Changes in public relations management in the era of coronavirus pandemic

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Oryginalny artykuł naukowy Original Article

Data wpływu/Received: 30.09.2020

Data recenzji/Accepted: 10.11.2020/30.11.2020 Data publikacji/Published: 31.12.2020

Źródła finansowania publikacji: środki WSH w Sosnowcu DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0014.8055

Authors’ Contribution:

(A) Study Design (projekt badania) (B) Data Collection (zbieranie danych) (C) Statistical Analysis (analiza statystyczna) (D) Data Interpretation (interpretacja danych)

(E) Manuscript Preparation (redagowanie opracowania) (F) Literature Search (badania literaturowe)

dr hab. Anna Adamus-MatuszyńskaA B C D E F University of Economics in Katowice

ORCID 0000-0003-3234-4599 dr Renata MaćkowskaA B C D E F Humanitas University in Sosnowiec ORCID 0000-0003-1298-3166

CHANGES IN PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGEMENT IN THE ERA OF CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC ZMIANY W ZARZĄDZANIU PUBLIC RELATIONS

W ERZE PANDEMII KORONAWIRUSA

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Abstract: The year 2020 is filledby new economic, social and environmental phenomena related to COVID-19 and its consequences. The global coronavirus pandemic affects every industry and all aspects of people’s lives. Therefore, one of the many questions researchers raise, are changes in the methods of communication between organizations and stakeholders resulting from this global epidemic.

The first purpose of the presented research is to get knowledge about public relations activities practiced during the crises of the 21st century, with particular emphasis on the coronavirus pandemic. The second goal is to test the suitability of James Grunig’s models during the pandemic crisis. The authors accept the thesis that the global crises that characterize the first years of the 21st century and the role of social media make it necessary to use models ofPR practice different than those experienced in the 20th century. Hence, the research at- tempts to answer the following research questions:

1. How has the public relations model been changed in Polish companies during the pandemic?

2. Has crisis management dominated the activities of PR specialists?

3. How does new media hinder or, on the contrary – facilitate the implementation of PR tasks during a pandemic?

The Delphi research was used as the research method. The Delphi method aims to aggregate the opinions of a diverse group of experts. It allows to carry out researches without the need to meet respondents directly, which is essential during a pandemic. Experts were selected from the members of the Polish Public Relations Association. The overall conclusion of the analysis emphases that the pandemic has been changing PR practice models as it has forced the online communication that is especially exposed to fake news and hate speech content.

Keywords: public relations, crisis, information, new media, models of public relations Streszczenie: Rok 2020 pełen jest nowych zjawisk gospodarczych, społecznych i środowi- skowych związanych z COVID-19 i jego konsekwencjami. Globalna pandemia koronawirusa wpływa na każdą branżę i na wszystkie aspekty życia ludzi. Dlatego jedno z wielu nur- tujących badaczy pytań dotyczy także zmian w metodach komunikowania się organizacji z interesariuszami wynikających z tej globalnej epidemii.

Pierwszym celem prezentowanych badań jest poznanie działań public relations wykorzy- stywanych podczas kryzysów XXI wieku, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem pandemii koronawirusa. Drugim celem jest sprawdzenie przydatności modeli Jamesa Gruniga podczas kryzysu pandemicznego. Autorki przyjmują tezę, że globalne kryzysy, które charakteryzują pierwsze lata XXI wieku oraz rola mediów społecznościowych, wpływają na konieczność stosowania odmiennych niż w XX wieku modeli w praktyce PR. Stąd badania podejmują próbę odpowiedzi na następujące pytania badawcze:

1. Jak zmienił się model public relations w polskich firmach w okresie pandemii?

2. Czy zarządzanie kryzysowe zdominowało działania PR-owców?

3. W jaki sposób nowe media utrudniają czy wręcz przeciwnie – ułatwiają, realizację zadań PR w czasie pandemii?

Jako metodę badawczą wykorzystano badania delfickie. Metoda Delphi ma na celu zagre- gowanie opinii zróżnicowanego kręgu ekspertów. Pozwala na realizację badań bez koniecz- ności bezpośredniego spotkania z respondentami, co podczas pandemii jest niezwykle waż- ne. Eksperci zostali wybrani spośród członków Polskiego Stowarzyszenia Public Relations.

Ogólny wniosek płynący z analizy mówi, że pandemia zmienia modele praktyki PR, ponie-

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waż wymusza komunikację online, która jest narażona na większą liczbę fałszywych wiado- mości i treści zawierających mowę nienawiści.

