In keeping with the adage “you can’t control what you can’t measure”, the hypothesis that informs this research is the need to measure the performance of Public Relations in order to justify their existence.

Although it is true to say the fi eld of Public Relations has been studied and professionally pursued since 1987, the accumulated corpus of academic and professional experience has failed to show people how to rationalise or improve their performance in this matter. In response to this concern, the research conducted by Joan Cuenca posits a hypothetical model of comprehensive auditing in Public Relations based on an amalgamation of models already put forward for measuring the activity generated by Public Relations. In short, the aim of the research is to answer the following question: how can activities in Public Relations be justifi ed?

Relationships, an intangible resourceBy understanding the notion “relationship” to be this discipline’s essence and duty1, the model defi nes the relationships entered into between

organisations and their audiences, or stakeholders, as an intangible resource.

Yet despite accepting the certainty of the fact intangibles are the repository of the differential value23, between leading companies and their less developed counterparts – a recent study by the Spanish Foundation for Financial Studies, the Fundación de Estudios Financieros (FEF), reveals that 65% of the companies listed in Spain’s Ibex-35 index admit that intangible assets add value to their business -, only fi nancial or accounting audits are regulated and highly standardised.

This means that the discipline of Public Relations involves an intangible asset, namely, the system of relationships. This cultivation of a resource that is scarcely visible and diffi cult to understand would explain why its measurement has been complex, or even dismissed from the start. Within this context, and based on the premise that you can only improve what you can measure, the key lies in discovering the hard facts for measuring any intangible asset4.

Application of a comprehensive auditing model in Public Relations to the municipal company 22@ of Barcelona City Council

A quality analysis of relationships within the fi eld of Public Relations

Public Affairs

Document prepared by Corporate Excellence - Centre for Reputation Leadership, citing the doctoral thesis “Analysis of the quality of relationships in the fi eld of Public Relations” by Joan Cuenca, Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona.1. The aim of Public Relations is to create, obtain, initiate, nurture, uphold, entertain, develop and improve relationships.2. Along these lines, Hiroyuki Itami (1991) singles out three reasons for the importance of intangible resources, which this author describes as invisible: “Invisible assets are

the real source of competitive power and the key factor in corporate adaptability for three reasons: they are hard to accumulate, they are capable of simultaneous multiple uses and, they are both inputs and outputs of business activities”.

3. The research results reported by Eccles (2007) explain that the main indicators of a company’s performance are not to be found solely in fi nancial data. According to this author, quality, customer satisfaction, innovation, market share, and other parameters of this nature, often refl ect a company’s condition and perspectives more accurately than its reported earnings do.

4. Mintzberg (2008) contends that “believing that a company can be measured solely in fi gures is a mistake. Intangibles are hard to quantify, but they are often more important, carrying greater weight on the income statement”

Strategy DocumentsT03 / 2011Joan Cuenca

Thesis

Thesis 2

A quality analysis of relationships within the field of Public Relations

Understanding audiences, saving time and money, taking the right decisions, avoiding errors, justifying efforts and engaging with the environment are some of the explanations Xifra (2005) provides when expounding on why it is essential to investigate the system of relationships before drawing up a Public Relations plan.

The conclusions reached by this PhD thesis illustrate the extent to which the model can be a source that gives rise to the arguments validating activities in Public Relations, and the strategic information it provides for perfecting the core of a Public Relations plan specifically, and a communications one in general.

Evolution of the Theory of Public Relations Throughout the history of this discipline, sundry methods and different techniques have been proposed in order to learn how to measure Public Relations activities, and thereby gauge their effectiveness; with these models being as follows:

Models of Public Relations that explain how this discipline has been pursued at each moment:

The press agent/publicity model (1850-1900)Dissemination of an organisation’s information using persuasive methods.

The public information model (1900-1920)Dissemination of an organisation’s information in an objective manner.

The information in both models flows in a single direction: from the organisation to the audience. Neither of them includes any analysis or monitoring of the activities themselves nor examines the outcomes of the role of Public Relations.

The two-way asymmetrical model (1920-1960)It uses the knowledge, methods and techniques of social sciences, with the aim being to persuade stakeholders to favour the organisation.

The two-way symmetrical model (1960-Present day)It seeks mutual understanding between an organisation and its stakeholders, with research playing a significant role.

