Internationalisation of Public Relations Education

Internationalisation of Public Relations Education Introduction The main theme of the dissertation is internationalisation of public relations education. It is quite a broad topic and can be reviewed and discussed from different points of view. In this regard the selected literature first examines international public relations concepts and secondly an impact it has on public relations education. Therefore, literature review has been divided into the following major themes: International public relations (IPR) and International public relations education (IPRE). The chapter will begin by presenting the main debates about international public relations and its concepts alongside with a brief overview of factors influencing it. It will be followed by a section presenting state of research on IPR. The discussion will then move to section two international public relations education, exploring the requisites and challenges for internationalisation. Finally the chapter will summarise the key themes and points identified. The major part of the literature review focuses on contemporary research, defined as 1989-2009. International PR A growing number of publications document the development and challenges of the public relations in every major continent and region of the world (Nally, 1991, Moss et al., 1997, Moss et al., 2003, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2003b, Van Ruler and Vercic, 2004, Freitag and Stokes, 2009). This research refers term global PR to globalisation of the profession, which is being practises and recognised in more countries throughout the globe, while International PR refers to the planning and implementation of programmes and campaigns carried out abroad or for international audience. Hence international PR education refers to the process of adopting professional training to International PR concepts and demand. Public relations is still relatively new concern for management, even though its modern origins can be traced to the end of the last century (White, 1991). According to (Cutlip, 1994), a key researcher in the history of public relations in the U.S., the first international public relations agency The Hamilton Wright Organization was founded in 1908. International communities of professionals and scholars are increasingly interested in transferring knowledge, experiences, and best practices from national to transnational scenarios. This advancement is generated by the increasing role of public relations which is driven largely by the influence of new information technologies and globalisation (Flodin, 2003). Drawing upon this, DiStaso et al. (2009) discussed the effects of globalisation, that began with the Maastricht Treaty and NAFTAA in 1992, the WTO in 1994 and claiming it had great impact on the public relations industry. According to Szondis (2009, p.115) International public relations is the planned communication activity of a (multinational) organisation, a supra- or international institution or government through interactions in the target country which facilitates the organisation (or government) to achieve its policy or business objectives without harming the interests of the publics. There have been papers which presented international PR to be simply about how to overcome barriers that are created by other cultures, including language, laws or cultural issues, which are often indentified as problems (Wilcox et al., 2001), rather than opportunities or the manifestation of diversity. The most frequently referenced paper which stands against IPR has been Angell (1990) asserted that the variance between local countries was so great as to preclude any possibility of globalisation. A much different study, also highly referenced, has been provided by Pavlik (1987), who as early as the 1980s considered IPR one of the most rapidly growing areas of the profession, and one of the least understood. The problem with defining difference between domestically and internationally done public relations is that there is not enough research or critical assessment. While basic principles do not change, the way they are carried out from culture to culture and country to country, and the attitudes and values embedded within those different cultures or countries, are different (Wakefield, 2007b). A similar study was conducted by Botan (1992, p. 157), who argued that international public relations is always intercultural. The existing public relations body of knowledge, and public relations curricula around the world, have a U.S. bias (Sriramesh, 2002). U.S. paradigm, however, strikes with the idea of that European or non-U.S. perceptions of public relations become more of value in the twenty first century. A US professor and professional Robert Wakefield (2007b), who have been practicing and researching in the area of IPR for almost two decades, believes that principles and practices of PR in Europe, emphasising social role of public relations, are more promising for effective PR in the multinational than the American-based PR-as-marketing-tool approach. He, alongside the majority of new PR schools, supports paradigms of PR incoming out of places other than the U.S. Therefore, need and call for the elsewhere theories and concepts was also a factor for a research in international/global PR. Ovaitt (1988, p.5) made an interesting suggestion saying that it was not a popular idea with marketing and advertising experts when they started thinking about internationalisation decades ago and it was not popular with public relations practitioners back to late 1980s. The idea is that what these professionals do for a living might be done on a global basis global in the sense of achieving some significant level of standardisation, not only of what is offered to customers, but also how it is presented and promoted. Public relations as a profession is not necessarily understood and practised in the same manner all around the world. This is not news per se, as several scholars (Sharpe, 1992, Vercic et al., 1996, Taylor, 2000, Rhee, 2002, Valentini, 2007) for many years have underlined that public relations requires a global understanding of cultural differences. Different studies (Kent and Taylor, 1999, Lee, 2005) show that public relations practitioners are increasingly required to be able to communicate with different international publics, no matter the size of the organisation they are working for, or whether it is private or public, including non-profit organisations. After the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Excellence Study yielded a review of normative principles (Grunig, 1992), Vercic et al. (1996) explained the importance of identifying five contextual variables that influence the practice of the normative principles. Vercic, Grunig, and Grunig (Vercic et al., 1996) proposed a global theory of public relations that was elaborated by Sriramesh and Vercic (2003a, 2003b, 2009) in their Global Public Relations Handbook and by Sriramesh (2009) in a special issue of PRism. Their global public relations theory attempted to answer the question of whether public relations theory and practice should be unique to each country or culture or whether it should be practiced in the same way everywhere. Authors answered this question by theorising that global public relations should fall in the middle between standardisation and individualisation (Grunig, 2009). The theoretical framework of Sriramesh and Vercic (2003) has been used to assess the status of public relations in countries around the world. Contextualised studies are the core component of the global public relations concept. As Vercic (2009) reported, international PR practices should represent the best practices anywhere because of their necessary complexities and reach. Global theory is not a positive theory, which describes a type of public relations that currently is practiced everywhere in the world. Research, such as that reported in Sriramesh and Vercic (2003, 2009), does show that there are many idiosyncrasies in public relations practice around the world that reflect cultural differences. It also shows that the one worldwide universal in public relations practice is what is J. Grunig have called the press agentry/publicity model (Grunig et al., 1995)-the least effective of the models. Rather, their global theory is a normative theory that argues that public relations will be most effective throughout most parts of the world (Grunig, 2009, p.2). Emphasising cross-cultural effects on reputation in multinational organizations Wakefield (2007b, 2008) argues that there still is an important distinction between global and domestic public relations practices, and that understanding those differences will contribute to better global practice. More specifically, recent research has also called into questions of need to understand how culture affects public relations. There are numbers of key researches (Grunig et al., 1995) who have written papers specifically on the subject. A similar study was conducted by Neff (1991), who has indicated that economic development is leading public relations firms down a path requiring knowledge of culture and language in addition to public relations. Perhaps one of the most influential recent publications on multiculturalism in public relations education was produced by Sriramesh (Sriramesh, 2002, Sriramesh, 2003). He has also reported that public relations education has not kept pace with the rapi d globalisation that has occurred since 1992 (Sriramesh, 2002). Sriramesh (2009) called for a need for a more thoughtful representation of many of the generic principles of public relations practice to suit the local environment, so that the body of knowledge is more holistic and relevant to global demands. However, there still is a room for an assumption that not all the practitioners require international training and international perspective. RESEARCH / CRITICS: Since the advent of the Internet, it is even more tempting to view PR practice as the same anywhere, and therefore it decreases attempts to produce research or principles that need to view à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“cross-border PR as different (Wakefield, 2007a). Despite the numerous calls for research, reviewed works and studies on global (national) public relations released in the 2000s (see table 1) (Portugal, United States see table) have recorded that this area of research is underrepresented. Despite global trends underlining increased internationalisation, these results can be interpreted to indicate that Researchers have not paid enough attention to the international perspective. An important indicator is the place international public relations occupy in the list of priority research topics. One recent example is a Study of the Priorities for Public Relations Research conducted by Deputy Dean of Media School of Bournemouth University (UK) Tom Watson (Watson, 2008, Watson, 2007)  [1 ]  .He sent 26 public relations topics to a Delphi study panel and the Top Ten PR research topics were identified, however, international perspective was excluded from the list. A US professor and professional Robert Wakefield responded critically to Watsons Delphi study: First, I was surprised in finding that the topic fell all the way out of the top ten. After all, arent PR issues and challenges, along with its overall scope of practice, becoming more international with each passing year?