Culture goes mainstream in PR

The Melbourne Mandate, the follow-on vision agenda for PR from the Stockholm Accords places "culture" at the heart of what it calls the "communicative organisation".  This is an important
development for PR as it acknowledges the very real influence that organisational culture has on the communications process alongside the wider cultural context in which the organisation is sited.

The communicative organisation
as envisaged by Melbourne Mandate, 2012.

The Mandate comes at a time when cultural factors are very much to the fore in recent major reports. For example, a report on the Bank of England published today focuses on cultural factors notably a very powerful Governor as a significant factor in its organisational response to financial crisis in 2008. While the culture at the major investment bank, Barclays has also been heavily criticised.

The growing prominence given to culture by the Melbourne Mandate highlights that internal communications is an increasingly influential aspect of corporate communications as the recent European Communications Monitor highlights.

Finally, the adoption of "culture" as a term at the heart of PR practice, also draws on the work of the http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03638111academic community over the last 15 years with academics such as Sriramesh and Jacquie L'Etang notable in this respect. The latest issue of Public Relations Review looks to be an important primer in this respect.