Discuss the relationship between culture and public relations Essay

Discuss the relationship between culture and public relations - Essay Example Public relation practitioners, managers, and theorists have long been dealing with the concept of differences (Ainlay, Becker and Coleman 1986) and problems of communicating across cultures (Alberts 1992; Asante and Gudykunst 1989; Gudykunst 1991; Scollon and Scollon 1995; Varonis and Gass 1985; Gass and Varonis, 1991).On the other hand, some prominent public relation experts have criticized the importance of multicultural communication. This paper tries to explore the relationship between public relation and cultures while discussing about the societal and corporate cultures and their collective impact on public relation practices. Public relation practice is packed with the possibilities of embarrassments, lost opportunities, confused clients, inadequate performance, and unsatisfied expectations stemming from misunderstood cultural differences. Some prominent commentators reject the idea of multicultural communication, such as, ODwyer (1994 quoted in Banks 2000). Considering the insensitivity towards cultural differences, Banks (2000) suggests that they must get more informed about cultural diversity and get a better understanding of cultural variability and its implications for public relation practices. Banks (2000) refers to it as internalization of business; others call it globalization of business (Cheney 1999; Fitzpatrick 1992 quoted in Banks 2000, 40). Banks (2000) also notes that the research and theory on diversity in public relation is in its early phases. A diverse body of literature has emerged in order to provide practical information for training and working in multicultural settings, however, t he largest public relation study, the IABC Research Foundations "excellence project" has not directly acknowledged multicultural principles or issues; either we consider the studys development as theoretical statement or for using recommendations to improve