(2007a, p. 6) Nonetheless he added: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“There really are no more studies being done on international public relations now than have been done over the course of the last three decades. Those that are being published are increasingly making such statements as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“there is no such thing as local PR anymore, or à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“today, everything is global. Well, if this represents what academics and practitioners are thinking, then it would stand to reason that no real different research needs to be done-that ANY PR principles, even if they are all traditionally domestic in nature, would suffice for research or practice anywhere in the world (2007a, p.7). The seminal critique in this area is also by Sriramesh (2009, p.6), who argues: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“When scholars think of, and discuss, public relations, the global perspective is often overlooked. Srirameshs (2009) critique of Mackey (Mackey, 2003), who claimed to introduce the various contemporary theories of public relations in the inaugural issue of Prism is also indicative: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The author attempted to review à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the changing vistas in public relations theory, there was not a single mention of any advances in global public relations theorising in that piece even though by 2003/that time there were several advances worth reporting'(2009, p.8). Another example is Distasso (2009). Authors surveyed 312 public relations executives and educators to examine how well practitioners and instructors perceive public relations students to be prepared for the practice, the content and value of public relations curricula and, the future of public relations education in the United States. Even though scholar mentioned globalisation as a factor increasingly influencing public relations practice he had not included it in the questionnaires or research questions. Somewhat it contrast are papers from the annual International Public Relations Research Symposium Bledcom, which reflect the diverse and up-to-date research traditions amongst scholars working in the field of public relations both within the USA and Europe (Moss et al., 1997, Newman and Vercic, 2002, Moss et al., 2003, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2003a, Sriramesh, 2004, Van Ruler and Vercic, 2004, Van Ruler et al., 2008, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2009). These are scholars, who systematically examines the priorities for PR research and determine international agenda These differences in research agenda are reflected/explained, to some degree, in the/by Scholars like Sriramesh, Vercic, Wakefield and others highlighted the important point that an issue of international public relations is not reflected enough in the research questions. International public relations education (IPRE) As a corollary to the process of globalisation has been the recognition of the need to make public relations education more internationally focused and future public relations professionals more internationally and interculturally competent (Lane DiStephano, 1992) / Huthcings et al., 2002 There have been numbers of calls for new public relations curricula aimed at educating staffs that can understand and meet increasing international social, economic and political complexities and challenges. (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994, p. 13). The International Association of Universities (1998) supported the need for business schools to be more international in their strategy, claiming higher education must integrate an intercultural dimension into its teaching and research, if it is to fulfil its role and maintain excellence. (Hutchings et al., 2002, p. 58). Another rationale for an international public relations course is the accelerating pace of societal and technological change today. These cha nges call for adaptations in academic curricula and professional development programs. There were written dozen papers on justification of international public relations education based on research in the different areas. Some went radical claiming that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“any curriculum that excludes international public relations courses is ineffective in addressing student and practitioner needs, particularly in the next century (21 century).(Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994) p.9 Factors what influence the development of IPRE are mostly the same, however they have different interpretations. The need for international courses in public relations is demonstrated further by the growing global recognition of public relations degree programs and education, a phenomenon that Cantor (1984) predicted more than twenty years ago. And indeed, previous investigation has established that the call for internationalisation of public relations education has been there for a long time and comes from both industry and academia sectors (Neff, 1991, Cottone et al., 1985). However, disagreements between practitioners and educators on a blueprint for international public relations education have also been documented (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994). A decade old survey of U.S. public relations educators and practitioners that explored the state of curricula and content in public relations education found that both practitioners and educators perceive need to incorporate courses and cont ent that will prepare future practitioners for the global landscape (Neff et al., 1999). A Public relations is a multidisciplinary area of study and practice that must change as rapidly as the context and society in which it exists (Baskin, 1989, p. 35). As public relations continues to be a globalised profession, curriculum should be updated to reflect the practice. Ten years later similar study has recorded, that having a global perspective and experience with a variety of cultures are necessary but lacking skills for advanced level practitioners (DiStaso et al., 2009, p.269). An important consideration in providing students with some skills in achieving cross-cultural understanding is the recognition that, as future business professionals and leaders, they will live in a society increasingly characterised by international labour mobility and multiculturalism. The international manager or employee will be an individual who will spend their working lives in several distinct job areas working for several organisations as well as making several sojourns to various international postings. This means that the new style employee will need to be cosmopolitan, multilingual, multifaceted and what Schneider Barsoux (1997, p. 157) refer to as a capacity to operate à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“across national borders somewhat like James Bond. Public relations education at all levels and in both communication and MBA programmes should educate students to practise public relations globally (Grunig and Grunig, 2002). However, not only do students need to be trained and prepared for this mobility, but even those who do not move to another nation face the recognition that the domestic work environment also requires some responsiveness to differing cultures (Hutchings et al., 2002, p. 69). Sriramesh (2009, p.6) makes a reasonable argument that even textbooks in the US and the UK should contain more global cases and interpretations so as to give their own students a more international and holistic education, thus broadening their horizons. It is indicated that authors of universitys level public relations textbooks have not yet realised the growing importance of international public relations and thus deal marginally with it. The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) has drawn on its international membership to research and recommend standards for public relations education and has established the results of its work in two Gold papers in 1982 and 1990 (IPRA (1982) Gold paper No. 4, A Model for Public Relations Education for Professional Practice, and (1990) Gold Paper No.7, Public Relations Education Recommendations and Standards). (White, 1991) p.184-185 Not much has changed since that time. WAYS: Number of general papers were designed in response to the need for public relations education to produce well-trained, culturally sensitive practitioners (Miller, 1992, Ekachai and Komolsevin, 1998, Burbules and Torres, 2000, Bardhan, 2003, Dickerson, 2005, Tuleja, 2008). With the increasing importance of international communication, some educators had considered creating a course dedicated to international public relations (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994, Taylor, 2001). In a special edition of Public Relations Review on developing teaching related materials, Taylor (2001) offered guidance to public relations educators on how to develop an international public relations curriculum because: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“New communication technologies and global communication processes create more frequent international communication (Taylor, 2001, p.2). Nevertheless, some of the Taylors conclusions sounded far too decisive: The most comprehensive way to internationalize the public relations curriculum is to offer a course dedicated to international public relations (p. 74). Creedon and Al-Khaja (2005) analysed how adding cultural competency to the list of skills and competencies required in educational programs presents an opportunity to educate a generation that will accept difference and value a global culture separate from national identity. Then again the study was rather limited the authors conducted a survey of accredited programs to determine whether or not a history course was required of their majors. Another empirical-based study argued that just talking about the importance if IPR in the classroom is not sufficient, students have to be able to live international public relations in order to understand its relevance (Bardhan, 1999, p. 19). An important portion of literature on international public relations education suggests the necessity for students to learn about other countries through immersion. According to Porth (Porth, 1997, Tuleja, 2008) the international study tour course may be a legitimate answer to critics of education who urge business schools to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“go global and to create stronger ties with the international business and academic communities. More specifically, recent research has also called into question the assumption of studying internationally. For instance, Hutchings et al. (2002, p. 58)suggests that the challenge for the education is how to devise a short-term study program that is effective in exposing international concepts to the student. Yet, foreign travel alone is not the panacea for internationalising PR education because it is difficult to manage even if having resources. Hutchings study is focused on going abroad, even so it may make some contribution to understanding of glo bal consciousness characterised as moving towards a recognition and appreciation of increasingly global diversity and interdependence. Arguments about which is the best approach to international public relations education, courses and its numbers, or changing the context with its live experience and observations, largely missed the important point that methods have to be fit for their purposes. For some purposes, this is the best, and in other cases the choice will be this and that. Furthermore, although those approaches rest on very different use of resources and possibilities, they can be complementary in the hands of future research and need to be incompatible. Many studies would benefit from mindfully using each approach for different purposes at different stages of the internationalisation. Fuller discussions of this are to be found in some public relations papers, including (Neff, 1991, Dibrova and Kabanova, 2004, Peterson and Mak, 2006, Chung, 2007/8, Dolby and Rahman, 2008). CHALLENGES/BARRIERS: Authors such as Kalupa and Carroll Bateman (1980) have suggested that public relations educators have failed maintain the currency of the teaching in relation to the practice. On the other hand, Holbrook (1985, 1995) has been one of the most prominent critics of the idea of selecting research topics based on what is of interest to practitioners. He has argued that such an orientation tarnishes the purity of the academic endeavour. Amongst other challenges Bardhan (1999) recorded that educators feel unprepared at present to handle the task effectively and lack of interest among students. Falb (1991, 1992) has claimed that because of putting public relations curriculums in either Mass Communications or Journalism public relations has been inhibited in its