Organizational Communication and Public Relations: A Conceptual Framework for a Common Ground

Abstract

In the academic sphere, public relations and organizational communication live lives of their own in spite of the fact that in communication agencies these two areas are meanwhile growing together. This chapter documents possible reasons for the separation of these two research areas, presents a theoretical approach, which perceives decisions as the characteristic form of organizational communication and discusses both the unique paradox connected with this mode of communication as well as the different strategies of deparadoxification. The proposed contingency model allows for a discussion of public relations and organizational communication on a common theoretical basis, offers new insights into communication management as a management of contingency, leaves room for analysing the challenges of new communication media and allows public relations to be regarded not as being apart from, but as being a part of organizational communication.