Słowa kluczowe: public relations, kryzys, informacja, nowe media, modele public relations

Introduction

Crises resulting from management errors, employees’ mistakes, sudden changes in the market, or new legal solutions are natural elements in the management of organizations¹. The first two decades of the 21st century have revealed a new kind of crises – global crises which touch every person, every organisation, country, and society.

The first earth-shattering event of the beginning of the 21st century was the ter- rorist attack on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, which, as a result of the growing cultural and political tensions of the modern world, initiated the global war on terrorism. The shock caused by this tragedy introduced an atmosphere of widespread threat and uncertainty as well as strengthening the surveillance and control apparatus of social life. In practice, all of thatmeansa shift towards restrict- ing individuals’ freedom.

Another important event of the twenty-first century was the financial crisis of 2008, which, together with other accompanying events “brought a kind of summary of the market system evolution, and especially some very significant changes that had been made by the world system and the way the market economy had operated over the last few decades”². This financial crisis was not a cyclical downturn in the market economy, but it was the effect of a new direction of change³ that led to an increase in the importance of financial markets in the socio-economic and political life of the world. This development helped some people to get rich not through labour that created new values, but through speculative trading of financial capital.

The pandemic crisis of 2020 has revealed the importance of the links between the business and political worlds, social and natural environment. Because of the global pandemic, all companies have to face challenges related to the effects of the pandemic, not previously recognised in the world. Although the cultural and economic context of business activities is different, the global pandemic has forced similar activities of both governments and various organizations. Entrepreneurs, despite the experience of previous crises, were surprised by the situation. The crisis has occurred on a global scale, but the intensity of the crisis varies from country to country, as well as dif-

1 I.I., Mitroff, P. Shrivastava, F.E. Udwadia, Effective Crisis Management, “Academy of Management Perspectives” 1987, 1(4), pp. 283-292.

2 Z. Sadowski, Wielki kryzys a drogi ewolucji systemu rynkowego, [in:] A. Pollok (ed.), Wielki kryzys jako bilans otwarcia XXI w. Próba holistycznej interpretacji, Wydawnictwo PTE, Warszawa 2012, p. 75.

3 Ibidem, p. 76.

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ferent industries have been experiencing various consequences. Some industries are struggling to survive, others take the opportunity to grow. The current situation has forced rapid changes in the practiced management models. The business environment, which has been strong for years, has become even more dynamic due to the time pressure and unacquaintance of the effects of this pandemic. That is why it is so important now, although there has always been needed, effective and efficient communication to respond properly to threats and minimize losses.

Escalation of various channels of communication is also a result of the COV- ID-19 pandemic. Social media plays both positive – allows to spread information quickly, and a pejorativerole – allows to prevalence very dissimilar information⁴.

There is no doubt that the pandemic is changing the management activities of companies, including the communication process. Public relations activities are ad- ditionally stimulated by new technologies which, on the one hand, facilitate but, on the other hand, hinder the processes of communication of the organization with its environment. The situation is very complex due to the unpredictability of the development of the crisis caused by the pandemic, which intensifies the need for PR activities aimed at properly informing stakeholders and correctly reading messages incoming from the environment. The current course of the pandemic⁵ allows for drawing the first conclusions about the most important threats determining the functioning of the organization, the methods of communication with various stakeholders, and reaction to the changing conditions of companies’ activities.

The year 2020 has disclosed previously unknown economic (e.g., lockdown), social (e.g., widely used remote work) and environmental (e.g., sudden reduction in CO2 emissions to the atmosphere) phenomena related to COVID-19 and its consequences. Therefore, the first purpose of the presented article is to argue that the pandemic has influenced on the recognized and applied PR models. The second is an analysis of the suitability of James Gruning’s theory of excellence during the global crisis of 2020. The authors try to answer the following research questions:

1. How has the public relations model been changed in Polish companies during the pandemic?

2. Has crisis management dominated the activities of PR specialists during the pandemic?

3. How does new media hinder or, on the contrary - facilitate the implementation of PR tasks during a pandemic?

4 Y. Wang, H. Hao, P.L. Sundahl, Examining risk and crisis communications of government agencies and stakeholders during early-stages of COVID-19 on Twitter, “Computers in Human Behavior” 2020.

5 The article was written in July and August of 2020.

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2. Theoretical background

It is important in the presented analysis to integrate the main theoretical frame- works in relation to crisis and public relations activities. The phenomenon of crisis has attracted extensive attention of researchers from many disciplines. The crisis is a complex and complicated phenomenon, that is why there are many different definitions formulated in numerous scientific and practical subjects. Because it is not the purpose of this article to conceptualize this term, it has been done in many books and papers⁶, that is, why the authors refer to the definitions acknowledged in the PR literature.

