Globalization, Culture, and Public Relations: A Comprehensive Analysis

This essay delves into the multifaceted impact of globalization on the field of public relations. It begins by examining the concept of 'global flux,' a state of disjunction and complexity brought about by globalization, and its implications for PR practices. The essay then explores the rights and responsibilities of PR practitioners in addressing discriminatory cultural practices in a globalized world, emphasizing the need for sensitivity and ethical considerations. A significant portion is dedicated to intercultural competence, highlighting the essential skills PR professionals must possess to effectively communicate across diverse cultural backgrounds, including open-mindedness, self-awareness, language proficiency, empathy, and flexibility. Finally, the essay analyzes the representation of public relations in various media, including books, films, and television, noting both positive and negative portrayals and their impact on public perception. The references cited provide a comprehensive overview of the academic literature on the subject.

Running head: PUBLIC RELATIONS IN CONTEXT OF GLOBALIZATION AND CULTURE
Public Relations in context of globalization and culture
Name of the University
Name of the Student
Author note

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Answer 1: Global Flux and its influence in public relations
Globalization has caused major transformations in varied sectors including, social,
political, cultural and economic. It brought about a revolution in the fields of communication and
technology by opening the gates of the nation-states to one another (Pal and Dutta 2008). In the
field of public relations as well, globalization has had a marked influence. It has changed the way
public relation is viewed. Many concepts relating to public relations can no longer be perceived
in the traditional manner.
Globalization has given rise to a new phenomenon called the ‘global flux’. As described
by Surma (2013), the effects of global compression and flux have resulted in the formation of a
global flux. The global flux has thus formed a state of affairs that is characterized by disjunction,
chaos and complexity. The author further states that the global flux phenomenon has blurred the
boundaries and cultural boundaries are no longer visible from the earlier perspective. Global flux
has also resulted in the hybridization of the global and the local forming a ‘glocal’ reality where
the physical distance has vanished in a sense. Global flux is thus a rupture in the very foundation
of national and international, local and global. It has changed the way the world is viewed. The
cultural and political, social and economic transactions between nations have increased in a way
never imagined before.
The practice of public relations has also been shaken by the advent of globalization and
the resulting global flux.

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Screenshot 1: Tweet about Global Flux
Answer 2: Rights of PR practitioners to speak on discriminatory cultural practices of other
countries
The public relations practitioners have to take caution against many things while
speaking on any issue. When it comes to speaking about issues in other countries, the
responsibility is triple folded for PR practitioners to be cautioned and careful. However, the
emergence of globalization has eased the task for the PR practitioners. They now have the
license to speak on any issue they seem needs to be opinionated. The advancement of
multinational corporations in the recent past has allowed them to express their views on any
topic that concerns the organization or agency they work for (Fitch, James and Motion 2016).
While discussing the growing power of PR practitioners, it must however be remembered that
they still have some limits when it comes to speaking on the cultural practices of other countries.
In this new postmodern age of globalization, PR practitioners have to speak on behalf of
companies that are based in countries with which they are not familiar. They have to be

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extremely sensible about the culture and practices followed in countries other than their own.
Questioning whether PR practitioners should speak on the discrimination faced by different
cultures in other countries is not the right way to approach. PR practitioners have the tough job to
maintain a company’s reputation in the eyes of the customers as well as clients. Therefore, they
must present their views on behalf of the company regarding any topic. However, it must be
borne in mind that the PR practitioners must restrain from sounding biased.
According to some PR scholars, the changing paradigm of PR practice requires the
emerging practitioners to develop deep understanding of the core cultural beliefs of nations
beyond their native place (Heath 2010). With the advent and dominance of the age of
globalization, it has become imperative for the PR practitioners to speak on cultural issues
transcending national boundaries. It is evident from the recent incidences of discrimination based
on culture occurring in many countries that the practice of public relations is not confined to
specific nations. Multinational companies and organizations hire PR agencies that express on
their behalf regarding any discriminatory behavior. The discrimination could be against a gender,
caste or religion.

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Screenshot 2: Tweet about PR Practitioners for Discrimination
Answer 3: Intercultural competence needed for PR practitioners
It has been mentioned in the previous sections that PR practitioners do not have the right
but the responsibility to speak on issues related to discriminatory cultural practices occurring in
other countries. However, they must not sound biased or anti while speaking on the issues. To
achieve this skill, the PR practitioners must possess some intercultural competency by which
they could address such issues more precisely.
Many scholars have associated Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions that define
organizational settings to the practice of public relations. According to (Moon, Rhee and Yang
(2016), Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions may be effectively applied to the field of public
relations as it would assist practitioners attain cultural competence. These five dimensions
include, power distance, uncertainty, masculinity and femininity, individualism and collectivism
and Confucianism. A thorough understanding of these factors can greatly help PR practitioners
acquire competence needed to communicate with people from different cultural backgrounds.
Ihtiyar and Ahmad (2014) have described certain parameters that the PR practitioner
needs to achieve to become competent in intercultural communication. PR practitioners have to
have an open attitude that is; they must develop a mindset that understands the global
requirements. Second, they must be self-aware about their own cultural beliefs and practices and
relate those to other cultures. Third, developing competency of languages other their own, would
benefit the practitioners understand the nuances of other languages. This would help them
communicate efficiently and without any worry to hurt anyone’s sentiment. Fourth, having
empathy for other traditions and culture goes a long way in equipping a PR practitioner with

