Running head: PUBLIC RELATIONS IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

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1 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 1 Running head: PUBLIC RELATIONS IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS Public Relations Function in a Higher Education Setting: An Examination of Communication Management in Two Eastern U. S. Universities

2 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 2 Public Relations Function in a Higher Education Setting: An Examination of Communication Management in Two Eastern U. S. Universities Introduction The Excellence theory (J. Grunig, 1992; L. Grunig, J. Grunig, & Dozier, 2002) of public relations identified a set of characteristics of an excellent public relations function. Various scholars (e.g., J. Grunig & Jaatinen, 1998; J. Grunig & L. Grunig, 1998; Rhee, 2002), studying primarily corporations, have provided consistent support for the Excellence principles. A need exists for cross-context studies to test the Excellence theory and extend its application. Kuhn (1962) noted that most scientists engage in mopping-up operations (p. 24), articulating and refining existent theories. This study follows Kuhn s call and extends the application of the Excellence theory by examining the practice of public relations in a higher education setting, a field in which few studies have been conducted using the Excellence theory. In recent years, numerous universities have established public relations units. They have done so in order to better communicate with students, alumni, donors, neighboring communities, and other publics (e.g., Grillis, 1997; Kettman & Robinson, 1991; Mullins, 1996). Universities look to public relations units to manage crises, boost rankings, increase donations, and carry out a variety of other tasks (Hirsh & Weber, 1999; Spagnolia, 1998). How these university public relations units are practicing public relations and whether their practices are excellent are not well understood. This study seeks to fill this void and examines the management of communication at two universities in the eastern United States.

3 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 3 This paper first outlines the Excellence characteristics and reviews previous studies of public relations practice in universities. This is followed by a description of the qualitative approach used to collect and analyze data. The last two sections present results from the interviews and the conclusions derived from the findings. Literature Review The Excellence theorists (L. Grunig, et al., 2002) identified several excellence principles of an excellent communication department, which they grouped into four categories: empowerment of the public relations function, communicator roles, integrated function and relationship with other functions, and models of public relations. These categories provide a useful benchmark for determining whether a public relations department is indeed excellent. Empowerment of the Public Relations Function The first category, empowerment of public relations, includes the following excellence characteristics: involving the senior practitioners in the dominant coalition, managing communication programs strategically, and building a direct reporting relationship between the public relations executive and the dominant coalition. An organization whose public relations function adheres to these characteristics is more capable of effectively balancing its needs with that of publics. Empowering the public relations function in this manner helps organization quickly recognize issues related to publics before they become problems (L. Grunig et al., 2002). Communicator Roles Excellent public relations units have top managers who know how to manage strategically and who enact a managerial role. When the head of a public relations

4 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 4 department assumes the manager role, he or she is likely to be included in the dominant coalition and help organizations make decisions that satisfice (L. Grunig et al., 2002, p. 207). Integrated Function & Relationship to Other Functions Excellent public relations units are organized as integrated functions and are separate from other management functions. An integrated public relations unit is able to quickly respond to issues and allocate resources to address problems without delay (L. Grunig et al., 2002). Models of Public Relations Excellent public relations units utilize the two-way symmetrical communication model instead of the public information, press agentry, or the two-way asymmetrical models 1. The two-way symmetrical model uses research to facilitate mutual understanding and communication. Practitioners adopting the two-way symmetrical model play a key role in adjusting or adapting behaviors of dominant coalitions. This allows them to bring publics and dominant coalition closer together (L. Grunig et al., 2002). Support for these principles has been found in studies conducted within the United States and outside. L. Grunig, J. Grunig, and Vercic (1998), for example, found the principles of excellence in 30 Slovenian firms. Wakefield (2000) found support for 1 The press agentry model describes propagandistic communication that seeks media attention in any way possible. Communication practitioners using the public information model disseminate generally accurate information about the organization but do not volunteer negative information. In the two-way asymmetrical model, practitioners conduct scientific research to determine how to persuade publics to behave in the way the organization desires (J. Grunig & L. Grunig, 1992).

