ABSTRACT
Public relations practitioners working in or for organizations are professionals whose role is to establish and maintain a system of communication within that organization and between that organization and stakeholders in the environment. An organization and its environment constitute a system, however; and systems theory tells us that all parts of a system and its environment interact and influence one another. Being part of a system makes professionalism difficult because the interactions that characterize systems produce constraints on professional behavior. The systemic nature of organizations is especially important for communication managers because they must work for and with most other subsystems in and around the organization.
