Michael L Kent

The University of New South Wales, Public relations &advertising, Faculty Member

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MICHAEL L. KENT is a Retired Professor of Public Relations and Advertising in the School of Arts and Media, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Kent has been teaching for more than 25 years. Kent conducts research on New Technology, Mediated Communication, Dialogue, International Communication, and Web Communication. Recently, Kent has been exploring the academic and professional opportunities involved in e-publishing, experimenting with the Delphi method, and has written several e-books. Kent consults on research methods, message design, mediated communication, journalism, and public relations. Kent has published dozens of articles and books, including a public relations writing textbook, and two public speaking textbooks. In 2006, Kent spent the fall semester in Riga, Latvia on a Fulbright Scholarship. Kent received his Doctorate from Purdue University, his Master’s from the University of Oregon, and his Bachelor’s from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Address: Professor
School of the Arts and Media
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
UNSW (University of New South Wales)
Sydney Australia
NSW 2502 Australia

E-mail: MichaelLKent@Gmail.com | z3524095@ad.unsw.edu.au
Skype: MLKent
WeChat: MLKent
Blog: MichaelLKent.Blogspot.com
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Homepage: http://mlkent.com/home.html

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Books by Michael L Kent

53. Dialogue

Elgar Encyclopedia of Corporate Communication, 2024

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52. Two-way communication

Elgar Encyclopedia of Corporate Communication, 2024

Two-way communication refers to any form of communication whereby two or more individuals communi... more Two-way communication refers to any form of communication whereby two or more individuals communicatively interact, typically in real time. In practice, two-way communication is synchronous, and involves real-time interaction and an effort at shared understanding and meaning making. Implied in the everyday use of the term, two-way communication is the notion of reciprocity and balanced exchange of information. Print messages including email, letters, social media, and other digital and analogic content, may facilitate two-way interactions whereby interlocutors engage in both real-time conversations and interactions, as well as time shifted or asynchronous interactions. Human communication has been characterized by two-way communication since the dawn of humankind. Indeed, humans and most animals engage in various forms of two-way communication that includes vocalizations, non-verbal signals and displays, pheromonal interactions, and symbolic interactions (pictograms, symbols, images, language, etc.). The concept of two-way communication outside of face-to-face or written interactions goes back to various electronic innovations in the mid-to late 1800s with the telegraph, fax machine, telephone, and radio. However, the earliest theoretical formulation of two-way communication in the communication disciplines can be traced to Shannon and Weaver's (1949) communication model, as well as work in friendship and family communication from the 1960s onward. Two-way communication, as an academic concept, has its roots in cybernetics and the early communication studies of the 1940s. The features of the basic two-way communication model include seven parts: (1) the message (or what is communicated); (2) the sender or "encoder" (the person who originates a message); (3) the receiver or "decoder" (the person who receives and interprets a message); (4) the channel used to transmit the message (audible, recorded,

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Chapter 5: Dialogic Engagement

by Anne Lane and Michael L Kent

The Handbook of Communication Engagement, 2018

The existence of a relationship between dialogue and engagement is an idea that has been present ... more The existence of a relationship between dialogue and engagement is an idea that has been present since the two concepts emerged as discrete entities in the organizational literature in the early 1990s (Johnston, 2014). Such a link is logical given the apparent similarities between the forms and functions of dialogue and engagement (Taylor & Kent, 2014). Engagement and dialogue share an association to the idea of relationships-a focal concept in public relations, marketing, organizational communication, and other areas. This chapter advances a model of multilevel interconnectedness between engagement and dialogue , where dialogue provides both an orientation within which engagement can occur, and a specific way in which communication is operationalized within that engagement. This dialogic engagement is generated out of a context that draws on principles of dialogue to create an environment within which organizations and their stakeholders hold positive views of each other and the conduct of shared communication, and therefore wish to engage with each other. A mutually beneficial outcome is frequently a consequence of the interaction that is generated out of this environment, but a desire for that outcome is not always a characteristic of the environment. The positive views the participants have of each other make them want to engage. Within their engagement, the dialogic context inclines participants to undertake a process of communication that is distinguished from other forms of communication by the use of dialogic strategies and tactics that not only reach out to but also interest and interact with stakeholders and publics on their own terms. Dialogic engagement is therefore both a context and a process that demonstrate dialogic principles, a rhetorical undertaking requiring relational co-orientation and effort. Linking Engagement and Dialogue Areas of commonality between the concepts of engagement and dialogue have been recognized in extant literature. Foster and Jonker (2005), for example, discuss "the dialogue of engagement ," while Morsing and Schultz (2006) emphasize the significance of dialogue in forms of engagement related to corporate social responsibility. Both dialogue and engagement share a focus on achieving responsive communication between organizations and their stakeholders, but the nature of the connections between dialogue and engagement has not been clearly articulated.