5 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 5 the principles of excellence in 29 countries. Rhee s (1999) replication of the Excellence study in Korea found support for the Excellence principles. Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions Historically, the practice of public relations within universities has been one-way, asymmetrical (Pirozek & Heskova, 2003). In the past, practitioners have engaged in public relations practice that placed a great deal of emphasis on media relations. In recent years, however, scholars have advocated a strategic approach to university public relations that moves beyond media relations and embraces strategic management, twoway symmetrical communication, and various other Excellence principles. This strategic perspective is evident in recent studies of public relations in the university setting. Samsup, Brunner, and Hon (2002), for example, examined how practitioners can measure relationships in a university setting. DeSanto and Garner (2001) recommended that university public relations practitioners set synchronized goals, identify stakeholders, and conduct evaluations. Grillis (1997) argued that it is critical for public relations practitioners to have access to the top leaders within a university. Henderson (2001) proposed a four-step process for managing communication in universities: research, planning, communication, and evaluation. This emphasis on strategic public relations management is clearly evident in research done by scholars studying the practice of public relations by universities in the former Soviet-bloc countries (e.g., Hall, 2002; Hall & Baker, 2003; Pabich, 2003). Universities in former Soviet-bloc are facing complex environments. The introduction of capitalism has meant that old state-owned universities, which never had to compete, now find themselves losing students to new private universities that offer attractive packages

6 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 6 to students (Miroiu, 1998; Neculau, 1997; Stanciulescu, 2002). This competition has prompted both state-owned and private universities to seek to utilize public relations as means of getting an edge. In the past, public relations practice at these universities was a mixture of marketing, advertising, and lobbying (Coman, 2003). Recent studies, however, have advocated a move away from one-way asymmetrical methods and toward practices that resemble the characteristics conceptualized in the Excellence study. Pirozek and Heskova (2003), for example, examined the public relations practice of a university in the Czech Republic. They showed how the two-way symmetrical tactics of research and feedback systems helped the university gain a better understanding of the attitudes of its key publics. Kaverina s (2003) study of a state university in Russia showed how two-way symmetrical efforts to initiate dialogue (e.g. radio call in shows, open house functions) helped strengthen the relationship between the university and its key publics. Popular publications aimed at university public relations practitioners have also advocated practices that are similar to the Excellence characteristics. Schoenfeld, Wiemer, and Lang (1997) encouraged practitioners to embrace strategic planning and outcome evaluation. Jarrell (2003) encouraged universities to involve public relations in decision making because practitioners can lessen risk by forging good relations with publics and can scan for emerging issues. Simpson (2002) advised university communicators to build strong community relationships, take local concerns seriously, and attend to internal and external constituencies. Ross and Lindenmann (2002) suggested that practitioners clearly define their goals and measure output, outgrowth, and outcomes. Ross (2004) urged

7 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 7 practitioners to utilize external research resources (e.g., consulting firms) to enhance their practice. The above studies and articles illustrate that practitioners are being encouraged to practice public relations in a strategic, two-way symmetrical manner. However, more studies need to be done to see if practitioners are following those recommendations. Research Questions Few studies have used a systematic measure to examine comprehensively, at a departmental level, the practice of public relations in a higher education setting. The characteristics of an excellent public relations unit identified in the Excellence theory provide a tool for such analysis. This study, guided by these principles, poses the following questions to evaluate the practice of the public relations at two higher education institutions. RQ1. How is strategic public relations represented at the two higher education institutions? This question examined whether the communication units at the two institutions are empowered or strategically managed in terms of involvement in organizational strategic management, strategic program management, and direct reporting relationship with the decision makers. RQ2. What are the characteristics of communicator roles assumed by the participants at the two higher education institutions? This question sought to find out the communicator roles (e.g., manager, technician) practitioners at each institution took on and how enactment of the roles affected the management of public relations.

