All business begins with the public permission and exists by public approval. The public permission takes the form of charters, licenses and legal authorizations of one kind or another. Public approval is generally represented by reasonable profits, reasonable freedom of action and a few kind words
Arthur W. Page, Industrial Statesmanship Public Relations Conference, Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company, White Sulphur Springs, VA, October 27, 1939
In 1939 Arthur W. Page observed that public approval was a crucial component of organizational autonomy, or freedom to operate. But does this relationship among public approval, level of confidence and organizational autonomy still hold true today? And what research has been conducted to help us understand how organizations can employ public relations to earn the “considerable freedom” necessary to provide value to stakeholders?
The Case of SeaWorld
A little more than three years ago, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment was struggling to overcome growing public disapproval resulting from the CNN broadcast of Blackfish, a documentary about a 12,000-pound male orca who killed his trainer at SeaWorld Orlando. The broadcast was seen by millions of viewers and prompted a nationwide outcry against keeping killer whales in captivity for entertainment purposes—a crucial aspect of SeaWorld’s mission and identity. In the immediate aftermath of the broadcast, protestors and activist groups called for boycotts of SeaWorld’s venues via social media and protested outside park gates. Facing public pressure, prominent musicians backed out of previously scheduled park performances and long-time business partners cancelled contracts with the marine entertainment company.
In response, SeaWorld began an aggressive multi-channel communication campaign to defend itself against its critics and tell its side of the story. However, observers felt that “SeaWorld has to go a step further and change its business model to have any hope of winning the fight against its detractors.” Continued public pressure caused SeaWorld to announce in March that it would phase out its orca shows, put an end to its orca breeding program and embrace a new mission of educating the public about marine animals and working with activist groups to conserve them.
Because of public disapproval and a lack of confidence in the organization, SeaWorld was forced to abandon its core identity, which was centered on its iconic killer whale performances. In other words, it lost its autonomy and was compelled to become something different from what it was or risk its very existence. However, by adopting a new publicly sanctioned identity, SeaWorld may have salvaged its future by recapturing a degree of public approval and confidence and, as a result, possibly may have regained some of its autonomy.
The SeaWorld case is just one example of empowered publics using new media communication channels to demand accountability, fairness, justice, and transparency from organizations, and, in the process, challenge or limit an organizations’ freedom to operate.
Recent Research on Organizational Autonomy
In a recent study, my co-authors and I defined organizational autonomy in terms of its paradoxical relationship with dependence on stakeholders (Wilson, Rawlins, & Stoker, 2013). We found that when organizational managers fail to recognize that their organization is dependent on stakeholders (i.e., accountable) to achieve organizational goals, paradoxical tensions can drive decision-making and negatively affect the autonomy of the organization.
Based on these findings, we proposed that public relations practitioners could maximize organizational autonomy by (1) understanding the environmental conditions that are likely to exacerbate paradoxical tensions for organizational decision makers and by (2) actively participating in the decision-making process to help decision makers balance their desires for organizational autonomy with the need to be accountable to stakeholders.
In another study, I looked at the relationship between dominant coalition members’ (i.e., the group of leaders who have the power and influence to make strategic decisions) perceptions of organizational autonomy on their perceptions that public relations participates in strategic decision making (Wilson, 2016). This relationship suggests that when dominant coalition members perceive their organization to have more latitude to determine its mission, goals, objectives, policies, and priorities, they also perceive the public relations department to play a greater role in decision making as it relates to strategic planning, adoption of new policies, major initiatives, and general operations.
While these studies provide empirical support for the relationship between public relations activities and organizational autonomy, more research is needed to understand this crucial organizational asset. In addition, research is needed to understand the relationships among organizational autonomy, accountability and trust. In effect, this type of research will help to verify that Arthur W. Page’s oft-quoted tenet, “All business begins with the public permission and exists by public approval,” is in fact a contemporary business reality and help public relations demonstrate its value.