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intercultural competency. Yeomans (2016), states that empathy is gradually turning out to be the
central and most important aspects of intercultural communication for PR practitioners. Fifth,
being flexible is another skill that PR practitioners must be competent in, to be able to
communicate better with people from different cultures.
In totality, it needs to be mentioned that intercultural competency for PR practitioners is
necessary especially in this age of globalization. With a collective understanding of the various
theories of intercultural communication across different fields of study, PR practitioners can be
able to communicate with different cultures without any barrier. This hence allows them to
present the goals and objectives of their respective companies in a more precise manner. In
addition, they also enable themselves to speak on issues of other countries, which they feel is
against humanity or basic moral values. In this way, the PR practitioners will be able to enhance
the reputation and image of the company they work for and increase its customer base.
Screenshot 3: Tweet about Intercultural Competence
Answer 4: Representation of public relations in books, film and TV

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Public Relation practitioners do not boast of a positive representation of themselves in the
popular culture. It has been heard many times from PRs that they are always portrayed either in
complete negative shade or in a subordinate character. This however, is not entirely true as many
instances from the popular culture are there that justify the role of a PR practitioner as being
honest and influential (Coombs and Holladay 2015).
The depiction of PR professionals in popular culture can be traced from the early 20th
century to present. In the 1930s, a number of books were published that portrayed the then
economic, political and social condition of mostly the United States. These depictions also
brought to light, the role of public relation professionals in mitigating issues pertaining to social,
economic and political. Numerous books have been written since then that have portrayed public
relations either directly or indirectly. They were chiefly depicted as morally conflicted and
disruptive to the truth The list is long with some popular works including, ‘The 42nd Parallel” by
John Dos Possos, “Public Relations: A Novel of the Utilities Field” by Louis Lefko, “Fame
Fatale” by Wendy Holden and “Confessions of a Shopaholic” by Sophie Kinsella amongst
others.
In the world of television, depiction of public relations began to be visible during the
1970s until present when television was beginning to popularize mostly in developing nations.
Whether it is the role of CJ Cregg in ‘The West Wing’ where a woman was portrayed as a
powerful press secretary or Malcolm Tucker in ‘The Thick of It’ that conveyed the practices of
PRs during the Westminster controversy; public relations received much publicity from
television (Prismjournal.org 2018). Other popular TV series that depicted PR include ‘Doctor
Who’, ‘Babylon’ and the more recent ‘Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death’ and ‘Post my
Party’ among others (Prdepiction.wordpress.com 2018).

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Screenshot 4: Tweet about PR Representations
It is but true and obvious that public relation was portrayed the most in films. Avena
(2014), points out that public relation practitioners are portrayed as lacking responsibilities and
neglecting ethics in their profession. The author further argues that this negative portrayal of PR
in television and films have contributed largely to the way people perceive the profession.
However, some experts believe that films have more negative portrayal of PR professionals than
television. Furthermore, it has been seen that the portrayal of PR practitioners in either film or
television is on extreme that is the good is extremely good and the bad is horribly bad. It must
however be remembered that PR practitioners were viewed as journalists during the early years
and hence the portrayals in books and other popular media were shaped from that perspective
(Ijpc.uscannenberg.org 2018).

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References:
Avena, Joseph. "The portrayal of public relations practitioners in popular media: A content
analysis of films and television shows." PhD diss., Quinnipiac University, 2014.
Coombs, W. Timothy, and Sherry J. Holladay. "Public relations’“relationship identity” in
research: Enlightenment or illusion." Public Relations Review 41, no. 5 (2015): 689-695.
Fitch, Kate, Melanie James, and Judy Motion. "Talking back: Reflecting on feminism, public
relations and research." Public Relations Review 42, no. 2 (2016): 279-287.
Heath, Robert Lawrence, ed. The SAGE handbook of public relations. Sage, 2010.
Ihtiyar, Ali, and Fauziah Sh Ahmad. "Intercultural Communication Competence as a Key
Activator of Purchase Intention." Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 150 (2014): 590-599.
Ijpc.uscannenberg.org. 2018. "Saltzman". Ijpc.Uscannenberg.Org.
http://ijpc.uscannenberg.org/journal/index.php/ijpcjournal/article/view/25/50
Moon, Bitt Beach, Yunna Rhee, and Sung-Un Yang. "Developing public’s information
transmitting behavior (ITB) model in public relations: A cross-national study." Journal of Public
Relations Research 28, no. 1 (2016): 4-18.
Pal, Mahuya, and Mohan J. Dutta. "Public relations in a global context: The relevance of critical
modernism as a theoretical lens." Journal of Public Relations Research 20, no. 2 (2008): 159-
179.
Prdepiction.wordpress.com. 2018. "PR Depictions". PR Depictions.
https://prdepiction.wordpress.com/

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Prismjournal.org. 2018. "Praxis - The Public Relations Resource Centre: Volume 7: Issue 4.
Public Relations And Gender". Prismjournal.Org. http://www.prismjournal.org/index.php?
id=gender
Surma, Anne. "Conceptualising the Cosmopolitan Approach to Writing." In Imagining the
Cosmopolitan in Public and Professional Writing, pp. 12-35. Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2013.
Yeomans, Liz. "Imagining the lives of others: Empathy in public relations." Public Relations
Inquiry 5, no. 1 (2016): 71-92.