growth in academic and professional areas. Similar study was conducted by (Pincus et al., 1994), who argued that communication topics do not rate high in MBA programs: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“If public relations faculty do not champion the recognition of public relations topics in MBA programs, the profession will never realize entry to the highest levels of corporate decision making (1994: p.55) . Making an analogy, this statement might be extended by claiming that If public relations faculty do not champion the recognition of international public relations concepts in Postgraduate programs, the profession will lack behind present state of research and practice. This statement finds a reflection in recent research as well. Papers like Sriramesh (2002) claim that it is time for educators to integrate experiences from other continents into the PR body of knowledge, thereby building PR curricula that contribute to training truly multicultural PR professionals. CONCLUSION: Sriramesh and Vercic (2003) underlined the compelling need for a text describing and explaining public relations practices and body of knowledge in different parts of the world. Their call for research has been taken up and largely because it proposed a framework, which made it easier to facilitate global research. Thereby, by critically examining the framework scholars in different countries enrich international public relations body of knowledge and provides prove or counter-arguments to the Global theory. Nonetheless, it might be argued that among those five factors, which have been put forward by Sriramesh and Vercic (2003), one is missing professional PR training. In this regard it can be concluded the following. Firstly, such indicator as level of professional training can be considered as a sixth factor influencing practicing public relations in country. Secondly, on the basis of a global concept can be developed a similar concept and subsequently applied to the study of inte rnational public relations education. Thirdly, basing on data provided from the five factors, it allowed to determine the degree of standardization vs. localization of IPR programs and courses and to identify barriers and obstacles. Achieving internationalisation of public relations education is concluded to be important for three reasons. First, because many graduating students will be finding employment internationally and benefit from having been educated to be effective in differing cultural settings. Second, because rapid changes in national immigration policies have meant that many more nations are considerably more multicultural than they have been in the past and citizens need to be more conscious of diversity in their national and organisational surroundings. Third, because the pace of changes in the international political economy necessitates that people must be responsive to international economic and business forces. Thus, students who receive an internationally focused public relations education should be more culturally and socially aware and prepared to cope with the demands of rapid international economic, political and social change (Hutchings et al., 2002). Professional education and training are one of the major issues in every country in which public relations is practised. Even the US, where there are hundreds of public relations education are frequently expressed, and senior practitioners rise questions about the value of existing public relations education programmes (White, 1991, p. 184). Sommerness and Beaman (1994) found only few offerings of university courses emphasising international public relations across the United States at that time. However, most recent study has shown that some authors (Hatzitos and Lariscy, 2008) report an increased interest in scholarly research in international public relations and an effort to internationalise the public relations curricula at many U.S. universities. Despite the fact that significant gaps were found between desired outcomes and those actually found in the opinions of both practitioner and educators, certain surveys (Neff et al., 1999) have revealed strong agreement between educator s and practitioners regarding the training, experience and expertise outcomes needed for career development in public relations. Thus, while the goals of public relations education to certain extent seem clear, the means of achieving those goals, including curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, may not be as clear. However, studies such as examining perception, asking whether or not IPR should be emphasised doesnt really contribute anymore as the concept have solidly grounded. There have been dozen papers reporting that call for a development. What more valuable for this particular research is the fact that international public relations education requires to be integrated into global PR perspective. International experiences, approaches and cases must be studied and shared between international academic societies. The literature review recorded a substantial gap in international public relations education research elsewhere than U.S. Therefore there is a need in further researching and describing development in IPRE globally. This particular study will explore perceptions and state of IPR education in two countries the United Kingdom and Russia. Internationalisation of Public Relations Education Internationalisation of Public Relations Education Introduction The main theme of the dissertation is internationalisation of public relations education. It is quite a broad topic and can be reviewed and discussed from different points of view. In this regard the selected literature first examines international public relations concepts and secondly an impact it has on public relations education. Therefore, literature review has been divided into the following major themes: International public relations (IPR) and International public relations education (IPRE). The chapter will begin by presenting the main debates about international public relations and its concepts alongside with a brief overview of factors influencing it. It will be followed by a section presenting state of research on IPR. The discussion will then move to section two international public relations education, exploring the requisites and challenges for internationalisation. Finally the chapter will summarise the key themes and points identified. The major part of the literature review focuses on contemporary research, defined as 1989-2009. International PR A growing number of publications document the development and challenges of the public relations in every major continent and region of the world (Nally, 1991, Moss et al., 1997, Moss et al., 2003, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2003b, Van Ruler and Vercic, 2004, Freitag and Stokes, 2009). This research refers term global PR to globalisation of the profession, which is being practises and recognised in more countries throughout the globe, while International PR refers to the planning and implementation of programmes and campaigns carried out abroad or for international audience. Hence international PR education refers to the process of adopting professional training to International PR concepts and demand. Public relations is still relatively new concern for management, even though its modern origins can be traced to the end of the last century (White, 1991). According to (Cutlip, 1994), a key researcher in the history of public relations in the U.S., the first international public relations agency The Hamilton Wright Organization was founded in 1908. International communities of professionals and scholars are increasingly interested in transferring knowledge, experiences, and best practices from national to transnational scenarios. This advancement is generated by the increasing role of public relations which is driven largely by the influence of new information technologies and globalisation (Flodin, 2003). Drawing upon this, DiStaso et al. (2009) discussed the effects of globalisation, that began with the Maastricht Treaty and NAFTAA in 1992, the WTO in 1994 and claiming it had great impact on the public relations industry. According to Szondis (2009, p.115) International public relations is the planned communication activity of a (multinational) organisation, a supra- or international institution or government through interactions in the target country which facilitates the organisation (or government) to achieve its policy or business objectives without harming the interests of the publics. There have been papers which presented international PR to be simply about how to overcome barriers that are created by other cultures, including language, laws or cultural issues, which are often indentified as problems (Wilcox et al., 2001), rather than opportunities or the manifestation of diversity. The most frequently referenced paper which stands against IPR has been Angell (1990) asserted that the variance between local countries was so great as to preclude any possibility of globalisation. A much different study, also highly referenced, has been provided by Pavlik (1987), who as early as the 1980s considered IPR one of the most rapidly growing areas of the profession, and one of the least understood. The problem with defining difference between domestically and internationally done public relations is that there is not enough research or critical assessment. While basic principles do not change, the way they are carried out from culture to culture and country to country, and the attitudes and values embedded within those different cultures or countries, are different (Wakefield, 2007b). A similar study was conducted by Botan (1992, p. 157), who argued that international public relations is always intercultural. The existing public relations body of knowledge, and public relations curricula around the world, have a U.S. bias (Sriramesh, 2002). U.S. paradigm, however, strikes with the idea of that European or non-U.S. perceptions of public relations become more of value in the twenty first century. A US professor and professional Robert Wakefield (2007b), who have been practicing and researching in the area of IPR for almost two decades, believes that principles and practices of PR in Europe, emphasising social role of public relations, are more promising for effective PR in the multinational than the American-based PR-as-marketing-tool approach. He, alongside the majority of new PR schools, supports paradigms of PR incoming out of places other than the U.S. Therefore, need and call for the elsewhere theories and concepts was also a factor for a research in international/global PR. Ovaitt (1988, p.5) made an interesting suggestion saying that it was not a popular idea with marketing and advertising experts when they started thinking about internationalisation decades ago and it was not popular with public relations practitioners back to late 1980s. The idea is that what these professionals do for a living might be done on a global basis global in the sense of achieving some significant level of standardisation, not only of what is offered to customers, but also how it is presented and promoted. Public relations as a profession is not necessarily understood and practised in the same manner all around the world. This is not news per se, as several scholars (Sharpe, 1992, Vercic et al., 1996, Taylor, 2000, Rhee, 2002, Valentini, 2007) for many years have underlined that public relations requires a global understanding of cultural differences. Different studies (Kent and Taylor, 1999, Lee, 2005) show that public relations practitioners are increasingly required to be able to communicate with different international publics, no matter the size of the organisation they are working for, or whether it is private or public, including non-profit organisations. After the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Excellence Study yielded a review of normative principles (Grunig, 1992), Vercic et al. (1996) explained the importance of identifying five contextual variables that influence the practice of the normative principles. Vercic, Grunig, and Grunig (Vercic et al., 1996) proposed a global theory of public