8 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 8 RQ3. How is the communication unit at each higher education institution integrated and separate from other management functions? This question explores whether the various communication functions at each university are integrated in one communication unit and the nature of its relationships with other management functions. RQ4. How are the models of public relations applied at the two higher education institutions? This question examined what communication models the public relations units used and whether they embraced two-way, symmetrical communication. Method Participants Nine participants working at two Eastern institutions (distinguished as state university and university college in this paper) in the U. S. were recruited and interviewed in this study. The first two participants were identified through university phonebooks and the rest were recruited through snowball sampling (Patton, 1990). The researcher repeatedly asked questions such as, Do you know whom I should talk to? to obtain additionally participants. In total, seven female and two male participants were interviewed. At the state university, the communication function was divided into marketing communications, alumni relations, fundraising, and university foundation. The executive director of marketing communications supervises four units: marketing, university communications, Internet communications, and publication. Five participants at the state university were

9 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 9 recruited, including four from the marketing communications unit and one from the alumni relations. The remaining four participants were from the university college. Among the four participants, two were from the communication office, one was from the alumni relations office, and one was from the fundraising office. The communication function at this institution was comprised of five offices: public relations, marketing communication, alumni relations, and fundraising. Procedure Nine face-to-face in-depth interviews, lasting approximately sixty minutes, were conducted at each participant s office. Prior to each interview, the purpose of the study was explained, participants were asked to sign a consent form, and permission was asked before audio-taping. The interviews consisted of a series of open-ended questions meant to examine how communication programs were managed. These questions focused on empowerment of the public relations function, communicator roles, organization of communication functions, and public relations models. Analysis All audio tapes of interviews were transcribed. Data analysis was based on the techniques outlined by Miles and Huberman (1994) who argued that qualitative data analysis should consist of three stages: data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. During data reduction, short summaries and field notes were written to highlight important recurring themes, and patterns. Recurring patterns were identified by listening to the tapes repeatedly. To display data, several tables were generated to categorize the responses of participants. This display made it easier to see the

10 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 10 relationships between different themes. Conclusions were drawn by identifying themes or patterns, clustering categories, and noting the relationships among patterns. Results RQ1. How is strategic public relations represented at two different types of higher education institutions? Involvement in decision making. In both institutions, the senior communication executives actively participated in the decision-making process. The vice president for communications at the local college noted that he reported directly to the president and was a member of his cabinet. He cited his professional knowledge as the reason why he was included in cabinet level decision making: I participate in the decision making activities at the university level, in most of the areas at least I have the knowledge of it and can often times participate directly as well. At the state university, the executive director of marketing communications also described participation in top-level decision making: I share with them [other administrators] what I know and the feedback that I get from a variety of audiences. We participate on a decision making level on a variety of issues, not always but most of the time. I interact with the president quite a lot, even though my boss is the vice president, we don t always go through him for day to day conversation with [the president] about a particular issue and what he is thinking. Participants in both institutions also noted that involving public relations units in decision making enhanced the quality of decision making and facilitated collaboration among various units. At the university college, the vice president for communications

11 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 11 stated that By being involved in the president s cabinet level, I can give feedback on the anticipated communication consequences of some decisions, so the decisions are likely to have more positive impacts. The executive director at the state university expressed a similar sentiment: The university communications director has direct access to the president. That level of access provides for a strong level of relationship of give and take in the decision making process at critical points. Dominance of informal research in program evaluation. Although participants from both institutions stressed the need to understand audience needs, communication units at both institutions carried out little formal research. The director of public relations at the university college stated that: We have done some brand development research, which is probably the closest thing we have done. We haven t done any specific public relations research. The vice president for communications at the state university expressed a similar view regarding formal research: One of the areas that we don t do much and I d like to do more is public relations and awareness research of publics. Limited time, budgets and staff were the main reasons given for the lack of formal research. The director of public relations unit at the state university explained it as follows: That [formal research] is expensive, that requires expertise and it needs to be paid for So we do a lot of guess work. Instead of formal research, both institutions relied on informal methods to assess the effectiveness of their communication programs. A popular method at both institutions was news clipping. The director of public relations at the university college stated that she clipped news articles to gain an idea of how we re being perceived and

