Symmetric vs. Asymmetric Model and the Use of CSR

According to the theory of the two-way symmetrical model, ‘policies should be changed to better serve the public interest’ and ‘both management and publics will change somewhat after a public relations effort’.  I believe that this idea is unfortunately rather unrealistic and idealistic. Organisations hire public relations professionals to prioritize their interests over the publics’. According to the symmetrical model, PR professionals listen to the concerns of both clients and key publics and help them adjust to one another. Could this be a utopian model? I found out that in the symmetrical model, persuasion must replace understanding as the major goal of communication. Codes of ethics and transparency has become a very important element of PR practice, hence following these symmetrical model would be ideal. In reality organisations don’t want to waste time and money hence the asymmetrical model is more applicable.

The authors were right when stating that large businesses will want to use the two-way symmetrical model to help maintain the social responsibility required by government regulators. This observation is quite timeless as nowadays CSR and green PR is becoming lot more practised by the big corporations in order to differentiate themselves from competitors. 

I believe that asymmetrical model fits society of 21^st century better than the idealistic, but ethically correct symmetrical model. Today’s profit-driven business environment does not give the two-way symmetrical model much of a chance. It makes it difficult to justify shareholder greed and big bonuses when one have to worry about fairness, balance and ethics. Some might even argue that whoever pays, expects loyalty in return. There is a risk of conflict of interests unless all parties agree to share the benefits that derive from productive business transactions. Once again, is this even possible in capitalism? Although some companies try to use CSR policies to serve in favour of the public and its environment, majority of organisations are and will follow the asymmetrical model due to high competition especially when selling consumer products.

For this post I used: Grunig, James. E and Todd Hunt (1984) Managing Public Relations. New York: Holt, Reinhart and Wilson.