The information in both models flows in both directions: from an organisation to its audiences and vice versa. The audience response in both cases is carefully assessed, albeit in a different manner: in the two-way asymmetrical model an analysis is conducted to further fine-tune the communication variable in the system of relationships for persuasive

purposes in favour of the organisation, whereas the aim in the two-way symmetrical model is to reinforce the dialogue among the stakeholders variable, in pursuit of mutual understanding and advantage.

It was as of 2000 that the pursuit of Public Relations began to be seen as the executive function of “managing relationships”. The main idea is that professionals in Public Relations have the brief to create and foster relationships with an organisation’s various stakeholders and the duty to continue improving their measurement techniques in order to show senior management how their activities can play a vital role: the return on investment (ROI); the measurement of results (the long-term effectiveness of a Public Relations programme) and the measurement of production (how the programme has been implemented and how effective its techniques were).

What is to be measured?What needs to be measured accurately is the quality of the relationship this discipline galvanises between an organisation and its stakeholders, as this can be confirmed as the specific remit of Public Relations.

The current debate being addressed by experts in Public Relations has focused on the proposal of indicators that evaluate the quality of the relationship established between an organisation and its stakeholders, as the product of its endeavours in Public Relations.

The following are the three most widely studied indicators:5

• Measuring the degree of trust that co-exists. The term trust is referred to as the cornerstone of the behaviours with a decisive influence on interaction.6

Trust has been highlighted as the indicator that enables organisations to exist.

• The level of understanding between stakeholders. Reference is made to a mutual agreement as the consistency and degree of reciprocal conviction in any given discourse. Mutual understanding has been the indicator proposed for discovering the level of intelligibility existing between the parties in a relationship.

• The mutual satisfaction established between the parties involved in a relationship. Satisfaction is referred to as a feeling, the result of an emotion that is based on the fulfilment of pre-established expectations and requirements, which allow obtaining

5. Joan Cuenca affirms that to his surprise he has been unable to locate sufficient published material to provide some overall model for the auditing of Public Relations or that delves further into the partial models proposed. It appears to be a gap in knowledge that needs to be filled though the production of literature specialising in Public Relations.

6. Trust can be quantified according to the following equation: +Inf / -Inf = k. Where +Inf is the information we have, -Inf is the information we do not have, and the constant k is either the degree of trust or lack of trust.

Thesis 3

A quality analysis of relationships within the field of Public Relations

an outcome that is to a certain extent valued as one of pleasure and enjoyment.

Auditing Public RelationsAuditing the system of Public Relations is an instrument of research that studies and assesses the variables involved in the system of relationships: the environment, communication, stakeholders and situations or problems.

The analysis of the variables in the system of relationships has been the theoretical platform used by scholars and professionals in Public Relations for developing the new measurement proposals.

It will be noted how these different analytical scenarios always feature the inference related to the issue or problem to be addressed in the system of relationships, given that is the reason triggering the explorative activity.

Although as yet unproven in any empirical study, it is considered that audits within the sphere of Public Relations are a valuable means for estimating the advantages and disadvantages that this discipline has for an organisation.

Audit models for diagnosing the environment Environmental analysis systems are used to observe trends in Public Opinion and shed light on those circumstances in the socio-political environment that may have a significant bearing on the organisation.

The essence of environmental auditing, understood to be the research specific to the management of potential conflicts, can be summarised in two aspects:

a) The early identification of potentially conflictive issues that may have a future impact on an organisation.

b) A strategic response designed to mitigate or exploit their potential ramifications.

• Researching Public Opinion

The focus of opinion indicates the quality of the type of pre-disposition. The purpose of this practice is to discover the opinion of internal or external stakeholders on a given situation or issue that is being researched, highlighting its significance in terms of the quality – not the quantity - of the audience surveyed, being defined accordingly as a qualitative survey.

• Researching issues

Issues management7 is defined by the communication and relationship strategies used for impacting upon the life-cycle of a public matter. Its basic purpose is to investigate an organisation’s environment and resolve possible problems or issues as soon as their first signs are detected. Its pre-emptive nature points to the key role Public Relations play when rolling out a strategy of this kind.

Audit models for diagnosing perceptionsThe dual purpose of this category of analysis is, on the one hand, to define audiences, and on the other, to determine the way in which these audiences perceive and value an organisation.