12 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 12 also how many people or media know about us. The assistant director of communications at the state university noted that news clipping served to guide decision making: We catalog and maintain a database of that kind of information for administrators as well as a resource for us in terms of developing other story ideas and in terms of directions we might want to go with our communication strategies. Conversing with publics was another method both institutions used to assess communication programs. The director of alumni relations at the university college stated that: Talking to our alumni, donors, or other key publics gave us a great sense of how our communication has been perceived. The managing editor of alumni relations at the state university also emphasized the importance of conversing with publics: With the magazine, in our first issue the response was terrific when Joan went to an event and they say, you know, I just love the magazine. So word of mouth is important. In addition to informal methods, both institutions turned to marketing research to compensate for the lack of formal of formal public relations research. The vice president for communications at the university college stated that: We rely on that market research to tell us what kind of awareness we ve generated, how we are being perceived. The managing editor of alumni relations at the state university mentioned that her unit hired a marketing consult to identify the needs of alumni. When asked why she did not draw on the research from the communication unit, she said the following: They [marketing communication unit] just don t have the resources right now to turn around a product for us the way that they would want to turn it around in a time frame that we would need.

13 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 13 Image building. Building organizational image was a primary goal in both institutions. The vice president for communications at the university college stated that: We want to make sure that we have a presence in some of the key media. The assistant director of marketing communications at the state university stated that the goal of her unit was to position the university as a national research university that has a broad range of expertise among its faculty. Although both institutions aimed at imaging building, the images they desired to attain differed. The state university aimed to project an image of being a leading national research institution. The university college tried to project an image as a leading online university. Both institutions utilized branding campaigns as a means of creating their preferred images. To enhance its image as leading research institution, the state university initiated a branding campaign in early This involved the marketing communications unit producing advertisements highlighting the university s academic achievement and rise in national ranking. These advertisements were featured on television and radio. The university college used a branding campaign to enhance the publics awareness of its commencement ceremony. The communication unit at the university college generated different stories about the commencement and pitched the stories to media outlets. According to the vice president for communications, this branding campaign had the following results: There were seven articles about our commencement worldwide on May 8. Dominance of media relations. Media relations was a prominent part of public relations activities at both institutions. An emphasis on media relations can be seen in the

14 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 14 goals of the two public relations units and the job responsibilities of the practitioners. At the state university, the assistant director of the communication summarized the function of her unit as follows: Communication is the office charged with telling the university story to external audiences through the media. Therefore, our office is charged with understanding the scope of the university, what our key strengths are, who we are as unit, and using the mass media to convey that message. At the university college, the director of the public relations unit noted that her primary function was media relations: I was hired simply to oversee the media relations Later on I took on internal audience of employees. Her perspective was confirmed by the vice president for communications who stated that her primary publics are the media and as well as working with internal publics The goal is to support them [other units] with the messaging. Job responsibilities also reflected an emphasis on media relations. The assistant director of communications at the state university described her job as handling calls when they come and surveying the campus for story ideas that can be pitched to reporters. The director of the public relations unit at the university college also emphasized media relations in her job description: A lot of my work has to do with writing news articles and feature stories about what s happening in the school and clipping news articles. The assistant director of communications at the state university stated that media relations was conducted through pitching ideas to reporters and get them interested in something that is going on in the university. The director of marketing communication

15 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 15 noted that messages were crafted based on careful analysis and understanding of audience needs: What we do here at the university is that there is a story to tell at the university, and determining what our audience needs to hear based on where we are in the environment of world, analysis of different audiences, what that message is, and determining how to best get that message out in a way that people can grip on to, react, understand, and find entertaining. News clips were used to identify issues and potential communication programs at both institutions. When asked whether the unit engaged in any research in planning, the director of communication at the state university: No. We do not have a strong preresearch program in place. We do monitor news clip placements on a daily basis and we collect those electronically. A staff in this communication unit was in charge of producing clip packets for administrators on a daily basis. These clip packets included articles that covered issues about the university and other institutions. RQ2. What are the characteristics of communicator roles assumed by the participants in the two higher education institutions? Dominance of the technician role among managers. In both institutions, the majority of practitioners, including middle managers, assumed a technician role. Communication practitioners in the two units were preoccupied with writing, editing news articles, and distributing them to the appropriate news outlets. The middle managers of communication, such as directors, were primarily in charge of preparing news articles and news clipping at both institutions. The vice president at the university