Crisis in an organization is a well-known phenomenon that leads to positive and negative changes having consequences for the organization itself and its stakeholders⁷. This situation is not understandable for the stakeholders, as important values are threatened in a short time. The crisis causes four key difficulties that managers have to deal with in such a situation: uncertainty, complexity of the situation, conflict of interest, and emotional responses of individuals/groups. They are natural elements of any crisis that require proper management, specific skills, flow of communication, and consistent decisions⁸. The features of a crisis are also: surprise, incomplete information, escalation of actions, loss of control over some phenomena and events, careful watching of the company by its stakeholders, and sometimes panic⁹. Personnel responsible for managing crisis situations, wanting to effectively implement the management policy, face the necessity to change procedures, standards, and organization management plans¹⁰. As communication is beingan essential factor of crisis management, that is, why public relations practitioners are integral parts of crisis management teams¹¹. Crisis communication is the process of collection, processing, and dis- semination of information required to manage such a situation¹².

The first model needed to be introduced here is a basic model of crisis management which identifies phases for effective crisis management¹³. It mostly focuses on

6 R.L. Heath, Introduction Crisis Communication: Defining the Beast and the De-marginalizing Key Publics, [in:] T.W. Coombs, S.J. Holladay (ed.), The Handbook of Crisis Communication, Wiley-Blackell 2010; R. Pergel, A.G. Psychogios, Making Sense of Crisis: Cognitive Barriers of Learning in Critical Situ- ations, “Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy” 2013, Vol. 1, No 2, pp. 179-205.

7 L. Barton, Crisis in organizations: Managing communications in the heat of chaos, Cincinnati, OH:

South-Western 1993, p. 2; C.M. Pearson, J.A. Clair, Reframing crisis management, “Academy of Man- agement Review”1998, 23(1), pp. 59-76.

8 T.N. Gladwin, R. Kumar, The social psychology of crisis bargaining toward a contingency model, “Co- lumbia Journal of World Business” 1987 Spring, p. 23-31.

9 F.P. Seitel, Public relations w praktyce, Wydawnictwo Felberg, Warszawa 2003, pp. 229-230.

10 M. Kaczmarek-Śliwińska, Specyfika zarządzania sytuacją kryzysową w przestrzeni mediów społecznościowych w perspektywie typologii Situational Crisis Communication Theory W.T. Coombsa,

„Studia Medioznawcze”2019, tom 20, nr 4 (79), s.320.

11 T.W. Coombs, Crisis Management and Communication, Institute for Public Relations, 2007.

12 T.W. Coombs, Parameters for Crisis Communication, [in:] T.W. Coombs, S.J. Holladay (ed.), The Handbook of Crisis Communication, Wiley-Blackell2010.

13 I.I., Mitroff, P. Shrivastava, F.E. Udwadia, Effective Crisis Management…, p. 284.

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warning signs which an organization should disclose and in such a way it is able to protect or prevent an impending crisis. The second model which should be men- tioned here is the excellence theory of public relations introduced by J.E. Grunig and T. Hunt in the classical textbook on PR¹⁴. The authors offer four models through which public relations can be understood: press agentry, public information, two- way asymmetrical, and two-way symmetrical. The theory has met much criticism due to its normative and idealistic approach, its focus on managerial roles and lack of adequate distinction between publics and organizations¹⁵. Excellence in PR is achieved through the use of a two-way, symmetric model, treating PR as a management function, which implements communication strategies, reacts proactively, but not reactively to pressure from the environment¹⁶. A recognized concept that interprets the process of communication in a crisis is Situational Crisis Communi- cation Theory (SCCT), which assumes the existence of links between the strategic response of a given organization and the level of its responsibility for the crisis and the possible loss of reputation¹⁷. This concept is audience oriented because it focuses on the reaction of the audience to crisis response of the organization and the audience response to the organization in crisis¹⁸. SCCT claims that every crisis reaction should begin with instructing and adjusting information. The first information tells the stakeholders how to protect themselves from the crisis. The second helps them to deal with psychological issues appearing during the crisis¹⁹. When the information is supplied, managers are able to undertake activities repairing the lost reputation of an organisation.