relations that was elaborated by Sriramesh and Vercic (2003a, 2003b, 2009) in their Global Public Relations Handbook and by Sriramesh (2009) in a special issue of PRism. Their global public relations theory attempted to answer the question of whether public relations theory and practice should be unique to each country or culture or whether it should be practiced in the same way everywhere. Authors answered this question by theorising that global public relations should fall in the middle between standardisation and individualisation (Grunig, 2009). The theoretical framework of Sriramesh and Vercic (2003) has been used to assess the status of public relations in countries around the world. Contextualised studies are the core component of the global public relations concept. As Vercic (2009) reported, international PR practices should represent the best practices anywhere because of their necessary complexities and reach. Global theory is not a positive theory, which describes a type of public relations that currently is practiced everywhere in the world. Research, such as that reported in Sriramesh and Vercic (2003, 2009), does show that there are many idiosyncrasies in public relations practice around the world that reflect cultural differences. It also shows that the one worldwide universal in public relations practice is what is J. Grunig have called the press agentry/publicity model (Grunig et al., 1995)-the least effective of the models. Rather, their global theory is a normative theory that argues that public relations will be most effective throughout most parts of the world (Grunig, 2009, p.2). Emphasising cross-cultural effects on reputation in multinational organizations Wakefield (2007b, 2008) argues that there still is an important distinction between global and domestic public relations practices, and that understanding those differences will contribute to better global practice. More specifically, recent research has also called into questions of need to understand how culture affects public relations. There are numbers of key researches (Grunig et al., 1995) who have written papers specifically on the subject. A similar study was conducted by Neff (1991), who has indicated that economic development is leading public relations firms down a path requiring knowledge of culture and language in addition to public relations. Perhaps one of the most influential recent publications on multiculturalism in public relations education was produced by Sriramesh (Sriramesh, 2002, Sriramesh, 2003). He has also reported that public relations education has not kept pace with the rapi d globalisation that has occurred since 1992 (Sriramesh, 2002). Sriramesh (2009) called for a need for a more thoughtful representation of many of the generic principles of public relations practice to suit the local environment, so that the body of knowledge is more holistic and relevant to global demands. However, there still is a room for an assumption that not all the practitioners require international training and international perspective. RESEARCH / CRITICS: Since the advent of the Internet, it is even more tempting to view PR practice as the same anywhere, and therefore it decreases attempts to produce research or principles that need to view à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“cross-border PR as different (Wakefield, 2007a). Despite the numerous calls for research, reviewed works and studies on global (national) public relations released in the 2000s (see table 1) (Portugal, United States see table) have recorded that this area of research is underrepresented. Despite global trends underlining increased internationalisation, these results can be interpreted to indicate that Researchers have not paid enough attention to the international perspective. An important indicator is the place international public relations occupy in the list of priority research topics. One recent example is a Study of the Priorities for Public Relations Research conducted by Deputy Dean of Media School of Bournemouth University (UK) Tom Watson (Watson, 2008, Watson, 2007)  [1 ]  .He sent 26 public relations topics to a Delphi study panel and the Top Ten PR research topics were identified, however, international perspective was excluded from the list. A US professor and professional Robert Wakefield responded critically to Watsons Delphi study: First, I was surprised in finding that the topic fell all the way out of the top ten. After all, arent PR issues and challenges, along with its overall scope of practice, becoming more international with each passing year?(2007a, p. 6) Nonetheless he added: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“There really are no more studies being done on international public relations now than have been done over the course of the last three decades. Those that are being published are increasingly making such statements as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“there is no such thing as local PR anymore, or à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“today, everything is global. Well, if this represents what academics and practitioners are thinking, then it would stand to reason that no real different research needs to be done-that ANY PR principles, even if they are all traditionally domestic in nature, would suffice for research or practice anywhere in the world (2007a, p.7). The seminal critique in this area is also by Sriramesh (2009, p.6), who argues: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“When scholars think of, and discuss, public relations, the global perspective is often overlooked. Srirameshs (2009) critique of Mackey (Mackey, 2003), who claimed to introduce the various contemporary theories of public relations in the inaugural issue of Prism is also indicative: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The author attempted to review à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the changing vistas in public relations theory, there was not a single mention of any advances in global public relations theorising in that piece even though by 2003/that time there were several advances worth reporting'(2009, p.8). Another example is Distasso (2009). Authors surveyed 312 public relations executives and educators to examine how well practitioners and instructors perceive public relations students to be prepared for the practice, the content and value of public relations curricula and, the future of public relations education in the United States. Even though scholar mentioned globalisation as a factor increasingly influencing public relations practice he had not included it in the questionnaires or research questions. Somewhat it contrast are papers from the annual International Public Relations Research Symposium Bledcom, which reflect the diverse and up-to-date research traditions amongst scholars working in the field of public relations both within the USA and Europe (Moss et al., 1997, Newman and Vercic, 2002, Moss et al., 2003, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2003a, Sriramesh, 2004, Van Ruler and Vercic, 2004, Van Ruler et al., 2008, Sriramesh and Vercic, 2009). These are scholars, who systematically examines the priorities for PR research and determine international agenda These differences in research agenda are reflected/explained, to some degree, in the/by Scholars like Sriramesh, Vercic, Wakefield and others highlighted the important point that an issue of international public relations is not reflected enough in the research questions. International public relations education (IPRE) As a corollary to the process of globalisation has been the recognition of the need to make public relations education more internationally focused and future public relations professionals more internationally and interculturally competent (Lane DiStephano, 1992) / Huthcings et al., 2002 There have been numbers of calls for new public relations curricula aimed at educating staffs that can understand and meet increasing international social, economic and political complexities and challenges. (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994, p. 13). The International Association of Universities (1998) supported the need for business schools to be more international in their strategy, claiming higher education must integrate an intercultural dimension into its teaching and research, if it is to fulfil its role and maintain excellence. (Hutchings et al., 2002, p. 58). Another rationale for an international public relations course is the accelerating pace of societal and technological change today. These cha nges call for adaptations in academic curricula and professional development programs. There were written dozen papers on justification of international public relations education based on research in the different areas. Some went radical claiming that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“any curriculum that excludes international public relations courses is ineffective in addressing student and practitioner needs, particularly in the next century (21 century).(Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994) p.9 Factors what influence the development of IPRE are mostly the same, however they have different interpretations. The need for international courses in public relations is demonstrated further by the growing global recognition of public relations degree programs and education, a phenomenon that Cantor (1984) predicted more than twenty years ago. And indeed, previous investigation has established that the call for internationalisation of public relations education has been there for a long time and comes from both industry and academia sectors (Neff, 1991, Cottone et al., 1985). However, disagreements between practitioners and educators on a blueprint for international public relations education have also been documented (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994). A decade old survey of U.S. public relations educators and practitioners that explored the state of curricula and content in public relations education found that both practitioners and educators perceive need to incorporate courses and cont ent that will prepare future practitioners for the global landscape (Neff et al., 1999). A Public relations is a multidisciplinary area of study and practice that must change as rapidly as the context and society in which it exists (Baskin, 1989, p. 35). As public relations continues to be a globalised profession, curriculum should be updated to reflect the practice. Ten years later similar study has recorded, that having a global perspective and experience with a variety of cultures are necessary but lacking skills for advanced level practitioners (DiStaso et al., 2009, p.269). An important consideration in providing students with some skills in achieving cross-cultural understanding is the recognition that, as future business professionals and leaders, they will live in a society increasingly characterised by international labour mobility and multiculturalism. The international manager or employee will be an individual who will spend their working lives in several distinct job areas working for several organisations as well as making several sojourns to various international postings. This means that the new style employee will need to be cosmopolitan, multilingual, multifaceted and what Schneider Barsoux (1997, p. 157) refer to as a capacity to operate à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“across national borders somewhat like James Bond. Public relations education at all levels and in both communication and MBA programmes should educate students to practise public relations globally (Grunig and Grunig, 2002). However, not only do students need to be trained and prepared for this mobility, but even those who do not move to another nation face the recognition that the domestic work environment also requires some responsiveness to differing cultures (Hutchings et al., 2002, p. 69). Sriramesh (2009, p.6) makes a reasonable argument that even textbooks in the US and the UK should contain more global cases and interpretations so as to give their own students a more international and holistic education, thus broadening