Public relations as a complex decision-based practice

Abstract

This article considers public relations through the prism of decision-making. Decisions can be regarded as a way of dealing with complexity. In the following, two approaches to decisions and complexity are discussed. The first is an actor-based prescriptive approach, which focuses on decision-making as a means of managing environmental complexity. There are different tools and techniques that support public relations managers in finding adequate responses. The second is a descriptive approach, which is more interested in the ways in which such tools and techniques contribute to the complex decision process itself. In accordance with Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory, public relations decisions are regarded as a specific form of communication that (a) emphasizes the selectivity of the process by specifying particular public relations options or choices, (b) attributes this selection to a ‘decision-maker’ (e.g. a public relations manager) while simultaneously presuming strategic intent with respect to public perception, and (c) engages the past and future in a specific way. A decision-based approach that builds on communication may thus contribute to a more detailed understanding of public relations practice. Such an approach raises, among others, questions concerning strategic public relations options or the participation of digital entities as ‘decision-makers’. With its focus on decisions as communications, it furthermore links the field of public relations research to schools of thought such as CCO (communicative constitution of organizations) and strategy as practice.