Frandsen and Johansen applied the concept of arena to the study of crisis communication²⁰. The main idea of this approach to crisis focuses on the analysis of the arena, i.e., the space in which crisis-related issues are discussed and in which various stakeholders participate. Crisis communication management consists in identifying, de- scribing and explaining the communication processes that occur in a specific arena²¹. The last theoretical approach which is sufficient to referto here is the contin-

14 J.E. Grunig, T. Hunt, Managing Public Relations, CBS College Publishing, New York1984.

15 See: M. Pieczka, Paradigms, System Theory and Public Relations, [in:] J. L’Etang, M. Pieczka (ed.), Public Relations. Critical Debates and Contemporary Practice, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, London 2006, pp. 331-357; S. Leitch, D. Neilson, Bringing Publics into Public Relations, [in:] R.L. Heath (ed.), Handbook of Public Relations, Sage Publications, London 2001.

16 K. Wojcik, Public Relations. Wiarygodny dialog z otoczeniem, Oficyna a Wolters Kluwer business, Warszawa 2013, p. 857.

17 T.W. Coombs, Protecting organization reputations during a crisis: The development and application of situational crisis communication theory, “Corporate Reputation Review” 2007, 10 (3), p. 163-176.

18 T.W. Coombs, Parameters for Crisis Communication, [in:] The Handbook of Crisis Communication, idem

19 Ibidem, p. 40.

20 F. Frandsen, W. Johansen, Crisis communication, complexity, and the cartoon affair: A case study, [in:] T.W. Coombs, S.J. Holladay (ed.), The handbook of crisis communication, Wiley-Blackwell, Chich- ester, UK, 2010.

21 J. Raupp, Crisis communication in rhetorical arena, “Public Relations Review” 2019, Vol. 45, pp.

(101768).

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gency theory which firstly relates to the crisis and secondly is perceived asan alternative to the Grunig’s excellence theory. The idea comes from organisational studies and assumes that an organization is influenced by the contingency factors. In crisis management, this concept argues that all factors that affect the crisis can be known and this way can be predicted²².

Each approach to crisis communication takes into account different aspects of this situation. Therefore, in empirical research on communication during a pandemic, which is a phenomenon not previously encountered in PR practice, it is possible to try to take into account the individual elements of each of these models in order to understand the specificity of communication in this extraordinary situation.

3. Research method

To find answers for the research questions, the authors used the Delphi method as a research method. It was developed in the 1950s and is used to support decisions and show the direction of the research. The goal of the Delphi research is to obtain – directly from experts – information “that cannot be found in other available sources, and to verify data and assessments obtained otherwise”²³. A characteristic feature of the Delphi method is its multi-stage approach, the test is usually 2- or 3-round. The aim of every next stage is to verify the results of the previous round by making the results available to experts. More detailed questions and the possibility to justify the answers allow to clarify the results of the previous stage. The Delphi method aims to aggregate views from a diverse set of experts without meeting, which has become extremely important during the pandemic.

For the research, experts were nominated from the members of the Polish Pub- lic Relations Association. Experts were selected from the group of members of the association, as they are people who accept the code of ethics developed by this association. Questions were sent to experts who carry out a diverse range of activities, both as agency managers, specialists in corporations and freelancers²⁴. The survey was conducted in July and August 2020, the questionnaire was returned from 10 experts representing PR agencies and specialists working directly in enterprises.

The time frame and the necessity to study the dynamic phenomenon did not allow for the extension of the number of participants, but it is possible to continue the research in a variant of the method called “real-time Delphi”, allowing for multiple

22 G.T., Cameron, A. Pang, Y. Jin, Contingency theory: Strategic management of conflict, [in:] T.L. Hansen- Horn, B.D. Neff (ed.), Public relations: From theory to practice, MA: Pearson, Boston2008, pp. 134-157.

23 A. Skulimowski, D. Kluz, Wielorundowa analiza delficka jako narządzie grupowego wspomagania decyzji, [in:] Analiza i wspomaganie decyzji w praktyce gospodarczej, „Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego w Katowicach”, Katowice 2016, s.70.

24 The researchers ensured the anonymity of the respondents in order to encourage them to express their opinions as completely as possible.

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correction of opinions by experts, and in a network variant²⁵ that does not require an initial limitation of the number of stages, where new respondents can proceed for testing when the next stages are already being carried out.

4. Results

The first stage of the research included a study in which experts could free- ly have expressed their opinions about PR experience and practice answering the open-ended questions on the following issues:

– problems in past and current PR practice – rules and patterns of crisis communication

– difficulties in implementing PR strategies and tasks.

It has become important to divide these issues into three periods of time taking into account the financial crisis 2008-2010, the last decade – 2011 - 2019, and the current pandemic crisis.