16 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 16 college and the executive director of marketing communication at the state university were the only participants engaged in program planning. This dominance of the technician role was evident at the state university where the assistant director of communication described her daily job tasks as handling calls [from reporters] when they come and surveying the campus for story ideas that can pitched to reporters. A senior associate of communication at the state university expressed a similar sentiment: I am in charge of writing news releases to promote various events on campus and make sure the news reach the right reporters. None of the communication practitioners at the state university had a public relations background, and their academic training was from journalism and marketing. The director of public relations at the university college also assumed mainly a technician role. Her primary duties included drafting media messages, interviewing alumni or donors, writing feature articles, and clipping articles. However, because this director also possessed a master s degree in public relations, she was sometimes involved in program planning with the vice president for communications. Managerial role enactment among top executives. The senior executives in both institutions assumed the managerial role by participating in decision making at the organizational level and program planning at the departmental level. The vice president for communications at the university college derived his managerial expertise from his education (a master s degree in public relations) and from his professional experience in the non-profit and for-profit sectors. He noted that his involvement in decision making at the top level allows the communication department to be represented in those deliberations and decision makings and helps identify some emerging issues.

17 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 17 The executive director of marketing communications at the state university enacted a managerial role through her work in planning and coordinating activities among the four units: marketing, university communications, Internet communications, and publication. Her knowledge and experience came from her academic training (a doctoral degree in personnel management), managerial experience, and private reading. As a result of her experience and involvement in decision making, the executive director at the state university was cognizant of the importance of being proactive in dealing with communication issues. This approach helped her shape advice for campus leaders. She gave the example of a stakeholder research project the university conducted in This research found that most of the university s stakeholders viewed the mission of the university as teaching. The university president at that time, however, wanted the university to develop into a leading public research university. This executive director recognized that this incongruity between mission and perception could dampen support among stakeholders. She advised the president to communicate to stakeholders (e.g., parents) that a research emphasis, rather than detracting from the teaching mission as is commonly thought, can in fact help improve the quality of teaching at a university. This approach helped the state university maintain support among its stakeholders. RQ3. How is the communication unit in each higher education institution integrated and separate from other management functions? Decentralized public relations function. The public relations units at the state university and university college were decentralized. In both cases, different sections handled different public relations functions. The public relations office was in charge of communicating with the media, legislators, students, communities, and employees. The

18 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 18 alumni relations and fund development offices were responsible for communication with alumni and donors. The public relations function was, therefore, segmented into three sections: communication, alumni relations, and fund development/institutional development office. At both institutions, the three units occupied separate offices in different buildings. The director of public relations at the university college explained this decentralization as follows: I don t directly oversee all of public relations in the university, not the way you have defined it. Our alumni office and development office manages alumni as well as donors But when you define in a proper way, which is really the interaction between the institution of the organization and its publics, I think all organizations in some levels are decentralized. Integration was achieved through collaboration among different units and through co-operation among the senior executives serving in the dominant coalition in both institutions. Collaboration in decision making allowed units dealing with different publics of the university to collaborate with each other. For example, media relations programs enacted in the communication unit supported programs developed in other units such as alumni relations. At the university college, the vice president for communications explained that he was able to develop messages suited to a particular audience with the help from alumni relations, institutional advancement and other units. He described such collaboration as follows: Being included in the president s cabinet definitely helps us to work with other

19 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 19 departments Although we are separated by different functions, we have closely collaborated with each other at the cabinet level. The vice president of the fundraising unit at the university college agreed with the above statement on collaboration: He [the vice president for communications] and I both serve on the president s cabinet. We work closely as a group. We will consult each when developing certain messages for alumni or donors. Collaboration was also evident at the state university where the assistant director of communications stated the following: Our executive director is the lead on what gets developed. It grows out of broader needs from the president office and inputs from the development office, alumni office, and government relations efforts. All the directors of these units get together regularly. The director of marketing communication at the state university confirmed the above observation: We have meeting, all the directors, every two weeks. We hear from them their situations, problems, opportunities that are happening at the university and then we decide how we react to that whether it is via the Internet, marketing efforts, media relations efforts... Marketing public relations. Marketing concepts seemed to guide the communication practices in both institutions. This was the case even though, at both institutions, marketing was a separate function from communication. This was evident at the university college where the director of public relations defined her unit as marketing public relations and defined students as an important market:

20 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 20 Marketing public relations is a type of public relations that s operated specifically to affect bottom line. In case of university, that would be to increase enrollment. While I write media release about open houses and new programs and get those placed in the media, the aim is marketing public relations, to impact the bottom line. The vice president for communications at the university college acknowledged that most of the research done in the public relations unit was marketing research, which was valuable in developing key messages to reach key publics A marketing perspective toward public relations was also present at the state university. The director of marketing communication noted that she did not see a distinction between marketing and communication I actually see marketing as communications. I don t see it differently. It s just one way of communicating. The executive director of marketing communications at the state university expressed a similar sentiment: One of the things that help is to look at it [communication] from a marketing perspective and that students live an open environment. The students had choices. They could have gone anywhere and not just our school. RQ4.How are the models of public relations applied in the two higher education institutions? Dominance of one-way communication. At both institutions, communication programs were primarily conducted in a one-way asymmetrical manner using the public information model. An essential goal of the public relations unit at the state university was to have a presence in some of the key media, as defined by the director of communications in this institution. She mentioned that she was hired primarily to

21 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 21 oversee the media relations. Her main responsibilities included developing messages with the senior account executive, writing news releases or feature articles, and providing information to the media. She was often engaged in providing media with information on any new decisions made by the institution, with stories highlighting donors or alumni, and with news articles about the good performance of the institution. These activities reflected what the essence of the one-way public information model: providing accurate but favorable information about an organization. The vice president of communication at the university college gave the following example of one-way communication: To convey that we re a world leader in online education, we provide media with stories about the numbers of our online education, so they could have something to tell the world about it. This example illustrated one major purpose of media relations, disseminating favorable information about an organization and increasing its media presence. The director of public relations monitored the media coverage to examine how much media attention this institution had received. The public information model also dominated the communication practice at the state university. The assistant director of communication at the state university made the following observation: We try to target the newspapers we re sure that they [key constituents] are going to read with articles that provide a good window into the expertise of the university, how the university, if rising in stature, make sure those kinds of stories are covered in those news outlets they are prone to read.

22 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 22 The above account exemplified the public information model in that the communication unit in this institution tried to position the school in a favorable light through providing good news. Infrequent presence of two-way communication. Although one-way communication dominated in the practice, a few instances of two-way communication were present at both institutions when communicating with students, alumni, and donors. The vice president for communications at the university college stressed the importance of dialogue when communicating with students: We begin dialogue from the time they re expressing their interest in our institution We may use methodologies ranging from advertising, to phone calls, to s to make sure that we know how they are doing and they know we re concerned about their welfare. The dialogue with students was two-way, because students were able to express their perceptions about the institution through various channels (i.e., phone conversation). Symmetrical communication took place because the university was open to make adjustments about its services based on students concerns. Two-way symmetrical communication was also present at the university college in its communication campaigns with alumni and donors. The vice president of fundraising at this institution noted the importance of reconciling the interests of the school and donors: We have members on our boards, who have contacts with the people who are either at the higher level of corporations or foundations Before talking to these

23 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 23 potentials, we have to have a thorough understanding about their interests, find a common ground between their interests and ours. It can be seen from the above account that communication messages were structured to relate prospective donors interests with the institution s needs or programs. An instance of two-way symmetrical communication at the state university was found in its efforts to deal with hooliganism at university sponsored events. The executive director of marketing communication described how the university used twoway communication to cope with problem of students harassing visiting teams at basketball games: We got s right off the homepage in the hundreds over a course of two weeks. We looked at them and considered them in our decision making, see what people want us to do, and how the response might be, what we might do differently in the future. A lot of those mechanisms for two-way interaction are built into our medium. The above example was two-way communication because the decision makers took into account the concerns of its publics (i.e., dissatisfying people). Reactive decisions were based on understanding the needs or concerns of those dissatisfying publics. Discussion and Implications Findings from the nine in-depth interviews helped extend the Excellence theory of public relations (L. Grunig et al., 2002) by applying the theory to public relations in a higher education setting. Results showed that the two communication units at both institutions have not fully achieved excellence. The less than excellent practices observed in the two communication units included subsuming communication under