their horizons. It is indicated that authors of universitys level public relations textbooks have not yet realised the growing importance of international public relations and thus deal marginally with it. The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) has drawn on its international membership to research and recommend standards for public relations education and has established the results of its work in two Gold papers in 1982 and 1990 (IPRA (1982) Gold paper No. 4, A Model for Public Relations Education for Professional Practice, and (1990) Gold Paper No.7, Public Relations Education Recommendations and Standards). (White, 1991) p.184-185 Not much has changed since that time. WAYS: Number of general papers were designed in response to the need for public relations education to produce well-trained, culturally sensitive practitioners (Miller, 1992, Ekachai and Komolsevin, 1998, Burbules and Torres, 2000, Bardhan, 2003, Dickerson, 2005, Tuleja, 2008). With the increasing importance of international communication, some educators had considered creating a course dedicated to international public relations (Pratt and Ogbondah, 1994, Taylor, 2001). In a special edition of Public Relations Review on developing teaching related materials, Taylor (2001) offered guidance to public relations educators on how to develop an international public relations curriculum because: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“New communication technologies and global communication processes create more frequent international communication (Taylor, 2001, p.2). Nevertheless, some of the Taylors conclusions sounded far too decisive: The most comprehensive way to internationalize the public relations curriculum is to offer a course dedicated to international public relations (p. 74). Creedon and Al-Khaja (2005) analysed how adding cultural competency to the list of skills and competencies required in educational programs presents an opportunity to educate a generation that will accept difference and value a global culture separate from national identity. Then again the study was rather limited the authors conducted a survey of accredited programs to determine whether or not a history course was required of their majors. Another empirical-based study argued that just talking about the importance if IPR in the classroom is not sufficient, students have to be able to live international public relations in order to understand its relevance (Bardhan, 1999, p. 19). An important portion of literature on international public relations education suggests the necessity for students to learn about other countries through immersion. According to Porth (Porth, 1997, Tuleja, 2008) the international study tour course may be a legitimate answer to critics of education who urge business schools to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“go global and to create stronger ties with the international business and academic communities. More specifically, recent research has also called into question the assumption of studying internationally. For instance, Hutchings et al. (2002, p. 58)suggests that the challenge for the education is how to devise a short-term study program that is effective in exposing international concepts to the student. Yet, foreign travel alone is not the panacea for internationalising PR education because it is difficult to manage even if having resources. Hutchings study is focused on going abroad, even so it may make some contribution to understanding of glo bal consciousness characterised as moving towards a recognition and appreciation of increasingly global diversity and interdependence. Arguments about which is the best approach to international public relations education, courses and its numbers, or changing the context with its live experience and observations, largely missed the important point that methods have to be fit for their purposes. For some purposes, this is the best, and in other cases the choice will be this and that. Furthermore, although those approaches rest on very different use of resources and possibilities, they can be complementary in the hands of future research and need to be incompatible. Many studies would benefit from mindfully using each approach for different purposes at different stages of the internationalisation. Fuller discussions of this are to be found in some public relations papers, including (Neff, 1991, Dibrova and Kabanova, 2004, Peterson and Mak, 2006, Chung, 2007/8, Dolby and Rahman, 2008). CHALLENGES/BARRIERS: Authors such as Kalupa and Carroll Bateman (1980) have suggested that public relations educators have failed maintain the currency of the teaching in relation to the practice. On the other hand, Holbrook (1985, 1995) has been one of the most prominent critics of the idea of selecting research topics based on what is of interest to practitioners. He has argued that such an orientation tarnishes the purity of the academic endeavour. Amongst other challenges Bardhan (1999) recorded that educators feel unprepared at present to handle the task effectively and lack of interest among students. Falb (1991, 1992) has claimed that because of putting public relations curriculums in either Mass Communications or Journalism public relations has been inhibited in its growth in academic and professional areas. Similar study was conducted by (Pincus et al., 1994), who argued that communication topics do not rate high in MBA programs: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“If public relations faculty do not champion the recognition of public relations topics in MBA programs, the profession will never realize entry to the highest levels of corporate decision making (1994: p.55) . Making an analogy, this statement might be extended by claiming that If public relations faculty do not champion the recognition of international public relations concepts in Postgraduate programs, the profession will lack behind present state of research and practice. This statement finds a reflection in recent research as well. Papers like Sriramesh (2002) claim that it is time for educators to integrate experiences from other continents into the PR body of knowledge, thereby building PR curricula that contribute to training truly multicultural PR professionals. CONCLUSION: Sriramesh and Vercic (2003) underlined the compelling need for a text describing and explaining public relations practices and body of knowledge in different parts of the world. Their call for research has been taken up and largely because it proposed a framework, which made it easier to facilitate global research. Thereby, by critically examining the framework scholars in different countries enrich international public relations body of knowledge and provides prove or counter-arguments to the Global theory. Nonetheless, it might be argued that among those five factors, which have been put forward by Sriramesh and Vercic (2003), one is missing professional PR training. In this regard it can be concluded the following. Firstly, such indicator as level of professional training can be considered as a sixth factor influencing practicing public relations in country. Secondly, on the basis of a global concept can be developed a similar concept and subsequently applied to the study of inte rnational public relations education. Thirdly, basing on data provided from the five factors, it allowed to determine the degree of standardization vs. localization of IPR programs and courses and to identify barriers and obstacles. Achieving internationalisation of public relations education is concluded to be important for three reasons. First, because many graduating students will be finding employment internationally and benefit from having been educated to be effective in differing cultural settings. Second, because rapid changes in national immigration policies have meant that many more nations are considerably more multicultural than they have been in the past and citizens need to be more conscious of diversity in their national and organisational surroundings. Third, because the pace of changes in the international political economy necessitates that people must be responsive to international economic and business forces. Thus, students who receive an internationally focused public relations education should be more culturally and socially aware and prepared to cope with the demands of rapid international economic, political and social change (Hutchings et al., 2002). Professional education and training are one of the major issues in every country in which public relations is practised. Even the US, where there are hundreds of public relations education are frequently expressed, and senior practitioners rise questions about the value of existing public relations education programmes (White, 1991, p. 184). Sommerness and Beaman (1994) found only few offerings of university courses emphasising international public relations across the United States at that time. However, most recent study has shown that some authors (Hatzitos and Lariscy, 2008) report an increased interest in scholarly research in international public relations and an effort to internationalise the public relations curricula at many U.S. universities. Despite the fact that significant gaps were found between desired outcomes and those actually found in the opinions of both practitioner and educators, certain surveys (Neff et al., 1999) have revealed strong agreement between educator s and practitioners regarding the training, experience and expertise outcomes needed for career development in public relations. Thus, while the goals of public relations education to certain extent seem clear, the means of achieving those goals, including curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, may not be as clear. However, studies such as examining perception, asking whether or not IPR should be emphasised doesnt really contribute anymore as the concept have solidly grounded. There have been dozen papers reporting that call for a development. What more valuable for this particular research is the fact that international public relations education requires to be integrated into global PR perspective. International experiences, approaches and cases must be studied and shared between international academic societies. The literature review recorded a substantial gap in international public relations education research elsewhere than U.S. Therefore there is a need in further researching and describing development in IPRE globally. This particular study will explore perceptions and state of IPR education in two countries the United Kingdom and Russia.

Person I Admire

I could say there was one person that I admire the most, but truth us there are more than one. One person that comes to mind the most beleive it or not is Angelina Jolie. A celebirty is a funny one to admire†¦ But what i admire of her is the dedication that she has to the causes that are true to her. Now that can mean anything and some people might say that she is just another celebirty in search of recognition. But what I see is someone that has used her celebirty for the betterment of others in ways that are more than superficial.Unlike Madonna and others she has worked hard and has spent days at a time if not weeks in places like afganistan and Leone for her cause. She has given without condition and as a result of it has given a home to children that otherwise would not have another chance. So I admire her as a true humanitarian. If fame follows her it is truely because we cannot get enough of her and not because she invites it. But the one person that I admire the most my g randmother.She was a great woman and one that held on in times of turmoil, she taught me to be strong and if I have to cry go ahead. But to keep focused and when I was done feeling sorry for myself get to work on fixing the problem and not dwelling on it. She taught me that no one said life was fair so quit acting like some one said it was and then took it away. Be a woman, and being a woman is expecting respect as well as demanding it. Funny thing, she always said a man's world is always easier than a womans. So if all you have to do is get through a mans world you are home free!!

