ABSTRACT
The essence of the Excellence theory is that effective communication helps manage an organization’s interdependencies with its strategic constituencies—the publics that either support or constrain organizations through their activism, litigation, or pressuring for government regulation. This chapter explores in depth several aspects of this notion, especially the role of public relations in strategic management. To be involved in strategic management, public relations must be represented among the organization’s top-level decision makers. Thus we analyze the role of public relations in the dominant coalition. As a part of that analysis, we depict the typical relationships between heads of public relations and their counterparts in other functional areas. We also differentiate between the typical reporting relationship and the ideal connection between the communication manager and his or her CEO.
