The transference of theoretical models to productive transdisciplinary intersections in public relations management: Eight case studies addressing wicked problems

Abstract

This work aims at offering a trans-disciplinary, critical and realistic perspective of the intervention of Public Relations (PR) in Wicked Problems (WP). WPs are complex problems with perverse effects on social issues which affect all the components of the socio-economic system: public and private organizations, their stakeholders and citizens. First, we deeply review the academic literature for analysing the controversy between rhetoric and realistic approaches in WPs management. Later, we present a set of real-world experiences developed from the humble intelligence of PR. In these cases, PR play an important role both, as facilitators of the dialogue between knowledges and ignorances, and by enabling the participation of involved actors, including, in some cases, undergraduate students in PR. The outcomes of these 8 action research cases share the resignification of PR’s practice and discourse. In addition, all they show evidence that 1) it is possible to go beyond habitus and 2) that PR, from a critical and trans-disciplinary perspective, can serve as a stimulus for collective intelligence and improve social and organizational quality.