• Auditing Corporate Culture

Indicators Techniques

• Focus• Intensity• Stability• Degree of

Knowledge• Social Support

• Structural interviews• In-depth interviews• Content analysis• Group discussions• Measuring or

attitudinal scales

Indicators Techniques

• Social trends• Economic cycles• Political agendas• Cultural movements• Technological development• State of the environment• Competitors’ strategies• Security• Quality of relationships• Quality of the product

or service

• The Delphi method

• The cross-impact matrix

• The scenario method

Indicators Methods

• Values • Symbolic actions • Foundation • Competence • Symbols• Rites• Myths and taboos• Security• Organisational history• Signs

• Ethnographic method

• Organizational Development

7. In view of its markedly pro-active stance, issues management is becoming the model of excellence in public relations.

Thesis 4

A quality analysis of relationships within the field of Public Relations

• Auditing Corporate Identity (CI)

• Auditing Corporate Image

Models for auditing communication diagnoses This involves a diagnostic process whose purpose is to examine and improve each and every one of an organisation’s internal and external communication systems and processes. It is designed to provide a snapshot of its needs in communication, its policies, practices and capabilities, and throw up data that will enable senior management to take well-founded and cost-saving decisions on the organisation’s future communication goals.

• Auditing Internal Communication

• Auditing External Communication

Models for auditing social diagnosis The concept of business today, beyond the maximisation of profits, involves a social agent for the promotion of its employees, customer satisfaction and the consolidation of its social role within its operating community.

This approach by an organisation implies a triple income statement: financial, environmental and social. Insofar as it is positive, it will indicate the extent to which a company is socially responsible.

Indicators Methods

• Corporate culture

• HR policies• Internal

climate

• Methods for analysing the overall study of CI- Bernstein spiderweb method- Lux’s Star method- Van Rekom’s laddering

technique- Keller’s Mannheimer CI-test

• Methods for analysing the individual items in the CI mix- OCIPO organisational

climate studies- Rotterdam Organizational

Identification Test- Organisational climate studies- Communication audits- Service audits- Graphic design audits

Indicators Methods

• Notoriedad• Contenido

de la imagen• Fuerza de

la imagen

• Methods for analysing the study of a specific organisation:- Corporate image barometer- AICA motivation model- CS technique (NSS)- Natural grouping model- Photo classification model- SERVQUAL method

• Models that evaluate the image of a group of organisations:- Impact lists- Permanent observatory of

corporate image (OPIC)- Barometer on trust and

credibility (Trust Barometer)

Indicators Methods

• Understanding• Cohesion• Sharing• Self-affirmation

• Methods for analysing the study of a specific organisation:- Corporate image barometer- AICA motivation model- CS technique (NSS)- Natural grouping model- Photo classification model- SERVQUAL method

• Models that evaluate the image of a group of organisations:- Impact lists- Permanent observatory of

corporate image (OPIC)- Barometer on trust and

credibility (Trust Barometer)

Indicators Analysis techniques

• Management ratios

• Consumption of resources

• Budgetary deviations

• Errors, defects, complaints or delays

• Efficiency• Level of quality

• Questionnaires and interviews• Diagnoses and analyses of

communication networks• Critical communication

experiences• Episodic Communication

Channels in Organizations (ECCO) analysis or message transmission analysis

• Focus groups• Direct observation• Analysis of communication

products

Thesis 5

A quality analysis of relationships within the field of Public Relations

• Auditing Corporate Social Responsibility

Hypothetical model for the comprehensive auditing of Public Relations8

The hypothetical model focuses firstly on delimiting and defining the problem, the situation or issue to be addressed, and the reason for commissioning the audit.

This is immediately followed by the gathering of information on the background providing the context, which is directly linked to the relationship to be studied: the environment, the stakeholders involved and communication.

Once these data have been collated, the process continues with the design and subsequent application of fieldwork, in other words, the auditing of Public Relations. The aim here is to collect data on the quality indicators of the relationship that allow appraising the performance of the relational activity.

Cuenca completes his model by highlighting two requirements to be considered prior to the auditing process:

• An analysis of the organisation’s environment. This is an exercise that precedes the auditing process given that it contributes to the understanding of the

context in which an organisation and its stakeholders are immersed, and it is of considerable use in the design of an audit.

• Knowledge maps. Before planning an audit, there is a need, on the one hand, for a map of the organisation’s internal and external stakeholders, with a thorough analysis of their different profiles; and on the other, a detailed study and map of the communication media and the messages co-existing and being disseminated at that moment.

Project 22@Audit9

An amalgamating process has enabled application to be made to the 22@Audit project of parts of certain audit models and methods studied. The overriding aim of this Public Relations audit has been to gain empirical knowledge on the quality of the relationships established between the municipal company 22@ in Barcelona and one of its key stakeholders, namely, the audience consisting of the companies in the ICT cluster.10

The model has been applied solely to a specific type of interacting players: the local authority, as the one instigating the project, and a specific group of private companies, as the recipients or beneficiaries. In this way, and according to Cuenca, the conclusions reached by this research, while plausible for this type of scenario, cannot in any way be considered universally applicable.

