THOMAS J .
ROACH
AN EASY HISTORY LESSON: THE
EVOLUTION OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
s quarries and other aggregate-industry^companies
A incorporate public-relations managers and consul-
tants into their plans, they need to be careful identifying
. what kind of public relations they want.
During the 20th century, we saw the role of public
relations expand from defending exploitative businesses
against muckraking journalists to promoting entry into
World War I, persuading women to smoke cigarettes, and
packaging and selling political candidates. For the most
part, the profession has a well deserved reputation for
manipulation and propagandizing. This is most cer-
tainly not the kind of public relations that has been
endorsed by this column.
Contemporary businesses need more sophis-
ticated communication for a more complex
business environment and wiser, more articu-
late publics. Pubhc-relations professionals today
track public opinion through focus groups and
surveys, write media releases, meet with com-
munity groups and set up Web pages. They value
collecting and providing information as their
main objective. And instead of being called in to
fix problems created by isolated decision makers,
they are part of abroad-based, decision-making
process that anticipates and avoids problems.
The need for soimd public-relations theory
and skills in the aggregate industry is appar-
ent to anyone who has followed the mishandling
of communication at a mine accident or watched
local quarry representatives get outgunned by their neigh-
bors at a town zoning commission meeting. Yet, aggregate
leadership has been slow to invite public-relations profes-
sionals to the table:
Thomas J. Roach, Ph.D., has 30 years experience
in the communication fieid, working as a journalist,
consuitant and director of internal communication.
He has taught at Purdue University Calumet since
1987. He can be reached at tjroachSgmail.com
MARCH 2008 • ROCK PRODUCTS
/\t best, sound public reiations is not trying to
deceive or persuade. It does what a^regate
workers have always done, ff
If an aggregate company is thinking about adding pubhc
relations to the team, it is important that it not relive the
mistakes of the last century.
The big problem with early public-relations practice is
that it was usually too little and too late. The railroads, the
meatpacking industry, and the early coal and oil industries
all damaged their relationships with the public before they
tried to fix things by hiring former journalists to tell their
side of the story. It has always been a mistake to think that a
company can make decisions based solely on profit motive
and then hire professional communicators to come in and
smooth things out.
More effective uses of communication came in the
1970s and 1980s when customers and employees were
kept informed and allowed to provide input to
management. The lesson is simple: public-rela-
tions people can be more effective pulling down
barriers than trying to pull rabbits out of hats.
Another misuse of public relations is to over-
adjust to the needs of one public while ignoring
tbe others. All companies have at least four
constituent publics: shareholders, cus-
tomers, employees and the community
in which they do business. A business
should receive input from all four and
make careful adjustments when they
are required. Too often, the needs of
the last three are sacrificed to create
a false impression for shareholders.
However, customers and employees fare better than mem-
bers of the community who are usually ignored until they
file lawsuits or press city officials or legislators for action.
Ideally every organization should have someone
assigned to public relations. This person's responsibility
should be to monitor all publics and bring their feedback to
the top of the decision-making process. Conversely, it also
is his or her responsibility to make the organization's con-
cerns known to its publics. At best, sound public relations
is not trying to deceive or persuade. It does what aggregate
workers have always done. It digs up a valuable commod-
ity, and it moves it around. How hard is that?
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