Inter Culturalism, Race, And Gender Identity - 938 Words

Throughout the last few weeks we were talking about inter-culturalism, race, and gender identity. We have had multiple people and discussions about these topics. I have read many articles, heard speakers, and been taught a lot about these topics, but there is always something new that I can learn and always another perspective on the topics. These are topics that have been in the news and talked about a lot in the past few years, especially gender identity. Interculturalism is something, as teachers, we are trying to make normal. Teachers are trying to prepare students for conversations between cultures and making the terminology a â€Å"normal† part of their life. Throughout the years, there has not been a lot of communication between cultures. It has been something that people tip toe around. Irving talks about teaching students the language they need to support conversations between cultures. She gives an example of a class having a skin color project. The students did not refer to other students as black or white but rather the recipe they used to make their skin color (Irving, 2014, pg. 237). I think that is such a great idea. It gets kids to see that there is more than just the color of their skin and that between different cultures and races is okay. Irving also talked about her experience role playing in the classroom related to racism. â€Å"Wait a minute, I remember thinking. These conversations aren’t aggressiv e.(Irving, 2014, pg. 239). So many times, peoples’ firstShow MoreRelatedImmigration As A Migrant Worker Essay2294 Words   |  10 PagesCommonwealth countries, particularly the West Indies, seeking work and a better life. The public may not have known it at the time but the support for what would become to be known as ‘multi-culturalism’ was born out of these post war demographic changes. Although progression has not always been smooth. With inter-cultural competition for both jobs and housing it did not take long for tensions to rise between these migrants and the indigenous white population. At this time, it was not uncommon to seeRead MoreAnalysis Of `` No One `` By Zora Neale Hurston And Toni Morrison881 Words   |  4 Pagesto be critiqued. Literary theory is wide—its proponents range from deconstructionism and structuralism to aestheticism, and culturalism, flowing through queer theory, gender theory, and race theory to name a few subsets of the la tter. The diversity in this theory is easily explained, as it stems from the own diversity of writers and works that have been produced. The identities of these works and their writers, however, becomes very important when choosing a method to interpret and analyse their artRead MoreNationalism And Its Impact On National Identity1412 Words   |  6 PagesNationalism can be defined in two dimensions. First, the feeling of having a sense of national identity. This â€Å"national identity† is often confronted with a dilemma as to how to draw the boundaries of what creates a nation. This pre-requisite often comes in the form of either similarities in origin, ethnicity, culture and willingness to partake in the membership of a â€Å"nation†. This is contrasted with the concept of â€Å"states† as states such as the Native American Iroqouis, whom although are a â€Å"nation†Read MoreHas Globalization Change Culture and Societal Norms?3163 Words   |  13 Pag essocial identity. Lyons (2006) suggests reduced political restrictions on the movement of money and the free trade of multi transnational companies such as Coca Cola and MacDonald’s, has resulted in nation states losing power over national social welfare policies to meet an individual state’s welfare needs, as funding for the welfare state has to fit in with the needs of national and international economics. As nations begin to become independent on different parts of the world, an inter relianceRead MoreDissertation Proposal on Managing Diversity of Workforce18916 Words   |  76 PagesResearch Question 1 will be analyzed through the conduction of a one-way MANOVA on the value dimensions by generation. Research Question 2 will be analyzed through conductions of a oneway MANOVA in order to look at the value dimensions based upon gender. Analysis of Research Question 3 will be through conduction of a one-way MANOVA in order to look at the value dimensions by SES. Research Question 4 wil l undergo analysis through conduction of a one-way MANOVA in order to look at the value dimensions

The Life of Galileo and the Effects of his Findings on Faith

The Life of Galileo and the Effects of his Findings on Faith Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, February 18, 1564. At an early age, Galileo was interested in mathematics and the study of mechanics. His father, a onetime mathematician, pushed him towards the medical profession, which held much greater financial benefits. But the attempts of Galileo’s father were in vein as Galileo soon discovered the works of Archimedes and became extremely interested. Thus, his father reluctantly allowed the young Galileo to pursue the study of mathematics and science. Although many remember Galileo as an astronomer, his chief contributions to the world of knowledge were in the dynamic and mechanical fields of science. The first of his many†¦show more content†¦But these findings brought forth a great deal of controversy with the scholars of the day who would not accept findings contradictory to those of the great Aristotle. Under pressure, Galileo left Pisa and made his way to Florence where he held the chair of mathematics at the University of Padua for eighteen years. He was also appointed philosopher and mathematician to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. During this period, Galileo continued his study of mechanics and dynamics as found in nature. He continued to develop new theories through experimentation such as his experiments with inclined planes. Galileo hypothesized that a moving object will continue in a straight line forever without any pushes of pulls, as long as there is no interference. And through the use of the inclined pl anes, Galileo showed the speed of an object increases down a slope and decreases up the slope. Thus, he reasoned that an object on a horizontal plane would continue moving forever in the absence of friction. Furthermore, Galileo anticipated the laws of motion made famous by Newton. He gave the first entirely satisfactory demonstration of the laws of equilibrium and the principle of virtual velocity in statics. In hydrostatics, he founded the principle of floatation. And he also invented a thermoscope, which attempted to measure temperature through the contraction and expansion of gas. THE THERMOSCOPE But of all the findings and inventionsShow MoreRelatedEssay about Human Beings and Nature: The Scientific Revolution1689 Words   |  7 Pagesleaders such as Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, and Rene Descartes, the Scientific Revolution proves to be a crucial piece to the puzzle of understanding the effects of humansà ­ interactions with the natural world. The changes produced during the Scientific Revolution were not rapid but developed slowly and in an experimental way. 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Rollins May 1, 2014 Joseph Davalos Mr. Richard Rollins History 102 Western Civilization II April 10, 2014 Galileo: life after punishment Galileo Galilei, born February 15, 1564 was a mathematics professor a scientist, astronomer and physisist. He attended the University of Pisa to study medicine in 1583. He was fascinated with many subjects, particularlyRead MoreConflicting Ideologies : Religion Vs. Science1713 Words   |  7 Pagesdenomination of Christianity or another (Harper). Nearly all people of faith claim that their religious ideologies are positive and sensible aspects of society, but both currently and historically, religious beliefs have clashed with the values and impeded the progress of science. Both science and religious faith have their positive aspects, but the two are often incompatible and contradictory due to their vastly different approaches to finding the truth. 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The American Of The British Empire - 1550 Words

In marked contrast to the monarchy and the dispute about the rights of succession and control over the Spanish Empire, the American colonies sought independence from the British monarchy and government. The Americans wanted a completely new government, without a King or any form of monarchy. While the Spanish crisis was one of leadership, connection to other empires, a desire to avoid partition. The American crisis in government came about through the actions of the King, and the colonists questioning the authority of the British Parliament to rule over them. The American colonies served an important role in the British Empire during the first half of the 1700’s. King George III ascended to the throne in 1760, and took control of the empire and its vast territories. The British Constitution provided for the monarchial rule, and two representative bodies – the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. None of the British colonies had representation in these houses, and this proved to be the issue with the American colonies. The colonies administration technically fell under the Privy Council and Secretary of State. Parliament made policy regarding the colonies, and defined the economic relationship between England and the colonies. Governors acted locally in the King’s name and enforced the laws. The colonies also had their own political institutions in the form of local assemblies, legislatures, and county, city and town governments. Most of the coloniesShow MoreRelatedThe American Of The British Empire1 041 Words   |  5 PagesIn the late half of the eighteenth century, the colonies of British North America were at a point in which they wanted more of their own identity and separation from Europe. Some of the colonists felt that way and others were quite content in continuing to live under Britain’s iron fist of legislation that they were imposing on the colonies. After the Seven Years War and the Proclamation Line of 1763, many colonists were outraged and began to display their emotions. The colonist protested throughRead MoreThe American Of The British Empire Essay1672 Words   |  7 PagesIn the British Empire, existed thirteen colonies found between the 1600s and the 1700s on the Atlantic Coast of North America. These thirteen colonies later on combined together into a new nation currently known as the United States of America. Immigrations from Britain and Germany had high growth rates and were all successful and thriving. These colonies had self-governments furtherm ore to similar political and legal systems. The self-government systems were based mainly on farmers who owned a pieceRead MoreEssay on The American Empire: Created From the British Empire2701 Words   |  11 Pages The American identity is not concrete. It grows, transforms, evolves, and the American people evolve in parallel. Through vote and through policy, media and protest, election and law, the people dictate the country’s, and the identity’s course. The identity that has roots in revolution. 1776, the United States breaks from Great Britain. The people free themselves, from oppression, from royalty, and begin the governmental experiment that will dominate the globe for the next two and a half centuriesRead MoreHow Did the Consolidation of the British Empire and Its Consequences Up to 1774 Affect the American Colonist’s Way of Life and Colonial Politics?2112 Words   |  9 Pagesup to the events of the early 1770s that in the end led to the decisio ns at the Continental Congress in 1774; skirmishes between colonial minutemen and British troops in early 1775; and the declaration of independence in 1776. 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Tourism to Hong Kong Free Essays

