An examination of possible obstacles to management acceptance of public relations’ contribution to decision making, planning and organisation functioning

Public relations practitioners continue to lament the fact that their contribution to management is not taken seriously nor given sufficient weight. This paper examines some of the obstacles to management acceptance of public relations’ contribution to important management tasks. The paper focuses on the possibility that managers may not value public relations’ contribution because their preparation for the management role does not give them the perspective that would enable them to see its value. The paper suggests that this perspective is one which enables the complexity of the external world, the world external to the organisation and in which the organisation functions, to be imagined and incorporated into decision making. This perspective has not been developed in the present generation of senior and middle managers. The paper reviews literature relating to this suggestion, before going on to examine programmes aimed at preparing managers for their roles at business and management schools in the USA and Europe. The paper concludes that unless changes are made to the ways in which managers are prepared for their roles, they are unlikely to develop an appreciation of the perspective which underlies public relations practice, or to make full use of the potential contribution of public relations.