Fully Functioning Society Theory

Fully functioning society theory (FFST) of public relations reasons that for organizations to be successful they need to contribute to society, its dialogue quality, its sense of community, the quality of its structures and functions for collaborative decision making, the cocreation of meaning, and the alignment of interests. Fully functioning society theory reasons that public relations theory is best when it challenges and helps organizations be effective not only by what they do for themselves but also with the communities where they operate and on whose resources they depend.

As well as featuring the quality of processes needed for public relations success on behalf of organizations and community, public relations theory must realize that ideas and meaning count as communities solve problems and make collective decisions. Consequently, the theory features the role of infrastructures (process-based systems, structures, functions, and institutions) and meaning, which results from as well as shapes the nature and quality of discourse: deliberative democracy and stakeholder participation.

The tradition of public relations research and theory, as well as best practices, has at various times developed with the narrow purpose of helping organizations to be effective and able to achieve their missions and visions. This is an agentic approach to organizational management, especially through theories such as institutional theory. Taking a broader view, FFST presumes, fundamentally, that no organization can long be successful if it places its interests above those of the community(ies) where it operates. As such, this theory emphasizes the inherent connection of management, operations, discursive communication, critical ethical choices, and community. It rests on timeless assumptions about the rhetorical heritage and more modern concerns about discourse quality. It features the importance of aligning interests through deliberative democracy and stakeholder participation.

Resting upon several premises, the theory was developed in response to many pressures, one of which was the challenge offered by Bruce K. Berger (2005):

By issuing that challenge, Berger focused on the problematics of public relations research and practice narrowly devoted to the agency of organizations, perhaps at the expense of or with indifference toward the larger community that in various ways enfranchises organizations to operate—as servants of society.

To dig into ways for public relations to help make society more fully functioning, Robert L. Heath (2006) offered several premises to guide public relations research and practice. The first premise challenged managements to demonstrate the ability to be reflective in ways that foster their legitimacy, being collaborative, proactive and responsive to others’ views, interests, and needs. The challenge was to be a genuinely good corporate citizen as the first step toward being effective both through operations and communication with others.

The second premise featured the need for organizations to be willing and able to understand and achieve standards of corporate responsibility that make them legitimate brokers of community resources. The assumption of this principle is that ethical standards of operation reflect norms of society that are collaboratively shaped, not manufactured by organizations to justify their management plans.

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