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Ritualistic sacrifice in crisis communication: A case for eliminating scapegoating from the crisis/apologia lexicon

The crisis strategy of scapegoating has been part of the crisis and image restoration lexicon for... more The crisis strategy of scapegoating has been part of the crisis and image restoration lexicon for more than four decades. And yet, the practice of scapegoating is a well-known unethical practice that simply deflects deserved blame from one party to a sacrificial other. This essay critiques the "Primary Crisis Response" strategy of scapegoating, conducting an historical and ethical critique of the crisis strategy, and concludes that scapegoating should be removed from the public relations crisis and image restoration lexicon. Over the last several decades, the state of various public relations' reputational measures including corporate social responsibility, organizational ethics counsel, etc. have been examined by more than a thousand scholars-almost a thousand in Public Relations Review alone-in order to understand the impact that reputation and public perception have on organizational success (cf.). Surveys of professional reputation continue to conclude that the reputation of public relations is among the lowest of the professional communicators (lower even than politicians and videogame designers) and the least likely profession for a parent to encourage a child to pursue (https://blogs.voanews.com/all-about-america/ 2016/04/01/what-most-prestigious-us-jobs-have-in-common-and-its-not-money). Scholars have posited a number of possible explanations for public relations' poor reputation. Possibilities include millennials who have been unprepared for their roles as ethical counselors (Neill & Weaver, 2017), reputational problems caused by poor social media communication (Ott & Theunissen, 2015), a focus on client needs over the good of stakeholders and publics (Yang, Taylor, & Saffer, 2016), our negative reputation being caused by poorly trained professionals and negative portrayals in the media (Bowen, 2009), etc. However, this article posits something that many reputational studies have found but have not stated as bluntly: one of the primary reasons for our less than positive reputation is because we are simply not acting as ethical communicators. Public relations has been organization-centric for decades, particularly when it comes to crisis communication (cf. Heath, 2010; Kent, 2010). For example, in terms of crisis communication, we still advocate for: attacking the accuser, denial, scapegoating, making excuses, justifications, and compensation to victims, as "primary crisis response strategies" (Coombs, 2007). Moreover, scholars of dialogue (Lane, 2014) and engagement (Mahin, 2017) have found that organizations regularly orchestrate faux-engagement and manipulative dialogue as a means of achieving organizational goals at the expense of stakeholder interests and desires. The focus of this essay is on one such well-established and patently unethical crisis communication strategy mentioned above: scapegoating. Scapegoating is an apologia strategy that has been repeatedly examined for more than four decades. We present evidence that scapegoating represents an obviously unethical practice that violates established codes of conduct, including the PRSA

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Bare Bones Public Speaking

Mac to Kindle: Secrets and Lies of Perfect Formatting

Toasts, Eulogies, Introductions, and Other Special Occasion Speeches

Papers by Michael L Kent

Building and Measuring Sustainable Networks of Organizations and Social Capital: Postwar Public Diplomacy in Croatia

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Paradigm shifts in public relations theory

