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15 January 2021
Fluffy PR and ‘comms girls’: new paper from the Women in PR project
Fluffy PR and ‘comms girls’: banter, social interactions
and the office culture in public relations in England

This new paper by Martina Topić is the first one from the second stage of the EUPRERA project Women in PR. Published in the International Journal of Organizational Analysis, it aims to explore social interactions, banter and the office culture in the public relations (PR) industry in England with the use of the difference approach and Bourdieu’s habitus theory. The paper explores whether PR organisations act as masculine habitus.

Findings

Findings show that two main themes dominate in responses from interviewees, “de-patriarchalisation” of PR with no personal appearance requirements and no business exclusions because of gender, and “gendered organisations” where interviewees reported dismissive stereotypes of women who work in PR, networking as a job requirement and differences between male-dominated and female-dominated offices, which includes differences between social interactions and banter among men and women.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative interviews were conducted with 26 women practitioners, and thematic analysis was used to analyse data. Women were asked questions on social interactions, banter and the office culture, as well as questions on exclusion, from business decisions and having to work harder to succeed.

Practical implications

Results indicate that women feel there are differences in social interactions and banter between men and women. Interviewees also report masculine domination as and harmful stereotypes of public PR professionals, most of whom are women. Organisations who have PR departments, as well as those who hire PR agencies to do the work externally, should design policies on the office culture to ensure equality and respectful work environment for everyone.

Social implications

In line with the difference approach, women report differences in social interactions and banter between them and men, thus signalling that social differences influence the office culture and work interactions, which tend to be gendered. Findings also indicate that organisations are functioning as a masculine world where women struggle to fit in and obtain recognition. Consciousness-raising is needed in the industry because many women do not recognise oppression in the form of social interactions, and its effect on the position of women or the fact that the most feminized industry is being trivialised by the men on top.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first paper analysing interactions in PR offices using the difference approach and Bourdieu’s habitus theory.

Go to the Paper
13 January 2021
BledCom 2021 will be fully digital

We’re happy to share with our community the latest developments about the BledCom symposium, which will be fully digital also this year. Don’t forget the abstract deadline on February 1st!

Here the letter from the BledCom organisers

We are entering 2021 with moderate optimism due to the approval of vaccines but expect widespread travel to start normalising only in the second half of the year – too late for our conference scheduled for July 2 – 3, 2021. So, we have decided it would be safe for the 28th International Public Relations Research Symposium (BledCom) to again be fully digital.

Given the disruption that a public health crisis has brought upon us, we chose the theme Public Relations, Public Risk and Crisis Communication. Please submit paper abstracts and panel proposals via email to bledcom@fdv.uni-lj.si no later than February 1, 2021. You can get more details in the Call for Papers.

We have been planning how to provide as meaningful an experience as possible and shall continue to work on fine tuning it. At this point we can share with you that we plan to organise virtual classrooms for debates, as well as parallel sessions and plenary sessions organised to accommodate different time-zones. The program will enable synchronous discussions between participants.

As before, you will submit abstracts/panel proposals that will be evaluated and authors informed of the selection in a timely manner. The presentations will be through short videos and will be meaningfully grouped and discussions arranged immediately afterward.

If we survive 2021, hopefully we will meet and we will celebrate live in 2022 and plan the 30th anniversary in 2023!

Go to
BledCom website
BledCom Call for Papers
30 December 2020
Call for book proposals: Women, Economics and The Labour Relations

Emerald book series Women, Economics and the Labour Relations
Series Editor: Martina Topic, Leeds Beckett University, UK

This series aims to publish monographs and edited collections (in the region of 70,000-90,000 words) that tackle the position of women in the economy as well as explore labour relations. By labour relations, it means studying human relations in work in its broadest sense and analysing how labour relations affect social inequality with particular reference to women. In terms of social inequality, this series particularly welcomes analyses of women and class and broader analyses of labour relations.

The series will publish perspectives from around the world and thus the series fits into the understanding of labour relations through both work relations in a Western sense and non-Western forms of labour. The series is also interested in studies of the position of women in worker’s unions, stance on women’s affairs within workers unions, and the position of women and women’s affairs in labour movements.

