Public Relations professionals are
taking an increasingly important role as part of the “C-suite” team.
Millennials (born 1982-2000) will need to be ready to assume leadership
positions earlier in their careers than any generation before them. The study
presented here uses the results of nine focus groups and two depth interviews
conducted during the summer of 2014. It explores how current public relations
professionals who manage Millennials evaluate them for promotion and the
concerns and issues they face as they do so. Many of the qualities of a good
leader identified in the leadership literature are inherent in how Millennials
have been raised and educated. However, the focus group findings point to
several key areas of concern about Millennials engaged in public relations
work: personal qualities, communication skills, business acumen, and work
ethic.
This paper expands stakeholder
management practice by incorporating concepts from the issues management
process model. Based on Jones and Chase’s issues-process model, this study
provides a comprehensive three-step stakeholder management process: (1)
stakeholder identification and analysis, (2) development and implementation of
stakeholder management strategies, and (3) stakeholder management evaluation.
From a practical point of view, the stakeholder identification step helps
organizations picture what types of reactions or attacks will occur in the near
future. In addition, stakeholder analysis allows organizations to enlist
salient stakeholders and offers a practical initiation into stakeholder
management. The criteria for stakeholder identification and analysis in this
model can provide practical guidelines for ongoing brainstorming drills within
organizations to determine which stakeholders should be engaged.