The SCIENCE BENEATH the ART of PUBLIC RELATIONS ™
March 25, 2015

IPR Board Member Mike Fernandez, Corporate Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Cargill, will receive IPR's highest award, the Alexander Hamilton Medal, at this year's Annual Distinguished Lecture & Awards Dinner.

Fernandez currently leads Cargill's global corporate affairs activities, including government relations, global issues management, brand and marketing services and corporate social responsibility. Before joining Cargill, Fernandez served as the chief communications officer for four Fortune 500 companies and was a senior aide to a US senator.

Tables and tickets are now available for purchase online.

By Dr. Sarab Kochhar, Institute for Public Relations

 

Thanks to our sponsors AIA Group, Burson-Marsteller and Taylor Bennett Heyman.

 

IPR held its first Trustees Research Symposium in Hong Kong last week to share its latest research with senior public relations and communications professionals. 

 

As one of the speakers, I presented the first edition of the annual Top Ten Research Insights for public relations and communications. The program also included presentations by IPR Trustee Keith Burton on employee communication and Trustee Dr. Terry Flynn on behavioral communications. The event represented the IPR value in bridging the scientific rigor of academic leaders with the business-driven practicality of the profession. Read more.
By Tom Buckmaster, Retired, Fleishman Hillard, Hill+Knowlton and Edelman

If you consistently send me stuff that doesn't matter to me, I generally stop opening it. There is no shortage of academic studies that underscore this dynamic. Employee communications should be guided by the "rule of what matters" to the reader and the words they would use to describing them.

 

Over time, organizations can begin to change this dynamic by practicing standardization, consistency, and headlining. Organizations should also build out a hierarchy for your employee communications. What needs to be personal, what needs to be segmented, and when is "one size fits all" good enough? Read more.
By Dr. Chris Wilson, Brigham Young University
 
This paper was chosen as one of the 2015 International Public Relations Research Conference's Top Three Paper Awards for Practical Significance.

Public relations managers are using rigorous social scientific research methods to collect data and package it in a way to help their leaders become more aware of their complex environments.

In a recent study, Dr. Chris Wilson, BYU, interviewed dominant coalition members and found most leaders value organizational openness and perceive environmental complexity and organizational autonomy as major influences for decision making. Read more.