Normative Studies and Social Capital: The Fix-It Approach to Public Relations

• In Event: Typology Teasing: Extending on Sociological Approaches in Public Relations

Abstract

Normative studies can be understood to rest on their norm-providing function: what is valuable and how can organizations communicate better? Building on the social fear of disorder and inefficiency, Deetz (1996) names normative studies as the dominant research tradition on organizations. A managerial approach, normative studies represent the in-control approach to research and analysis: it is the task of the researcher to identify what is broken and how to fix it. Dating back to Wiio’s established OED-measurements of gaps in organizational communication, normative theories in public relations and organizational communication represent the majority ranging from Excellence Theory to Situational Theory and relationship management. What they all have in common is the assumption that once all the pieces are correctly placed, the organization becomes effective in its communication and progress may occur.

If a norm is understood as a shared belief of how individuals ought to behave (Gibbs, 1965), then theory of social capital is a good example of a normative approach to public relations. In fact, public relations practitioners have been suggested to be in the business of cultivating organizational social capital (Luoma-aho, 2009) and mutual benefit has long been central in public relations. Building on Robert Putnam and his research on civic engagement and social capital, social capital can be defined as “features of social organization such as networks, norms and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit” (Putnam, 1995, p. 67). Social capital is hence a beneficial type of capital that is as desired and as valuable (if not more) than other types of capital. It is understood as a universal good for its owners: the more social capital the better, and vice versa: the less social capital, the less efficiency, success, access and resources there are available for individuals and organizations. It is a fix-it kind of approach: if social capital is missing, then it is the job of public relations professionals to make some.

The panelist addresses the paradoxes rising from the normative research tradition and public relations including the “by-product” nature of social capital, the economic principles of normative research, the universality of relationships and self-reported measures, as well as the impossibility of objectivity.

Author

• Vilma L. Luoma-aho, University of Jyvaskyla, Dept. of COM.