Co-orientation Theory

Organization–Public Agreement versus Perceptions of Agreement

Typically, public relations practitioners use public opinion surveys to determine public knowledge and opinion related to issues important to their organizations. The results are used to determine differences between organizational orientations and positions on issues and those held by various publics. Some refer to the process as “gap analysis,” meaning the differences are seen as measures of agreement between organizations and publics. Agreement, then, is a measure of how similar or dissimilar an organization's views are to those held by various publics.

Using what is often called a “public relations audit,” practitioners first determine “what we think.” Second, they attempt to measure or to estimate “what ‘they’ think” (publics). Third, they assess the magnitude and seriousness of differences between organization and public views. A public relations problem exists when gaps are found, leading to a recommended public relations program to “close the gaps”—to increase agreement between the orientations held by an organization and those held by its publics.

In such cases, public relations strategy typically represents a program of action and communication (usually dominated by persuasive communication). Implicit to such an approach is the assumption that a public's opinion of and its behavior toward an organization are determined by the magnitude of the gaps—the level of agreement or disagreement. Additionally, there is an assumption that if the gaps are small or there are no gaps, then public opinion and behavior will be consistent with organizational needs and views of public interest. Both assumptions are easily challenged.

Actual Agreement versus Perceptions of Agreement

First, the extent of actual agreement or disagreement usually is not known either to those in an organization or to members of a public, as accurate information is seldom available. Consequently, both sides in organization-public relationships behave toward and react to the other based on their perceptions of the others' views and perceptions of how close they are to their own views. As T. J. Scheff (1967) pointed out in his explication of “consensus,” (a) perceptions of agreement can be independent of the level of actual agreement, (b) the level of actual agreement is not known to those involved, and (c) perceptions of agreement affect the behavior of those involved in a relationship.

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