string(118) " 1 shows that the USA, UK, Japan and Singapore are among the source markets that generate most tourists to Hong Kong\." 1. 0 Introduction Hong Kong is one of the most important tourism destinations in the Pacific Asia region for its unique landscape and shopping convenience. According to statistics, a total number of 41921310 people visited Hong Kong in 2011, that is 16. We will write a custom essay sample on Tourism to Hong Kong or any similar topic only for you Order Now 4% more compared to 2010 (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012). Total tourism expenditure was 263142. 71 million HK dollars and shopping accounts for most of them because it is the main purpose for individual visitors (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012). Therefore, to sustain tourism prosperity while seeking development in the city, it is necessary to understand its unique geographical features and precisely examine the tourism trends. Meanwhile, analysing factors that have influenced tourism development will also contribute to the study. Besides, eco-tourism and climate issues are discussed as implications for the future. 2. 0 Findings 2. 1 Physical and human geography 2. 1. 1 Location Hong Kong is a mountainous citylocatednearShenzhen, China. There are four main areas in the city, including Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, New territories and Outlying islands, and their area add up to 1100 square kilometres (CullinaneCullinane, 2003). For the reason of its unique landscape, approximately 40% of Hong Kong is built up as country parks (CullinaneCullinane, 2003). 2. 1. 2 Demography The city enjoys of a population of 6. 7 million, and it is growing at a rate of one million every ten years (CullinaneCullinane, 2003). 2. 1. 3 Political status For over 150 years before 1997, Hong Kong had been governed by the British administration, and it became a part of People’s Republic of Chinaonce again on July 1st, 1997 (CullinaneCullinane, 2003). This reunification has brought opportunities and enormous changes in Hong Kong. 2. 2 Pattern of tourism 2. 2. 1 Visitor arrivals Figure 1Visitor Arrivals 2007 – 2011 (‘000) Source: (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2008, 2010, 2012) Figure 1 shows the total number of visitors to Hong Kong in every single year from 2007 to 2011. Visitors are divided into three categories, including overnight visitors, same-day in-town visitors, and Cruise-in/Cruise-out Passengers. It is indicated in the figure that overnight visitors occupied most of the visitors. Table 1Visitor Arrivals Details by Country/Territory of Residence 2007 – 2011 (Overnight Visitors – ‘000) Source: (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012) Table 1 shows that Mainland China has the most visitors to Hong Kong in the past five years, with an annual growth rate of approximately 15%. Besides, Taiwan, Japan, the USA and South Korea are also generating a large number of tourists to Hong Kong, leading to tourism prosperity of the city. 2. 2. 2 Total tourism expenditure Figure 2Total Tourism Expenditure Associated to Inbound Tourism Source: (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012) Figure 2 shows total tourism expenditure from 2007 to 2011 and the line chart presents an increasing trend. The growth rate is rather high in 2010 and 2011 as a result of the tourist boom in those years. 2. 3 Factors that have influenced tourism in Hong Kong 2. 3. 1 Outbursts of infectious diseases In 2003, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) attacked the city of Hong Kong and led to the devastation of Hong Kong tourism. Originated in southern China, SARS was a mystery to the rest of the world until several people were infected in a hotel in Hong Kong and brought the disease back to their home country. Before understanding the danger and risk that would have been brought by SARS, the World Health Organization (WHO) made a recommendation to the world that Asia, especially areas of Hong Kong, Singapore, Mainland China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan, were not advisable destinations for tourism (McKercher Chon 2004; Kuo et al. 008). This unprecedented announcement caused significant panic in the world, tourists were quarantined for no reason after returning to their country, breeding industry was interrupted for disinfection on chicken farms, and Asians were restricted from traveling elsewhere. The mess finally led to the crackdown of tourism in Asia, with Hong Kong suffering the most (McKercher Chon 2004). This outburst of SARS uncovered huge hidden dangers in the world tourism system. The governments’ over-reaction tounclear threat was nothing but rational (Mao, Ding Lee 2010). The crisis was a lesson for the world on the relationship between tourism and crisis management, the government should act more judicious so that diseases could be effectively controlled and meanwhile, tourism does not suffer to a great extent. 2. 3. 2Construction of city infrastructure Since the accelerated development of infrastructure in Hong Kong in the 1990s, the number of tourists has experienced a continued increase (Poon, Yu Ng 2001). Tourist infrastructure mainly includes apartments or hotels for accommodation and transportation infrastructure, and the latter consists of facilities for planes, trains, ships and other modes of transportation (Gossling 2002; Khadaroo 2007, 2008). Researchers have found that the ability of a city to attract tourists is largely determined by the level of traffic infrastructure in the city (Khadaroo 2007), for the reason that rational city planningand well construction of ports could provide convenience for tourists, which leads to smooth trips. Successful travellers are willing to recommend their tourism destinations to their friends, and this will further lead to lasting prosperity of that destination. Although most facilities in Hong Kong are relatively complete, there remain some incompletion. An example is medical facilities needed for medical tourism. Hospitals in Hong Kong provide high level healthcare services, and the government attempts to boost medical tourism in the city (Heung, Kucukusta Song 2011). However, the lack of medical resources ends up to be the barrier which prevents tourists with medical needs from cutting edge technologies in Hong Kong. As a result, Hong Kong failed to build its reputation as a medical tourism destination. 2. 3. 3 Outbreaks of financial crises Hong Kong has experienced two major financial crises during past two decades, the Asian financial crisis burst out in 1997 and the world financial crisis in 2008 (Song Lin 2010). This report mainly focuses on consequences that were brought to tourism in Hong Kong by the latter crisis. Table 1 shows that the USA, UK, Japan and Singapore are among the source markets that generate most tourists to Hong Kong. You read "Tourism to Hong Kong" in category "Papers" The high market share of long-haul markets indicates that Hong Kong tourism is vulnerable to world economy and thus would be negatively influenced if something went wrong. In 2008, tourists from long-haul markets such as the USA and European countries declined by 10% and hotel rooms were less occupied than ever before (Song et al. 2011). If the tourists increasing rate before the crisis is taken into consideration, conclusions could be drawn that the financial crisis really affected tourism in Hong Kong to a great extent. Fortunately, tourists from Mainland China were not greatly influenced by this enormous crisis and visitors continued to travel to Hong Kong. This prevented the city from tremendous losses. Nevertheless, the overall expenditures dropped in 2009 which leads to the conclusion that financial crises could impose great threats to tourism in Hong Kong (Song Lin 2010). 2. 3. 4 Adjustments of policies towards Mainland China After introducing the Individual Visit Scheme on July 28, 2003, citizens of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdongare allowed to apply for visas and visit Hong Kong on anindividual basis (Wu, Li Song 2012). The scheme was implemented forthe acceleration of tourism development in two special administrative regions in China, and it is successful according to statistical results. Statistics show that the number of tourists from the source market of Mainland China increased by 24% in 2003 compared to that of 2002, and most of the growth was contributed by individual visitors (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012). As a matter of fact, thousands of Mainlanders have boosted into Hong Kong for the purpose of shopping and Hong Kong has become the paradise for shopping in the eyes of Mainlanders ever since (Wu, Li Song 2012). In order to guarantee long-term prosperity of businesses, merchants targeting Mainlanders have made adjustments regarding to shopping customs of Chinese consumers and the crucial point of the efforts is to create an atmosphere of mutual trust and cooperation (Wu, Li Song 2012). Since tourists from Mainland China occupy approximately 60% of total tourists every year, it is important that policies towards Mainland China remain mild in the coming years to sustain tourism prosperity in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012). 2. 4 Implications for the future of tourism 2. 