Both historical and contemporary perspectives are welcome. Studies in industrial and economic sociology are particularly welcome. The book series aims to publish books from a variety of perspectives. Also, the book series will accept case study perspectives on women working in various industries, particularly the position of women in working-class positions, e.g. factory workers, supermarket workers, etc. Studies on women in feminized industries (e.g. nursing, teaching, PR) and masculine industries (construction, business, finance) are equally welcome.

More info & submissions
28 December 2020
New book: Exploring Public Relations and Management Communication
Definitive public relations textbook sets out bold ambition for professional development
Pearson publishes the fifth edition of Exploring Public Relations and Management Communication

Education, learning, and professional development are the public relations industry’s biggest barriers to progress. The discipline is frequently undervalued by management and has failed to reach its potential. This issue is tackled head on by a new book called Exploring Public Relations and Management Communication edited by Ralph Tench and Stephen Waddington and published by Pearson (January 2021). It aims to bridge the divide between theory and practice.

Public relations is an industry that aspires to become a profession but often fails to adopt the necessary discipline and rigour. Practitioners frequently fail to meet one or more of the criteria for a profession: qualifications; continuous professional development; a strong community of theory and practice; and an enforceable ethical framework.

Exploring Public Relations and Management Communication is a definitive guide to public relations theory and practice. It has been written by a community of 35 international expert contributors. It has a robust approach to learning design combining theory and practice, case studies, and practitioner diaries.

“Exploring Public Relations and Management Communication is the most open-minded book I know. It is theoretical and practical at the same time. It provides an insight in almost all theoretical approaches and different ideas on how to look at and do public relations, and it raises unsettled questions about the definition, the tasks of the professional, the debate about professional ethics, and the issue of its impact,” said Betteke van Ruler, Professor Emerita Corporate Communication and Communication Management Department of Communication Science, University of Amsterdam.

The book is split into five sections:

  • The context of public relations
  • Public relations theories and concepts
  • Public relations specialisms
  • Sectorial considerations
  • The future of PR and strategic communication

Key chapters cover brand, reputation, media, planning and measurement. Chapters on specialist areas of practice include celebrity, fashion, finance, health and sports. The book also examines some of the critical issues facing the future or public relations practice. These include artificial intelligence, COVID-19, disinformation, diversity and mental health.

Learn more on the Book webiste
and pre-order a copy from Amazon
26 December 2020
2 job opportunities in Fribourg (CH): doc & postdoc

The University of Fribourg’s Department of Communication and Media Research DCM is dedicated to research and teaching in the field of communication and media studies that adheres to the highest international standards. Researchers at the department cover research fields ranging from political communication, journalism, communication management, to communication history, business communication and new media, media systems and media effects.

Colleagues in Fribourg, Switzerland, are seeking applicants for two open positions:

Applications for both positions are welcomed until
January 31st, 2021
22 December 2020
Call for Papers: Sustainable marketing and performance management

Sustainable marketing and performance management.
Contributions to theories, methods, and practices.

Eds. Alfonso Siano, Stefania Romenti, Ralph Tench
Special issue of Springer’s Italian Journal of Marketing

Sustainable economic development poses major challenges for marketing (Peattie, 2001). The cause of sustainable marketing is furthered by promoting economic growth (Hunt, 2011). Sustainable marketing can be achieved through the contribution of three existing marketing sub-disciplines: green marketing, social marketing, and critical marketing (Gordon et al., 2011). Sustainable marketing incorporates ethical, environmental and social issues, with a specific sensitivity to the needs of future generations (Lim, 2016; Lučić, 2020).

However, referring marketing strategies and tactics to sustainability means dealing with a wide range of financial and non-financial performance indicators to assess the effectiveness, as well as the efficiency and the adequateness of the work done (McDonagh; Prothero, 2014).

The aim of this special issue is to show if existing performance indicators could be useful to capture the whole value encapsulated into sustainable marketing activities and how the contribution of sustainable marketing to organizational performance could be assessed and disclosed.