The responses were wide-ranging due to the number of issues indicated by experts who had presented them from the perspective of their own professional experience, different workplaces, conditions of companies, and the companies’ management approach to specific PR issues.In the experts’ statements, one can trace the process of gathering experience as well as gradually increasing responsibility for communication assignments and implementation PR strategies when they had referred to the financial global crisis in 2008. This is especially visible because the possible risks of future crisis they considered referring to the perception of previous crisis situations from 2008 and at the same time recognizing that each crisis is specific both in terms of the expectations of stakeholders and the company’s management. It was also indicated that during that period only some companies (especially banks and developers) had faced the need to rebuild trust among stakeholders, while others managed to protect their reputation during the financial crisis in 2008.

As one of the experts in the study specifies, the procedures of crisis management were moderately adopted by organizations predominantly on the basis of existing legal regulations (e.g., sanitary, energy), but they did not cover communication processes. Therefore, it was necessary to proceed communication with the stakeholders based on ad hoc strategies. Undoubtedly, a significant barrier was the weakness of the market at that time and the scarcity of funds allocated to PR.

On the other hand, in the next decade (2011 – 2019), according to the testimonials, the socio-political dimension had an impact on the PR activities during the crises of that time. It was primarily connected with the interest of trade unions and the need to take into account the consequences of the Smolensk tragedy (2010) in

25 Ibidem, p. 71.

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planning communication activities (this concerned mainly the experience of the state-owned companies). In the years 2011 – 2019, there had been many crises on local, regional or state levels.

Experts also highlighted the development of social media and online communication in that decade, which led to the emergence of numerous so-called ‘virtual’

crises. The common features of such situations are their high intensity and rela- tively short duration. At that time, some companies implemented the early threat detection systems for monitoring online and social media. Even so, the crises that emerged in the digital environment had remained a challenge. It was repeatedly indicated in the testimonials that during the time - 2011 – 2019 - PR specialists lacked knowledge on the use of modern online communication tools. In some described organizations, crisis communication channels were being created simultaneously with the social media developing and creation of content, information and promotional materials. The channels of communication were being designed together with the IT department, which previously had not had any experience with media relations, especially with the social media.

Concluding, PR has changed in the past decade due to the development of tech- nology supporting communication, but the perception of PR has also changed. The boundaries between various forms of communication became blurred and as a result, clients started to confuse the PR strategies with promotional or even perfor- mance-marketing activities.

However, the most extensive explanations and descriptions in the experts’ statements concerned the current period of the pandemic crisis. In response to the question about problems in the area of PR activities in the 2020 crisis, the need to change the style of thinking and the time needed to switch to the remote work, were unani- mously indicated. As emphasized, difficulties occurred at the initial stage of the pandemic, due to the lack of clarity as to the compliance with the procedures related to the protection and organization of work and business meetings. From the very beginning, PR activities were influenced by the uncertainty of the development of the situation caused by the crisis. The reduction in PR expenses has also become an important factor, especially among companies that have been the first victims of the pandemic.

The most critical was the lack of preparation of the organization to manage pandemic risk. Ad hoc procedures required quick and effective communication, especially with the internal publics. In this context, one of the experts commented that these processes often revealed a lack of prior intraorganizational reflection on the crucial values of the firm and managing through them became (at a completely basic level) the requirement of the moment.

Experts also repeated statements about the expansion of team creativity and the need to improve skills related to the development of online communication. The appearance of COVID-19 has also created new difficulties in conducting earlier pre-

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pared PR activities.To introduce them has become a challenge, especially in regard to organizing events and postponing the communication of some of the projects.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the PR task was to communicate altruistic attitudes and charity activities related to that new circumstance. It was essential for PR teams to care for the authenticity of intentions and coherence of communication as well as to look for ways to manifest the solidarity of the organization with the social environment. The experts also indicated that the pandemic crisis has resulted in activities addressed to internal stakeholders and greater attention for the messages’

content taking into account the values inspiring communication processes.

There was also a statement in the study that indicated the existence of an ethical problem related to COVID-19, because companies attempted to take advantage of the pandemic to restructure or limit employees’ payments despite the actual lack of such a need.

The first stage of the research allowed to present more detailed issues and the preparation for the second questionnaire. It was updated with additional questions that appeared after the first stage of the research, which resulted from the dynamics of the events of the current crisis.

The research at stage II focused on the problems presented by the experts in seven areas relating to:

– intensity of PR impact on stakeholders – the effectiveness of PR activities in a crisis

– barriers and difficulties in PR activities undertaken in crisis

– taking into account new issues(e.g., unpredictable phenomena as the pandemic is perceived) in the practice of crisis communication

– the powerful influence on PR communication of new phenomena in the social space (rapidly developing social media)

– significance of particular tasks(e.g., communicating with internal publics) in the PR practice

– the impact of particular issues such as the pandemic itself, independence of social media, barriers to control the social media) on PR activities.