Routledge eBooks, Sep 9, 2022

Towards legitimacy and professionalism: A call to repeal the Gillett Amendment

Public Relations Review, 2016

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How Intercultural Communication Theory Informs Public Relations Practice in Global Settings: Michael Kent and Maureen Taylor

Culture is a multifaceted concept that has often been used to refer to a group of people who shar... more Culture is a multifaceted concept that has often been used to refer to a group of people who share similar views and interpretations of their world. These interpretations might include national identity, race, religion, geographic location, interpersonal relationships, and a host of other factors. Speaking of “a culture,” however, is misleading. People identify with many cultures (often called cocultures) simultaneously, and not every member of a particular culture shares all of the same cultural beliefs (Martin & Nakayama, 1999). From a ...

Media Transitions in Bosnia

Gazette, Oct 1, 2000

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Fostering Dialogic Engagement: Toward an Architecture of Social Media for Social Change

Social media and society, 2021

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A Critique of Internet Polls as Symbolic Representation and Pseudo-Events

Communication studies, Sep 1, 2006

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Social media and organizational visibility: A sample of Fortune 500 corporations

Public Relations Review, Sep 1, 2014

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Two-way communication, symmetry, negative spaces, and dialogue

Public Relations Review, Jun 1, 2021

Abstract This paper challenges four assumptions in the public relations literature about dialogue... more Abstract This paper challenges four assumptions in the public relations literature about dialogue: first, that dialogue means two-way communication; second, that dialogue is the same as two-way symmetry; third, that dialogue is the right answer to any troubled communication situation, and finally, fourth, the assumption that everyone agrees dialogue is a specific form of communication characterized by particular tenets, and with a long and distinguished ancestry reaching back to Ancient Greece. The four assumptions mean that over the last decade, dialogue has been implicitly and explicitly treated as both a panacea for public relations, and a practice that is impractical and too difficult to use. This article attempts to reconcile the various dialogic perspectives by specifying the tenets of dialogue, and using them to explain why two-way communication and two-way symmetry are not dialogue. We then challenge the normative bias in current conceptualizations of dialogue in public relations by identifying the existence of what we call “negative spaces,” or contexts, where dialogue is not possible or appropriate.

Ritualistic sacrifice in crisis communication: A case for eliminating scapegoating from the crisis/apologia lexicon

Public Relations Review, Nov 1, 2018

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Do the ends justify the means? Dialogue, development communication, and deontological ethics

Public Relations Review, Mar 1, 2015

ABSTRACT Despite being a frequently discussed topic in the public relations literature, dialogue ... more ABSTRACT Despite being a frequently discussed topic in the public relations literature, dialogue is often misunderstood as simply two-way communication and seldom examined in practice. While international development organizations frequently claim to use dialogic and participatory methods, development communication remains a relatively unexplored area in public relations. To further clarify public relations’ understanding of dialogue as well as its potential in development practice, this study examined how a USAID-sponsored international development project adopted participatory communication practices to encourage Bolivian farmers to switch from coca to coffee. Drawing from public relations and development literature on dialogue, the article juxtaposes the approaches to “dialogue” used in the project against normative concepts of the theory. The article argues that using genuine dialogue is a matter of differentiating deontological, means-based approaches to communication practice, from consequentialist, ends-based orientations.

Challenging assumptions of international public relations: When government is the most important public

Public Relations Review, Jun 1, 1999

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Congressional Web Sites and Their Potential for Public Dialogue

Atlantic Journal of Communication, Jun 1, 2004

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53. Dialogue

Elgar Encyclopedia of Corporate Communication, 2024

Download

52. Two-way communication

Elgar Encyclopedia of Corporate Communication, 2024

Download

Chapter 5: Dialogic Engagement

by Anne Lane and Michael L Kent

The Handbook of Communication Engagement, 2018

Download

Ritualistic sacrifice in crisis communication: A case for eliminating scapegoating from the crisis/apologia lexicon

