­or­ic­al approach. They’re focused on lan­guage and rela­tion­ships and think of soci­ety descriptively.

Many mod­ern rhet­or­ic­al con­cepts have stemmed from the Toronto School of Communication Theory and were later refined and fur­ther developed by Robert L. Heath.

Who typ­ic­ally prefers the rhet­or­ic­al approach?

The Critical Approach to PR

“Critical the­ory” is a broad term encap­su­lat­ing tools for ana­lys­is from vari­ous fields. Examples of such devices for ana­lys­is are fem­in­ism, cul­tur­al stud­ies, struc­tur­al­ism, semi­ot­ics, and post­mod­ern­ism. As a broad approach, it offers a wide range of schol­arly criticism.

“The dom­in­ance of Excellence Theory in pub­lic rela­tions the­ory and research may be erod­ing as con­tem­por­ary issues in cor­por­a­tions, includ­ing the con­cern with act­iv­ist chal­lenges to repu­ta­tion man­age­ment and cor­por­ate social respons­ib­il­ity, increase in vis­ib­il­ity and demand explan­a­tion. […] Excellence Theory’s acknow­ledge­ment of once-vil­i­fied con­cepts like per­sua­sion and power sets the stage for crit­ic­al pub­lic rela­tions the­ory and research to emerge as sig­ni­fic­antly more cap­able of address­ing act­iv­ist advocacy and con­com­it­ant issues. The paper argues that crit­ic­al the­ory, buoyed by accept­ance of its key con­cepts, its increas­ing access to present­a­tion ven­ues and journ­als sym­path­et­ic to once-mar­gin­al­ised, altern­at­ive per­spect­ives, is poised to infilt­rate the pub­lic rela­tions ortho­doxy.”
Source: Public Relations Review ⁶Coombs, W. T., & Holladay, S. J. (2012). Fringe pub­lic rela­tions: How act­iv­ism moves crit­ic­al pr toward the main­stream. Public Relations Review, 38(5), 880 – 887. … Continue read­ing

Since crit­ic­al PR the­ory bor­rows from vari­ous schol­arly tra­di­tions, it’s chal­len­ging to sum­mar­ise the crit­ic­al approach. But there’s often a focus on soci­et­al power dynam­ics and detailed vic­timo­logy. The crit­ic­al approach has many touch points with the rhet­or­ic­al approach, but they tend to end up on oppos­ite sides of the excel­lence approach:

While the rhet­or­ic­al approach finds the excel­lence approach too norm­at­ive, the crit­ic­al approach isn’t norm­at­ive enough.

Who typ­ic­ally prefers the rhet­or­ic­al approach?

Read also: 3 PR Approaches: Excellence, Rhetorical, and Critical

THANKS FOR READING.
Need PR help? Hire me here.

What should you study next?

Spin Academy | Online PR Courses

Spin’s PR School: Free Introduction PR Course

Get star­ted with this free Introduction PR Course and learn essen­tial pub­lic rela­tions skills and con­cepts for future suc­cess in the PR industry.

Introducing Public Relations

• What is Public Relations?
• The Public Relations Definition
• The Stakeholders in Public Relations
• The Influencers in Public Relations
• The Publics in Public Relations
• What Public Relations Does for an Organisation
• PR Approaches: Excellence, Rhetorical, and Critical
• The Four Models of Public Relations
• The PESO Model: Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned Media

Public Relations History

• Examples of PR Disasters

Publics in Public Relations

• John Dewey and the ‘P’ in Public Relations
• Publics vs Target Groups (to be published)
• Seriality (Context Matters)
• Five Types of Publics

Comparing Public Relations

• Good PR vs Bad PR
• Public Relations vs Marketing
• Public Relations vs Journalism
• Public Relations vs Media Relations
• Public Relations vs Publicity
• Public Relations vs Advertising (to be published)
• Public Relations vs Public Affairs (to be published)

Public Relations Resources

• PR Things To Do (Get 100+ Ideas)
• Doctor Spin’s List of PR Blogs

Learn more: All Free PR Courses

💡 Subscribe and get a free ebook on how to get bet­ter PR.