The results of the experts’ statements in phase II direct the attention to two concerns:

1. new phenomena in social life that affect and change the PR model, and the pandemic crisis only intensifies this impact (i.e., social media, hate speech, fake news),

2. difficulties in communication that during the pandemic attract the attention of PR professionals.

Bearing in mind the first concern, the experts’ observations regarding new phenomena in social life, which have a considerable impact on the perception of companies and the work of PR specialists, are essential. The experts put social media to the fore and as one of the comments points out: “We notice that social media is starting to be the first channel of customer-brand communication”. The study confirms that

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these changes have anenormousinfluence on the PR practice, particularly during the pandemic. It was also emphasized that fake news is a serious problem for PR and, as the expert points out in the comment: “When there is no reaction(i.e., altering, stig- matizing fake news), fake news begins to be the news”. Another expert emphasizes that in a crisis, the activity of PR specialists concerning the proper reaction to the fake news takes increasing time. It is also indicated that online manipulation is developing.

In the second highlighted area, internal actions are of greater importance in the pandemic crisis, the importance of communicating with employees is emphasized by the experts. Employees are one of the two groups of stakeholders (the other is social media), which absorbs PR specialists to an increasing extent.Other activities (traditional PR communication) remain at the same level or less time is spent on them. Research shows that 20% of activities are related to this group of stakeholders (there is also one answer that 45% of activities are devoted to that group, but it was a health care unit that has been involved in the fight against COVID-19). These activities were intensified by the requirements to work in the sanitary regime and the organization of online communication. The pandemic has forced changes. It is underlined that there is a need for more active communication with the company’s employees than before the crisis, also regarding the introduction of new working conditions. There is a constant need to modify the internal communication system in companies. As indicated in one of the comments, the internal leader is of great importance, because “Media sphere is full of contradictory messages (...), so a sensi- ble leader who can properly manage employees’ moods is very important”.

Today, the creation of a press office is less important (media digitization replaces traditional techniques), and for a PR specialist, knowledge of modern online communication tools is a necessity. The dynamically developing ‘landscape’ of online communication channels requires continuous improvement of the team’s compe- tences. The experts also strongly emphasize the impact of administrative decisions on the activity in the sphere of communication, both internal and external, which is understandable in the time of the pandemic.

Online communication is indicated as imperative, but not seen unambiguously.

It is noted that the problem is not knowing how online communication works, but the lack of a strategic perspective in using this communication and in other companies even the desire to abuse it in PR practice. “Problem is the lack of basic, strategic thinking skills about using these tools (...) and hyperactivity in the desire to use them”- emphasizes one of the respondents.

It is also clearly visible in the recommendations of experts that the financial resources allocated to PR in companies are limited. There is still a certain reserve in the respondents’ statements regarding the assessment of the actions taken in the pandemic crisis, indicating that there is insufficient time to look at the whole from a distance, because that crisis continues.

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5. Discussion

As the experts in the study revealed, they were not ready to deal with communication when the pandemic had broken out. What is more, they created new channels of communication without any strategy rather relying on their previous experience and ad hoc decisions. The COVID-19 crisis has just shown the limits of the strategic approach to PR practice. That is why, to the normative models by Grunig,a descriptive model should be added which takes into account the unpredictability of certain phenomena in the surroundings, the absence of a strategic approach in global crisis, promptness of action, impulsiveness of the publics, especially those operating in social media. Taking into account all phenomena that were revealed during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need for a multifaceted model of PR (Table 1).

Table 1. Multifaceted PR model resulting from global crises and social media activities Tabela 1. Wielopłaszczyznowy model PR będący efektem globalnych kryzysów i działań w mediach społecznościowych

Distinguishing feature Characteristics of the multifaceted model

Purpose

The interaction of the organization (sender) with stakeholders (recipients) allows

for convincing about the truthfulness of information important from the point of view of the sender, and taking into account

the recipient’s perception, which favours cooperation in times of crisis.

The ethics of managing the communication process, which puts the truth and reliability of messages at the centre of ope-

rations.

Direction of information flow and its im- pact, implementing the principle of truth

Two-way flow of information, implemented through dialogue, taking into account the simplified way of receiving and processing information by the recipient (System 1 ac-

cording toDaniel Kahneman’s concept), which is indispensable in the modern world

based on the multitude of information, the multitude of ways to reach recipients, the

dominance of social media and the high probability of spreading false information.

