('The Science Behind The Art' exclusive to PR News from the Institute for Public Relations)
The question in the headline might be answered, "maybe so," at least when it comes to each other's views of what constitutes a profession and whether public relations
qualifies. Betteke van Ruler of the Amsterdam School of Communications Research, University of Amsterdam, describes four well-known models of professionalism that shed
light on the growing debate within PR.
For academic scholars, professionalism entails a pre-defined body of expert knowledge and skills - a knowledge model oriented to rational intelligence. When practitioners
show little interest in theory, and formal PR education is not a requirement for employment, academics conclude that PR is far from being a profession.
Yet practitioners readily proclaim their own professionalism. Perhaps, van Ruler says, they are instinctively basing their views on more client-oriented models: the
competition model that defines a profession based on permanent competition to provide expert services; and the personality model, in which commitment, creativity and enthusiasm
are hallmarks of a professional.
To add to the confusion, PR pros lean toward the status model, which defines a profession as an elite group using specialized knowledge to gain status, power and autonomy.
The emphasis on accreditation is one indication of status-model orientation.
Who's right? van Ruler suggests that no single model is optimal for public relations. What would clearly advance the profession, however, is for practitioners and scholars to
listen to each other and to combine aspects of each model to reshape how public relations is taught, practiced and perceived.
van Ruler's paper was awarded the 2004 Robert Heath Top Paper Award of the Public Relations Division of the International Communication Association, and it was published in
the June 2005 issue of Public Relations Review. Other important public- relations research is available free at http://www.instituteforpr.com.
Contact: Betteke van Ruler, [email protected]