24 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 24 marketing, dominance of media relations, prevalence of one-way communication, dominance of informal program evaluation, and prevalence of the technician role. Both communication units examined in this study aimed at promoting a favorable image for their institutions, which echoed some previous studies (e.g., Pirozek & Keskova, 2003; Pabich, 2003). Similar to Kaverina s (2003) findings, promotional campaign through media became a primary tool of image building. This goal of image building, however, was not conducive for a communication unit to achieve excellence. The Excellence theorists argued that communication practitioners should instead focus on building relationship with strategic publics through communication. A favorable image is a byproduct of this relationship building and is likely to sustain through crisis. The problematic occupation with image building, however, cannot be blamed solely on the communication practitioners. Participant responses indicated that top executives (e.g., presidents) of both institutions stressed the necessity of having a favorable presence in the media. In order for these public relations units to achieve excellence in public relations, the top executives need to change their views regarding the function of public relations. The dominant focus on image building was a primary reason why both communication units stressed media relations, another characteristic of non-excellence. Communication practitioners in both institutions argued that they were preoccupied with elevating the image of their school through news releases or feature stories. This emphasis on media relations reflected the findings of studies (e.g., Coman, 2003; Kaverina, 2003) conducted in Europe. The professional background of the participants offered another explanation of the focus on media relations. Only two participants had

25 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 25 academic training in public relations. The two universities can address this imbalance by actively recruiting practitioners with training in public relations. The dominance of the technician role at both institutions was due to two factors. First, the emphasis on media relations at both institutions prompted public relations practitioners to spend most of their time writing news releases or sending stories out to reporters. Second, the two communication units lacked the skills necessary for communication management. The reason for this lack of skill is a lack of formal training in public relations or communication management. The dominance of the one-way asymmetrical model at both institutions can be attributed to a lack of knowledge of two-way symmetrical communication. The excellence theorists (L. Grunig et al., 2002) stated that such knowledge is necessary for a communication unit to acquire the potential to practice two-way symmetrical communication. The two institutions can move toward symmetrical communication by recruiting communication practitioners who have formal trainings in public relations and are aware of the value of symmetrical communication. Both communication units exhibited limited use of strategic management. They both conducted little pre-program research, and mainly evaluated programs informally (e.g., monitoring the media, talking to publics). This lack of formal program research resulted in reliance on marketing research. Unfortunately, marketing research cannot completely reveal the various concerns of publics. In many cases, factors such as information needs and relational concerns are not addressed in marketing research. This insufficiency of formal research can be solved by using the research resources that the two institutions already have: access to the communication departments. With help from

26 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 26 the faculty and students in the communication department, the public relations units can conduct systematic research from a communication perspective. Although non-excellent characteristic were predominant, the two communication units possessed several Excellence characteristics. These excellence characteristics included involvement in the dominant coalition, integration of communication functions at the decision-making level, and in some cases, two-way symmetrical communication. The strongest presence of Excellence can be seen in the fact that the senior executives of the communication units were included in top-level organizational decision-making process. The two communication units were thus empowered in a sense that their senior executives were allowed to balance the goals of the institutions with the concerns of publics. The two communication units were also able to achieve integration through cooperation among senior decision makers involved in higher-level decision making. Although this study helped extend the Excellence theory, it is not free of limitations. First, only two public universities were examined. A need exists to study private institutions and understand their experience with managing communication. A comparative study of public relations practice between private and public universities would provide a comprehensive picture of how higher education institutions manage their communication. Second, interpretation bias may exist because the researcher studied at one of the two institutions. However, the researcher repeatedly checked the field notes and interview summaries to reduce bias while interpreting the findings. In conclusion, this study contributed both to the theoretical body of knowledge and to the professional practice of public relations. Findings from this study demonstrated the utility of using the Excellence characteristics to evaluate the

27 Public Relations in Higher Education Institutions 27 performance of public relations. The study extended the Excellence theory s assertion that integration of various communication functions can be achieved through collaboration among executives from different units (i.e., internal communication, media relations, alumni relations, etc) during the decision-making process. The study also provided recommendations on how universities can improve two-ways symmetrical communication, pre-program research, and program evaluation to achieve excellence.

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