The conclusions on the degree of validity and consistency of the hypothetical model as recorded with this practical exercise are as follows:

1. The audit model provides strategic information for perfecting the communication plan in general.

2. The observation of an interaction, the matter to be addressed, has to be circumscribed with certain

Indicators Methods

• Economic impact

• Environmental impact

• Social impact

• Social Accounting• Social Accountability SA8000• SGE 21 2008• Dow Jones Sustainability

Indexes• Global Compact• Global Reporting

Initiative (GRI)

Commissioning / briefing

BackgroundDesign of fieldwork

Measuring indicators

Problem/ Situation /Issue

Environment / Circumstances

Map of audiences: internal and external

Map of internal and external communication

Resources

Universe and sample

Research techniques

Trust

Mutual understanding

Satisfaction

8 Account should be taken of the reductionist exercise that this hypothetical model constitutes in view of the wide range of techniques involved in the praxis of Public Relations and the even greater number and types of audiences with which organisations enter into relationships.

9 22@Audit is a project for auditing the marketing, communication and events plans of the municipal company 22@ in Barcelona.10 A further description of the application of this practical exercise can be found in Chapter 4 in the PhD thesis (2010) “El análisis de la calidad de

las relaciones en el ámbito de las Relaciones Públicas” (An analysis of the quality of the relationships within the field of Public Relations).

Thesis 6

A quality analysis of relationships within the fi eld of Public Relations

intervals of pre-established and agreed coordinates so that a discourse can be constructed.

3. The defi nition the model requires regarding the identity of the players involved (behaviour, culture and corporate personality), of the environment surrounding them, and of the communication established, defi nitively helps to understand the type and level of relationship that exists and to reason the degree reached by the indicators applied for their evaluation.

4. The reputation index, and the image or overall assessment that reciprocally prevails, has a bearing on the emergence, consolidation or modifi cation of the relationship. Regardless of its extent, reputation always determines which party is more inclined to participate in the relationship.

5. Regardless of the degree of relationship considered, even if the parties declare it does not exist, when both parties have a certain amount of information about each other this becomes the basis for a unilateral assessment, informed by the impressions, prejudices, pre-conceived notions, experiences, convictions and attitudes held of the other. The volume of information one has of the other is directly proportional to the quality of the assessment made accordingly.

6. The proposed indicators of the model for the overall auditing of Public Relations (trust, mutual understanding and satisfaction) are completely independent. Rather than simplifying matters, this phenomenon complicates the application of the hypothetical model. The degree of one does not depend proportionally on another, nor have the same impact on a third. They are communicating vessels, but they are not harmonious, and this aspect impedes the combinational analysis of possibilities when the value of one of the variables is known – being satisfi ed with a relationship is independent of the trust held in the players and the latter is, in turn, independent of the mutual agreements reached, which means there is a need to proceed to the individual study of the outcome of the application of each one of the indicators and seek causal relationships.

a) Trust depends on three main aspects: the characteristics defi ning each player, the personal knowledge among players, and the perception of evidences that directly or indirectly benefi t the players. In turn, mistrust is based on a lack of knowledge, and on negative experiences.

b) The indicator related to mutual agreement or understanding is the most diffuse and the one least understood by the players. It needs to be focalised prior to its application.

c) Satisfaction is the fi nal sentiment that feeds back directly off the preceding ones.

7. The model provides information on the adjustment or misalignment that prevails in the interaction. Specifi c issues that draw the players closer or drive them further part, benefi ts and frustrations based on the roles and expectations of each one of the parties.

8. Cuenca states that the model can be considered profi table and representative when groups are analysed (normally the instigators are individual players who wish to know the effectiveness of their relational activities and the quality of their relationships with a group of vital importance to their stability), but it would be necessary to experiment with another type of players to reach new conclusions and fi nd new correlations that allow attaining a degree of universal acceptance.

Next steps1. The author concludes his work by proposing its

extension to further research that seeks to link the quality of the relationships with a company’s volume and business results; in other words, to verify the hypothesis whereby maintaining good relations with stakeholders is directly related to business success.

2. From a theoretical/practical perspective, Cuenca points to the need to establish certain guidelines on how to perform audits on Public Relations and their result on an organisation’s map of audiences, accompanied by specifi c tools and certain guiding examples.

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