Openness

The concept of openness, in terms of public relations, may have internal and external interpretations. From an internal perspective, employees may feel positively about open communication feedback cycles and company newsletters advocating the open-door policies of management. From an external perspective, the media may have negative interpretations of openness if the company spokesperson is evasive during a crisis situation.

The concept of openness, in terms of public relations and organizational communication, is derived from systems theory. This theoretical framework is concerned with complex, interdependent organizations that operate within dynamic environments. With the multiple pressures that organizations face (mergers, economic considerations, media coverage, community obligations), openness helps companies see themselves as part of a dynamic web of interdependencies and relationships. Openness involves interaction with the environment, reciprocal exchanges within and outside of organizations. The existence of diverse environments across industries, companies, and governmental entities means that the same organizing principles and solutions cannot be applied in all situations. In short, various contextual and environmental factors need to be considered, and organizations need to have some degree of openness in order to prosper.

Public relations representatives may help organizations achieve openness with various stakeholders (i.e., community, media). Thus, they are critical organizational boundary spanners. Larissa A. Grunig, James E. Grunig, and D. M. Dozier argued in 2002 that the systems perspective emphasizes the coordination of internal and external contingencies. Organizations depend on resources from their environments, such as employees and clients. A company with an open system uses public relations representatives to gather information on how productive its relationships are with the community, customers, and other stakeholders. In contrast, they argued that organizations with closed systems do not actively seek new information but operate on past history or the preferences of managers. The closed organization clings to the status quo (i.e., how we've always done it), and managers tend to exhibit defensive behaviors such as resistance to change.

Openness is synonymous with the concept of organizational boundary spanning (OBS). The boundary spanner straddles the edge of an organization. This person has a viewpoint within and outside of organizations; he/she knows many details about the company as well as its clients. Public relations representatives are the liaisons, explaining the organization's actions to its stakeholders and interpreting the environment for the organization. Public relations people should have open feedback loops with the primary decision makers acting as the members of the dominant coalition—the executive team—in the organization. The boundary spanners can alert managers to problems and opportunities in the environment and help them respond to these changes.

If managers keep their systems open, they allow for the two-way flow of resources and communication between the organization and the environment. The information can be used to adapt to the environment, or managers may use the data to try and control the environment. Control may be accomplished through consolidation of resources or persuasive influence. In some cases this strategy may be appropriate, but eventually some adaptation is required.

According to J. E. Grunig (2000), symmetrical public relations (a balanced approach) values openness and collaboration. Organizations need exchange relationships with the environment. They can be negatively impacted when there is an unwillingness on the part of managers to incur costs that build collaborative relationships. However, they incur greater costs from negative publicity, strict regulation, and other issues that result from closed relationships. Grunig argues that organizations will be more effective if they incorporate values of openness and collaboration into their corporate cultures and decision-making processes.

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