College of Arts & Humanities
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.
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Item Issues Management of Compounding Wicked Problems by Critical Infrastructure Utilities: Cybersecurity and COVID-19(2022) Williams, Gareth Thomas; Sommerfeldt, Erich J; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)“Wicked problems” present issues managers in public relations with complex challenges and no definitive resolutions. Multiple concurrent wicked problems may compound these challenges. This study extends understanding of how issues managers address compounding wicked problems with a multiple-case study. The multiple-case study focuses on the experiences of issues managers at public cooperative electric distribution utilities and includes interviews with issues management personnel at multiple levels of oversight and influence, including regional, national, and federal organizations. Interviews with issues managers explore strategies for identifying and addressing wicked problems and reactions to messaging from other organizations. Examination of publicly available organizational communications and media triangulate conclusions. This study illustrated that compounding wicked problems require issues management, issues managers do not directly address the wicked problem(s), education alone or enforced by policy did not produce lasting changes in behavior advocated to publics, that study of compounding problems requires the problems also have common publics; and issues management by critical infrastructure seeks cocreation. Specific observations include that cultivated networks of communication improved perceptions of legitimacy in sources of information and guidance, attempts to convey legitimacy from the cultivated network to other publics were not successful, utilities were subject to and responded to power imposed upon them by state authorities, and that utilities relied heavily on establishing organizational legitimacy with member/owner publics when communicating about changes resulting from external influences of either legitimacy or power. In addition, this study illustrated that resilience is the overwhelming priority of critical infrastructure utilities when responding to wicked problems, and both supply chain and utility personnel play indispensable roles in organizational resilience. This study extends existing issues management literature of critical infrastructure utilities, which are currently under-represented in issues management literature.Item Effective government affairs in an era of marketization: Strategic issues management, business lobbying, and relationship management by multinational corporations in China(2005-12-07) Chen, Yi-Ru Regina; Grunig, Larissa A.; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Little public relations research on government affairs has been conducted. Even less research of this kind has yet been conducted in a non-western context. The purposes of this study were to explore how public relations professionals in multinational corporations (MNCs) in China practice government affairs activities at different levels of Chinese government and to develop a normative theory of strategic government affairs. Government affairs in this dissertation refers to the organizational function that encompasses issues management, policy formation, and relationship management. I applied the perspectives of public relations and political economy to examine the MNCs' management of government affairs. I conducted 27 long interviews with executives or managers responsible for government affairs from the China offices of 25 MNCs. The MNCs cover several industries and three business entry modes. I also conducted a two-phase document review and informal interviews with Chinese journalists and public relations scholars and practitioners. My data suggested that with China's socialist market economy and authoritarian political system, MNCs must interact with the government to strategically manage opportunities and threats in their environments. I found that government affairs performs six functions. Government affairs contributes to organizational effectiveness by participating in the MNCs' strategic management processes through four roles, managing issues, and cultivating the MNCs' relationships with key stakeholders through communication and corporate behaviors. My data showed common political strategies and consistent patterns of political involvement of the MNCs. MNCs selected their political strategies based on factors such as economic conditions and organizational characteristics. Only a few MNCs evaluated their government affairs practices based on goal achievement. Drawing on the results, I developed three models that construct my theory of strategic government affairs. These models apply general public relations theories to the context of government affairs. The model of strategic management of government affairs identifies government affairs' participation in an organization's strategic management and the strategic nature of government affairs programs. The situational theory for government affairs allows professionals to separate active publics from stakeholders. The model of effective government affairs provides a framework for the development of government affairs programs that reflect long-term strategic management.Item TOWARD A MODEL OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC RELATIONS: SCENARIO BUILDING FROM A PUBLIC RELATIONS PERSPECTIVE(2004-12-03) Sung, MinJung; Grunig, Larissa A; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation explores how public relations can employ scenario building as part of strategic management. It examines the scenario-building process from a public relations' perspective and proposes a new model of scenario building. Scenario building is a strategic-planning technique that projects multiple future environmental situations for an organization to improve its understanding of the environment and to develop strategies based on alternative outlooks. Strategic management, scenario planning, issues management, environmental scanning, and the situational theory of publics serve as context for this study. After building the conceptual framework of scenario building, I apply the model to selected case issues of a large corporation and build possible scenarios. I conducted a case study based on two issues: insurers' use of credit scoring and insurance regulatory reform. The study first examines how the organization manages public relations through interviews with its public relations practitioners and document review. As an initial step of the model, I identified the organization's issues and environmental factors through individual interviews, a group interview, and extensive environmental scanning. I conducted interviews with members of activist publics using J. Grunig's (1997) situational theory of publics, which provided critical components of scenarios. After building multiple scenarios, I revised them based on the comments from the organization's public relations practitioners and discussed further development as well as future usage. The findings suggest that public relations theories provide useful insights into scenario building. Publics' behaviors and attitudes, which are often overlooked in scenario-building processes, are critical environmental factors that structure scenarios. Scenario building can also be incorporated with issues management and initiate cross-functional strategic conversation. Furthermore, public relations practitioners will benefit from this model not only as a strategy-development tool, but as a device for internal educational and organizational learning. Consequently, scenario building can help public relations practitioners maximize their contribution to strategic management. It can empower communicators as it allows them to find novel and valuable ways to be involved in strategic decision-making. Thus the study extends the understanding of how practically, as well as theoretically, public relations can participate in strategic decision-making.