„Toward an Understanding of the Use of Academic Theories in Public Relations Practice“ Joep P. Cornelissen

„Toward an Understanding of the Use of Academic Theories in Public Relations Practice“

Joep P. Cornelissen

Today, I read the article of J. P. Cornelissen: “Toward an Understanding of the Use of Academic Theories in Public Relations Practice“.  Before I start, I want to say that I found this article quite difficult. At the beginning it was hard to understand what the author wants to talk about, because he repeated several things but when I finished reading, it was clear to me (at least I think I understood it right).

     This article is about three different theories about the way practitioners use academic theories in public relation issues (Cornelissen, 2000).

     I will shortly summarize each of these three theories and comment on each of these models directly.  In the end I will give a final statement about this article.

     The author introduces the Instrumental Model, which describes a one-way relation between academic research and practice with main assumption that the academic research can provide solutions for any problem in a direct and also instrumental manner (Cornelissen, 2000). This means that the academic research develops a plan for the solution of every problem which can arise in practice. About this Model is a lot of criticism; I agree that there cannot be one solution for every problem, because every problem is different, one circumstance will always differ. In my opinion it is totally impossible present a solution which should be taken 1:1 to solve a problem.

     The second model which Cornelissen describes is the Conceptual Model. This is a more general model but describes still a one-way relation between academic research and practice (Cornelissen, 2000).  This model is a more open one; it gives the practitioner some guidelines and tools to understand real world phenomena. Again there is a lot of criticism and I must confess that I did not think about any criticism when I first read about this model. I though this seems to be a very good way to find the best solution for real world problems. I read the criticism that this is still a one-way relationship and that the practice is still too passive (Cornelissen, 2000). I can understand why this is an opinion of some people but I do not agree with that, because I think it is useful to first establish general guidelines and the practitioners can apply these guidelines to their problems.

     The last model is the Translation Model; the practitioners are no longer dependent on the academic research (Cornelissen, 2000).  I do not think that Cornelissen made the distinction between the Translation and the Conceptual Model very clear. As I understood is here the difference that the practitioners work on themselves and only use the help of the academic research when they think it is appropriate. In this model the practitioners is the decider.

     In general, for me this article is much too long for this kind of information. It is hard to understand what the author wants to say; even the topic seems not to be very difficult. My opinion about the three models is that I like the second the most. I do not like the first one, because it is too strict, like I already mentioned it is not possible to generate a solution for a lot of problems. Every problem has to be analyzed and solved in a unique way. The second model presents a guideline what helps the practitioners to find the right way and still offers enough information to solve the problem. I do not like the third model, because I think the academic research has the better information and overview and tools to offer appropriate help for different problems. The practitioners cannot be the ones where the academic research is learning from.  They are the experts, practitioners should only apply their suggestions.

Maybe this is my opinion because I am studying psychology with main focus on research.

This was the first time that I had to write a self-reflection essay, so I am not sure whether I did it the right way.

                                              

Literature

Cornelissen, J. P. (2000). Toward and Understanding of the Use of Academic Theories in Public Relations Practice. Public Relations Review , S. 315-326.