Download

Bare Bones Public Speaking

Mac to Kindle: Secrets and Lies of Perfect Formatting

Toasts, Eulogies, Introductions, and Other Special Occasion Speeches

Building and Measuring Sustainable Networks of Organizations and Social Capital: Postwar Public Diplomacy in Croatia

Download

Paradigm shifts in public relations theory

Routledge eBooks, Sep 9, 2022

Towards legitimacy and professionalism: A call to repeal the Gillett Amendment

Public Relations Review, 2016

Download

How Intercultural Communication Theory Informs Public Relations Practice in Global Settings: Michael Kent and Maureen Taylor

Media Transitions in Bosnia

Gazette, Oct 1, 2000

Download

Fostering Dialogic Engagement: Toward an Architecture of Social Media for Social Change

Social media and society, 2021

Download

A Critique of Internet Polls as Symbolic Representation and Pseudo-Events

Communication studies, Sep 1, 2006

Download

Social media and organizational visibility: A sample of Fortune 500 corporations

Public Relations Review, Sep 1, 2014

Download

Two-way communication, symmetry, negative spaces, and dialogue

Public Relations Review, Jun 1, 2021

Ritualistic sacrifice in crisis communication: A case for eliminating scapegoating from the crisis/apologia lexicon

Public Relations Review, Nov 1, 2018

Download

Do the ends justify the means? Dialogue, development communication, and deontological ethics

Public Relations Review, Mar 1, 2015

Challenging assumptions of international public relations: When government is the most important public

Public Relations Review, Jun 1, 1999

Download

Congressional Web Sites and Their Potential for Public Dialogue

Atlantic Journal of Communication, Jun 1, 2004

Download

Toward a dialogic theory of public relations

Public Relations Review, Feb 1, 2002

Download

Dialogic Engagement: Clarifying Foundational Concepts

Journal of Public Relations Research, Oct 20, 2014

ABSTRACT The principle of engagement underlies much of the relational and organization–public com... more ABSTRACT The principle of engagement underlies much of the relational and organization–public communication research. Unfortunately, the principle of engagement suffers from a lack of clarity in the public relations literature. Use of the term engagement varies widely. This article clarifies the principle of engagement by positioning it within dialogue theory. We posit a conceptualization of engagement as: Engagement is part of dialogue and through engagement, organizations and publics can make decisions that create social capital. Engagement is both an orientation that influences interactions and the approach that guides the process of interactions among groups.

Building an Ethic of Responsibility

Dialogic Engagement

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. eBooks, Apr 27, 2018

Beyond excellence: Extending the generic approach to international public relations

Public Relations Review, Mar 1, 2007

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A rhizomatous metaphor for dialogic theory

Public Relations Review, Sep 1, 2017

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Activist practitioner perspectives of website public relations: Why aren’t activist websites fulfilling the dialogic promise?

Public Relations Review, Jun 1, 2012

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Where Will Technology Take Us? New Directions in Social Media

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Using inoculation theory in public relations messages: Preparing the audience for arguments to be made later

by Adam Saffer and Michael L Kent

In the complex world of the 21st century, organizations have an imperative to communicate with an... more In the complex world of the 21st century, organizations have an imperative to communicate with an assortment of publics using multiple communication platforms (Taylor & Kent, 2010). An organization’s public is as likely to be half way across the world as it is to be down the block. Time, space, and location matter less in our highly networked world. Yet, time, space, and location also create challenges for organizations as they seek to influence their environments and achieve objectives. Public relations or strategic communication helps organizations work toward their objectives (Botan, 1997).

This chapter examines public relations through the theory of inoculation.
Inoculation theory is a message-oriented theory that assumes that messages have effects. Public relations professionals work to build relationships with publics and influence those publics. The first part of this chapter explores public relations as a persuasive communication function. The second part of the chapter provides a summary of inoculation theory showing how it is used in a variety of persuasive contexts. The third section of the chapter provides a case study of how inoculation is used by a large consumer products company in its communication with publics. The final section provides conclusions and implications of using inoculation theory in public relations.

Michael L Kent

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