4. Sustainable tourism practices Experience has shown that it is almost impossible to develop tourism while maintaining a clean environment at the same time. However, people have been making efforts to seek some extent of harmony and unity between the two. Hong Kong is a perfect city for the development of eco-tourism for it has a spectacular landscape, including mountains, valleys, coasts and islands (Ng Li 2000). H ong Kong government has been successful protecting the city’s natural resources, it had the highest percentage of the park area in the worldin 2000 (Ng Li 2000). Besides, Hong Kong enjoys a large variety of both animal and plant species, some of which cannot be found elsewhere in the world (Ng Li 2000). Enchanting as the scenery is in Hong Kong, eco-tourism is not a main form of tourism there. The following factors may account for this result. First of all, Hong Kong is in the sub-tropical zone, and the typical summer is so hot that people will feel uncomfortable to visit popular attractions (Ng Li 2000). Second of all, eco-tourism destinations are usually sensitive to the number of visitors, thus, they normally have a low capacity (Ng Li 2000). Rational management regulations should be made to balance tourism satisfaction and the necessary visitor limitationneeded for scenic spots. Finally, more experts in guidance have to be trained to provide information of spots (Ng Li 2000). It seems that there is still a long way to go before eventually launching a successful eco-tourism plan in Hong Kong. 2. 4. 2 Climate change How climate change will affect the pattern of tourism has long been studied. Studies have shown that as climate change will either directly or indirectly influence tourism (Chan Lai 2012). One of the main results of climate change is the rise in temperature. According to statistics, Hong Kong’s temperature has been surging during the past 15 years, and it is almost 5 degrees Celsius higher than 10 years ago (Chan Lai 2012). The high temperature will definitely bring uncomforting experiences to tourists,. Thus, it is likely that potential visitors will change their destinations elsewhere. Besides, although some tourists might not consider the temperature increase itself as a crucial factor in determining their destinations, the change due to this phenomenon, such as increased travel expenses, will affect tourism ehaviour to a great extent (Chan Lai 2012). While efforts have been made towards lowering the speed of temperature increase, the results turn out not assuring. Although climate change does not affect tourism in Hong Kong as much as that in tourism-oriented island cities, people should deal will this issue seriously before it is too late. 3. 0 Conclusion In conclusion, although Hong Kong has been through some hard times, the city remains potential as a tourism destination. This report discusses the city of Hong Kong from tourism aspect. As an important city in the Pacific Asia region, Hong Kong has enjoyed a fine reputation among tourists. Its unique landscape and special location have attracted and are still attracting visitors in large scales. During the past two decades, several financial crises have imposed danger on tourism in the city to a great extent, but a few policy adjustments, especially the policy of opening up to Mainland China individual visitors, saved the industry from collapsing. Eco-tourism could be further developed to balance economic development and environment protection, but several issues need to be solved before concrete implementation. Climate change is also a challenge that needs early planning, thus, effective efforts demand immediate attention. ? References Chan, GKY Lai, MTH 2012, Understanding Climate Change, Carbon-offsetting and their Impacts on Travel Behaviour, viewed 24 November 2012, . Cullinane, S , K 2003, ‘Hong Kong City Profile’, Cities, Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 279-288. Gossling, S 2002, ‘Global environmental consequences of tourism’, Global Environmental Change, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 283-302. Heung, Vincent CS , Kucukusta, D Song, H 2011, ‘Medical tourism development in Hong Kong: An assessment of the barriers’, Tourism Management, Vol. 32, No. 5, pp. 995–1005. Hong Kong Tourism Board 2008, A Statistical Review of Hong Kong Tourism 2007, viewed 21 November 2008, ; http://partnernet. hktb. com/filemanager/publication/143330/Default. html;. Hong Kong Tourism Board 2010, A Statistical Review of Hong Kong Tourism 2009, viewed 21 November 2010, ; http://partnernet. ktb. com/filemanager/publication/143332/Default. html;. Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012, A Statistical Review of Hong Kong Tourism 2011, viewed 21 November 2012, . Khadaroo, J , B 2007, ‘Transport infrastructure and tourism development’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 1021–1032. Kuo, HI, Chen, CC, Tseng, WC, Ju, LF Huang, BW 2 008, ‘Assessing impacts of SARS and Avian Flu on international tourism demand to Asia Original Research Article’, Tourism Management, Vol. 29, No. 5, pp. 917-928. Mao, CK, Ding, CG Lee, HY 2010, ‘Post-SARS tourist arrival recovery patterns: An analysis based on a catastrophe theory Original Research Article’, Tourism Management, Vol. 31, No. 6, pp. 855-861. McKercher, B Chon, K 2004, ‘The Over-Reaction to SARS and the Collapse of Asian Tourism’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 716–719. Ng, CN Li, Y 2000, Eco-tourism in Hong Kong: its potentials and limitations, Kiskeya Alternative, viewed 23 November 2012, . Poon, CS, Yu, ATW Ng, LH 2001,‘On-site sorting of construction and demolition waste in Hong Kong’, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 157–172. Song, H, Lin, S 2010, ‘Impacts of the Financial and Economic Crisis on Tourism in Asia’, Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 16-30. Song, H, Lin, S, Witt, SF Zhang, X 2011, ‘Impact of financial/economic crisis on demand for hotel rooms in Hong Kong’, Tourism Manageme nt, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 172–186. Wu, DC, Li, G Song, H 2012, ‘Economic Analysis of Tourism Consumption Dynamics: A Time-varying Parameter Demand System Approach’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 667–685. How to cite Tourism to Hong Kong, Papers

Environmental Responsibility Usage of Oil Company-Free-Samples

Question: Discuss about the Oil Companies Environmental Responsibility Usage. Answer: The oil industry has been an excessively large industry, which contributes to over 40% of the energy demands of the US. This kind of energy has been considered as one of the contributors who have immense impact over the environment (Ihlen and Roper 2014 pp-42-51). The paper will intend to focus on the ways oil spills namely ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron Corporation have implemented environmental accountabilities as a form of competitive advantage. ExxonMobil, an American petroleum company has been immensely committed towards the sustainable growth by balancing the economic development as well as environmental safeguard for its upcoming generations. The companys corporate citizenship has been structured in order to provide to the wider range of sustainability purposes of the society in order to gain competitive advantages (Schneider et al. 2013 pp-6). The company believes in the need and demands to conserve water, which is regarded as a significant element. It has initiated approaches such as Nobody Gets Hurts that has articulated value and importance which further established the organizations concern as well as commitment towards the communities with which they deal with. The company has further facilitated in decreasing its rate by over 10% of freshwater consumption between 2007 and 2014 (Uliasz-Misiak, Przybycin and Winid 2014 pp-68-77). Another significant approach initiated by ExxonMobil has been the Operations Integrity Management System (OIMS) that has effectively established a common outline in order to address safety, protection, health and other environmental as well as social risks and challenges. Shell Oil Company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Royal Dutch Shell has intended to accomplish the recent energy demand and requirement in a sustainable manner through safe and protective operations, further reducing the influence on the environment as well as the distribution and allocated advantages with the communities they work in (Ihlen and Roper 2014 pp-42-51). The company has been engaged in a movement that seeks to lower-carbon energy consumption in its future endeavours. Shell has administered direct GHG emissions by performing on the enhancing the energy effectiveness of the facilities (Shuen, Feiler and Teece 2014 pp- 5-13). It further has accessibility to the water resources in the areas of its operations and administers competences the ways it facilitates in the reduction of water usage. The report delivered by the organization offers regular data to the Carbon Disclosure Project and other organization that evaluated the economic, environmental as well as social performance of the companies. Chevron, an American oil and gas corporation has based its strategy on the companys vision and aim to be regarded as the international energy consumption organization for its people, affiliation and performance. The organizations CSR activities mentions in particular three fundamental values namely partnership, diversity and safeguarding its people and the environment. Chevron has successfully incorporated its CSR activities by making it one of its 13 chief elements in its Operational Excellence Management System (Allen 2016 pp-1-19). The company has facilitated its business operations to focus on the social as well as environmental impact of the business decisions and operations of the company in order to improve its competitive advantages within the oil industry. Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that unique and innovative approach towards sustainability and effective allocation of social and environmental projects have facilitated the oil companies to implement environmental responsibilities and accountabilities as a competitive advantage to the oil spill industry. References Allen, M., 2016. Sustainability and Communication. InStrategic Communication for Sustainable Organizations(pp. 1-19). Springer, Cham. Ihlen, . and Roper, J., 2014. Corporate reports on sustainability and sustainable development:We have arrived.Sustainable development,22(1), pp.42-51. Schneider, J., Ghettas, S., Merdaci, N., Brown, M., Martyniuk, J., Alshehri, W. and Trojan, A., 2013. Towards sustainability in the oil and gas sector: benchmarking of environmental, health, and safety efforts.Journal of Environmental Sustainability,3(3), p.6. Shuen, A., Feiler, P.F. and Teece, D.J., 2014. Dynamic capabilities in the upstream oil and gas sector: Managing next generation competition.Energy Strategy Reviews,3, pp.5-13. Uliasz-Misiak, B., Przybycin, A. and Winid, B., 2014. Shale and tight gas in Polandlegal and environmental issues.Energy Policy,65, pp.68-77.