This special issue will be structured around an agnostic research approach, since quantitative, qualitative, financial, theoretical and big data contributions are all welcomed. Works reflecting how insights can be extrapolated from data and social media are also appreciated. Deadline for paper submissions: April 30, 2021.

Go to the full
Call for Papers
21 December 2020
New book: Popular Culture and Social Change

Popular Culture and Social Change: The Hidden Work of Public Relations
by Kate Fitch, Judy Motion

This brand-new book opens up critical scholarship on public relations in that it moves beyond corporate understandings and perspectives to explore alternative and eclectic communicative cultures, in part to consider a more optimistic conceptualisation of public relations as a resource for progressive social change. Fitch and Motion identify the ways in which public relations both draws on and influences the production of popular culture by creating, promoting and amplifying particular narratives and images. The chapters in this book range across topics such as fashion, race activism, protest music, aesthetic labour and zombies to consider how public relations creates popular cultures that are deeply compromised and commercialised, but at the same time can be harnessed to advocate for social change in supporting, reproducing, challenging or resisting the status quo.

Drawing on critical and sociocultural perspectives, Popular Culture and Social Change is an important resource for researchers, educators and students exploring public relations theory, strategic communication and promotional culture. It investigates the entanglement of public relations, popular culture and social change in different social, cultural and political contexts in order to better understand the (often subterranean) societal influence of public relations activity.

More info
16 December 2020
Call for Papers: CSR Communication in the Media Industry – abstracts by Dec. 30

CSR Communication in the Media Industry
Intercultural and interdisciplinary approaches to understand
social impact and license to operate of media business around the globe

Eds. Franzisca Weder, Lars Rademacher, René Schmidpeter
Volume part of the Springer management series “Corporate Social Responsibility”

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an established management focus of todays’ corporates and organizations of various kind, scope and size. This is supported by the book series on CSR by Springer Gabler, in which the planned volume is embedded in.

In the focus is the double nature of producing economic and cultural goods at the same time (Bracker et al., 2017; Karmasin & Bichler, 2017) which leads to the assumption that media companies have a double responsibility for the way they present reality (in their products) and with this controlling and criticizing economic and political developments and raising ethical concerns in the public debate on the one hand (SOCIAL IMPACT), and for their own activities as a corporation on the other hand (LICENSE TO OPERATE).

The guiding question for contributions to this volume is the following: How do media corporations deal with their twin responsibility of holding society responsible and being responsible themselves? A second set of questions guides the inputs from various theoretical as well as cultural perspectives, specified in the call for papers.

The editors are seeking for global perspectives on the issue that will stimulate a conversation about innovative approaches in an industry where a stronger focus on sustainability as normative framework to discuss the public value is increasingly converging with economic goals. The European perspective with a historically strong role of public broadcasting should be contrasted with an Oceanian as well as US-perspective. Furthermore, there is a specific outlook to the challenges of cross-border management.

“Easy to read” contributions written in German and English are welcomed by December 30, 2020, from academics (on all levels) and practitioners in the areas of:

  • CSR & CSR Communication
  • Management/Media Management
  • Communication Scholars
  • Business Scholars in related areas
Download the full
Call for Papers
16 December 2020
MARPE Diplo Talk “Compass for public/private management in turbulent times: Corporate Diplomacy”

On December 10th, the MARPE network organized the fourth MARPE Diplo Talk to reflect about the idea of corporate diplomacy as a compass for public/private management in turbulent times. The keynote speaker was Professor Wilfried Bolewski, a professor of international law and diplomacy at Sciences Po in Paris, The American University of Paris and Free University of Berlin and a former German diplomat who has served in Italy, Poland, Australia, Pakistan, Cameroon and was Ambassador to Jamaica, Belize and Bahamas. He participated in the NATO Nuclear Planning Group and the United Nations Conference on Disarmament. Professor Bolewski has served as deputy chief of protocol for German Chancellors Schroeder and Merkel, and he is publishing on new dimensions of diplomacy, including the role of multinational corporations and non-state actors.