Elements of the communication model

Two-way, taking into account the thinking traps (heuristics, cognitive errors) of the recipient and the crowd effect in the social

media environment.

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Use of research

Strong role of research on the impact of the message form and content on its understanding by recipients (publics) and compliance with professional PR standards and

ethical codes.

Areas of application of the variant Social organizations, public institutions, business organizations that take care about

reputation in turbulent times.

Source: Elaborated referring to: K. Wojcik, Public relations. Wiarygodny dialog z otoczeniem, Wolters Kluwer, Warszawa 2015, pp. 862-863.

James Grunig divides two-way models into symmetric and asymmetric. In view of experts’ remarks due to XXI century crises and the strong impact of social media on communication in that time, one may notice that the alternative between symmetric and asymmetric approach in PR is not enough. The contemporary model of PR management is much more complex as it used to be, as it must take into account two fundamental elements: the dynamics of development and the influence of social media on communication and the unpredictability of certain phenomena resulting from the globalization of all socio-economic as well as natural processes.

Perhaps a third model might be added to these two ones, referring to chemistry or physics, and introducing ‘dissymmetry’ or ‘chirality’ in communication. A dissym- metrical object lacks a particular element of symmetry called an ‘axis of improper rotation’, but it might have other elements of symmetry. In physics, ‘dissymmetry’

is reserved for situations where the extant symmetry is broken and thus preserves some shadow or memory of its previous symmetry (e.g., a curved picture on a wall).

Asymmetry connotes a condition that never was symmetrical and thus possesses no such shadow or memory. Dissymmetry is what causes phenomena.

Taking into account the dissymmetry, a third PR model can be identified, which is neither symmetrical because it does not assume mutual understanding and balanced effects, nor asymmetrical, because it does not assume persuasion and imbalanced effect. The purpose of the PR model, which emerges from the analysis of the PR in times of global crises and the global influence of social media, is to cause phenomena, and the nature of the communication is to get to know and understand the reasons that violate the symmetry of the environment in which these phenomena occur. The symmetry in communication is not possible, because social media violates it and neither the sender nor recipient can stop it. The asymmetry is not possible because previously symmetry should have been present, but it has not. Concluding, the XXI crisis with the COVID-19 pandemic as the most influential due to its unpredictability, forces PR specialists to search for new modes of building public relations strategies that will allow to achieve strategic communication goals of organizations.

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The experts’ statements also allow for the formulation of conclusions regarding the management of crisis communication. Each action taken in a crisis situation, depending on the accuracy of the situation assessment, may contribute to the control or escalation of dangers to the organization. It is difficult to look for an optimal model of crisis communication management due to the ambiguity of crisis situations and the multithreaded problems that appeared at that time.Rydzak notes that the greater the ambiguity in the perception of a crisis situation, the greater partici- pation in the decision-making process will be played by experience and perception based on the knowledge of the decision-makers²⁶.

As many authors admit, there are no ready solutions for action in a crisis, however, simulations, analysis of crisis situations and, above all, experience gained from past crises allow to develop skills that allow to effectively identify the symptoms of a crisis and to take effective management actions during a crisis²⁷. However, what the current situation has disclosed, each crisis is unique due to its causes and development in relation to the specificity oforganization.Therefore, it is difficult to have ready-made solutions. However, any company finding a way out of the crisis must take into account the changes in the PR communication model.

5. Conclusions

The content analysis of experts’ statements let make the general conclusion that the pandemic crisis changes the PR model because it forces online communication, which is exposed to more fake news and hate speech. Taking into account the experience resulting from communication management in times of global crises, a new PR model should be added to the four Grunig’s models, considering PR activities in such times and the need to implement PR in the era of universal digitization. James Grunig believes that PR should participate actively in the making of overall strategic decisions in organisations²⁸. In the Model of Strategic Management of Public Relations Gruning considers that PR has not been changed by the digital media.

His article was written in 2009, now after 11 years the situation is much different.

Therefore, there is a question whether the idea of normative theory of PR still helps organisations to achieve the communication objectives.

26 W. Rydzak, Reputacja a działania informacyjne organizacji w sytuacjach kryzysowych i determi- nanty ich wyboru, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego, Poznań 2011, p. 65.

27 M. Kaczmarek-Śliwińska, Public relations w przestrzeni mediów społecznościowych. Działania or- ganizacji i jej pracowników, Wydawnictwo Uczelniane Politechniki Koszalińskiej, Koszalin 2015, s. 16.

28 J.E. Grunig, Paradigms of global public relations in an age of digitalisation, PRism 2009, Vol. 6, No 2, available at www.prismjournal.org/fileadmin/Praxis/Files/globalPR/GRUNIG.pdf [accessed:

10.09.2020], p. 11.

