James E. Grunig is a noted public relations theorist.

Grunig has over 20 years of experience in the field of Public Relations

Public relations

Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....

 and he has published 250 articles, books, chapters, papers, and reports as well as received several awards and honours from the Public Relations Society of America

Public Relations Society of America

The ' , based in New York City, is the world's largest organization for public relations professionals. The organization has more than 21,000 members, including professionals from public relations agencies, corporations, government, health care institutions, military, professional services firms,...

 and the Institute for Public Relations Research among others. Grunig received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...

 in 1968 and is Professor Emeritus for the Department of Communication at the University of Maryland

University of Maryland, College Park

The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...

.

Grunig has helped to improve the Public Relations

Public relations

Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....

 profession by adding new theories including the four models of Public Relations

Public relations

Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....

.http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Fall99/Westbrook/models.htm

Model Name	Type of Communication	Model Characteristics
Press agentry/publicity	One-way communication	Uses persuasion and manipulation to influence audiences to behave as the organization desires
Public information model	One-way communication	Uses press releases and other one-way communication techniques to distribute organizational information. The Public Relations practitioner is often referred to as the in-house journalist
Two-way asymmetrical model	Two-way communication (imbalanced)	Uses persuasion and manipulation to influence audiences to behave as the organization desires. Does not use research to find out how stakeholders feel about the organization
Two-way symmetrical model	Two-way communication	Uses communication to negotiate with the public, resolve conflict and promote mutual understanding and respect between the organization and its stakeholders

A more thorough explanation of Grunig's public relations is available in The Handbook of Public Relations (2001).

External links

• Faculty bio - Department of Communication, University of Maryland
• Four Models of Public Relations - Interactive Media Lab, University of Florida
• Situational Theory of Publics
  Situational theory of publics
  The situational theory of publics defines that publics can be identified and classified in the context to which they are aware of the problem and the extent to which they do something about the problem.- Brief Explanation of the Theory :...
  
  - Wikipedia link