“In the 21st Century, our universal community of fate is characterized by grand challenges, external shocks and global fragilities in crisis context, such as economic volatility and societal upheaval. These destabilizing turbulences reveal a paradigmatic shift in the global system with its dysfunctional multilateral organizations towards an era of fragmented and disintegrated international (dis-)order”. This is the starting point proposed by Professor Wilfried Bolweski for this talk. Advancing that “international society is in demand of content-sensitive orientation knowledge to reassess, adjust and accommodate diplomacy’s essentials (human factor interdependency and interactions: diplomacy for good) to new expectations of the public sphere”. And “confronted with social and environmental demands international business enterprises seen as “private public entities” are requested to get involved in issues of public concern by providing public goods and co-creating more just and peaceful co-existing societies. International diplomacy provides the tools for corporate conflict management. In tackling grand challenges, corporations are becoming diplomatic co-actors in the trade of diplomacy and acquiring access to the diplomatic arena. (…) Today’s societal purpose of international management is not merely business, and business is not an end in itself, but its social impact should also serve a common good purpose. (…) In tackling grand challenges, corporations are becoming diplomatic co-actors in the trade of diplomacy and acquiring access to the diplomatic arena.”

The dialogue with Professor Bolweski highlights an innovative concept of diplomacy that shifts the focus of organizations, giving priority to society for what he calls a “Societal Diplomacy” aimed at managing situational and contextual ambivalence, harmonizing divergent interests and expectations, in a holistic approach, which includes emotional, social and intercultural intelligence.

Bolewski’s full intervention will be available in the
MARPE Diplo book to be published in 2021!

Go to
MARPE website
8 December 2020
International Communication Management Forum Call for Papers: “The post-pandemic world”

The Communication Management Forum Programme Committee invites abstracts related to the topic “The post-pandemic world: A bad picture or a good opportunity?” for its international scientific conference to be held in March.

The fourth edition of the international scientific conference Communication Management Forum will be held on the 19th and 20th of March 2021. The main theme is „The post-pandemic world: A bad picture or a good opportunity?”. The conference is organised by Edward Bernays University College, Institute for Social Research in Zagreb and Institute for Tourism. The fourth edition of the conference will be held completely online.

In addition to the health situation, the coronavirus pandemic has affected all segments of society. The economy and social life have entered a state of dormancy, interpersonal relationships take place under the influence of physical distance or have been transferred to the digital world, business travel has proved unnecessary in the world of teleconferencing, people’s social lives have changed, young people are changing patterns for finding a partner, new practices have been introduced in the education system, the psychosocial health of individuals is under threat. At all levels, the pandemic has completely changed the outlook and functioning of the entire world. The question is in which direction will societies develop in the future, how will citizens behave after the pandemic, how will interpersonal relationships be established, but also how will employers and employees, whose attitudes have partially changed, behave?

Aiming to bring together a wide interdisciplinary circle of researchers, the fourth edition of the conference, Communication Management Forum 2021, is tasked with answering the question of what awaits us after the end of the pandemic. Is the picture of the post-pandemic world positive or negative? What have we learned from the pandemic to become a better, healthier and happier society, but also more successful employees? Will the world continue to function as if nothing happened or will we, based on the knowledge and experience gained, make use of everything that has proven useful in the pandemic? The answers to the previously asked questions are found in an interdisciplinary approach that, as a scientific basis and explanation, offers a symbiosis of sociology, psychology, communication, political and education sciences, economics and marketing. Combining knowledge from all of these disciplines leads to a qualitative shift that results in the creation of a broader understanding of the changes caused by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as how the overall situation will affect all spheres of human life with emphasis on interpersonal relationships, education, communication, as well as tourism as an important branch of the economy.

Papers proposed for the conference must be based on current and original research by the authors. In the paper abstract in Croatian or English, ranging from 300 to 500 words, it is necessary to state the goal and purpose of the paper, to provide a clear methodology, the key results and the practical application and social significance of the paper itself. In addition to the abstract, it is necessary to send information about the authors (scientific-teaching grade, institution, address, telephone number, e-mail). Abstracts must be sent to commforum@bernays.hr by January 17, 2021.

Peer-reviewed papers from the conference will be published in special editions of the academic journals Tourism, Sociology and Space and Communication Management Review.

Download as pdf
Go to conference website

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