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Authors’ resume:

Anna Adamus-Matuszyńska – PhD in management sciences, PhD in humanities, public rela- tions specialist, lecturer at the Department of Market and Marketing Research at the University of Economics in Katowice and at the Radio and Television Department of the University of Silesia.

Head of postgraduate studies in Managerial Psychology. In the years 1994 - 95, a scholarship holder of the University of Cambridge, in 1994 -1999 a member of the international research team at the University of Cambridge, implementing the project “Global Security Fellowship Initia- tive” focusing on the socio-political changes taking place in the 1990s in Central Europe, a schol- arship holder of the Cambridge Colleges Hospitality Scheme for Central and Eastern European Scholars in 1997, Leverhulme Foundation scholarship holder in the academic year 2000/2001.

Organizer of the 5th European Conference on Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution in Katowice in September 2001, since 2004 co-organizer of the cyclical conference: “PR Forum. Public Rela- tions - the art of effective communication in theory and practice”. Participant of international conferences and symposia, expert in several European projects. Trainer and consultant of public relations agencies, consulting and training companies in the field of public relations, management and communication. She has completed numerous consulting and training projects. Author of over 140 scientific publications in the field of social conflict, communication, public relations and social responsibility. She also publishes journalistic articles on communication.

Renata Maćkowska – PhD, Institute of Management and Quality of Humanitas University in Sosnowiec. Previously she was an assistant at the University of Economics in Katowice. The industry award, PRotony (an award for a team) in 2012, in the category of Education in PR.

Participant of national and international scientific conferences.She is the author of publications analysing the role of public relations in the public and political area, in electoral campaigns and conditions of international public relations.

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Nota o Autorach:

Anna Adamus-Matuszyńska – doktor habilitowana nauk o zarządzaniu i jakości, doktor nauk humanistycznych, specjalista public relations, wykładowca w Katedrze Badań Rynko- wych i Marketingowych Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego w Katowicach oraz na Wydziale Radia i Telewizji Uniwersytetu Śląskiego. Kierownik studiów podyplomowych Psychologia Mene- dżerska. W latach 1994-1995 stypendystka Uniwersytetu w Cambridge, w latach 1994-1999 członek międzynarodowego zespołu badawczego w Uniwersytecie w Cambridge realizującego projekt „Global Security Fellowship Initiative” koncentrujący się na zmianach społeczno-poli- tycznych zachodzących w latach 90. w Europie Środkowej, stypendystka Cambridge Colleges Hospitality Scheme for Central and Eastern European Scholars w roku 1997, stypendystka Leverhulme Foundation w roku akademickim 2000/2001. Organizator V European Conferen- ce on Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution w Katowicach we wrześniu 2001, od 2004 roku współorganizator cyklicznej konferencji: PR Forum. Public Relations – sztuka skutecznej ko- munikacji w teorii i praktyce. Uczestniczka międzynarodowych konferencji i sympozjów, eks- pert kilku projektów europejskich. Trener i konsultant agencji public relations, firm doradczych i szkoleniowych w zakresie public relations, zarządzania i komunikowania. Zrealizowała liczne projekty doradcze i szkoleniowe. Autorka ponad 140 publikacji naukowych z zakresu konfliktu społecznego, komunikowania, public relations oraz społecznej odpowiedzialności. Publikuje także artykuły publicystyczne dotyczące komunikowania.

Dr Renata Maćkowska – adiunkt w Instytucie Zarządzania i Jakości Wyższej Szkoły Huma- nitas w Sosnowcu. Wcześniej pracownik Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego w Katowicach. Nagro- da branżowa PRotony (zespołowa) w 2012 roku, w kategorii Edukacja w PR. Uczestniczka krajowych i międzynarodowych konferencji naukowych. Autorka publikacji analizujących za- gadnienia roli public relations w sferze publicznej i politycznej, w kampaniach wyborczych oraz uwarunkowania międzynarodowego public relations.

Contact/Kontakt:

Anna Adamus-Matuszyńska

Katedra Badań Rynkowych i Marketingowych Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny w Katowicach e-mail:adamus@ue.katowice.pl

Renata Maćkowska

Instytut Zarządzania i Jakości

Wyższa Szkoła Humanitas w Sosnowcu e-mail: renata.mackowska@humanitas.edu.pl

Wkład poszczególnych autorów w przygotowanie publikacji:

The contribution of particular co-authors to preparation of the paper:

Anna Adamus-Matuszyńska – 50%, Renata Maćkowska – 50%