ABSTRACT
One of the key characteristics of public relations excellence is diversity (J. Grunig, 1992). As originally examined in the Excellence Study, the concept of diversity was grounded in the principle of requisite variety (cf. Weick, 1979). However, despite its acknowledged importance, diversity and its potential to contribute to excellent public relations remains an underexplored aspect of public relations theory, and discussion of diversity in public relations practice remains limited to descriptions of the experiences of minority practitioners. We believe that, for diversity in public relations to fulfill its potential for excellence, we must bridge this gap and find a way to connect culturally relevant, normative public relations theories with robust empirical evidence on multiple diversities.
