5. History of Public Relations
affordable for a greater public. Technological advancements such as desktop publishing, along with fax machines, e-mail and teleconferencing came into existence. The public made use of the available information and a record number of new jobs was created, also for women. Public relations practitioners became more productive, although these new jobs often paid lower salaries (Guth/Marsh, 2003, pp. 76-7).
5.4.3 The Current PR Situation in Austria Taking current research into consideration it has to be outlined that the public relations branch in Austria is expanding enormously. In order to provide a more exact understanding of this fact, the annual growth rate is up to 30 per cent on average (Zowack, 2000, n.p.a). The public relations industry has developed to an own discipline. Its importance has not only been recognized in big countries like the United States but also in Austria (ibid.). According to the Austrian Public Relations Association (2010, n.p.a), PR is seen as a two-way dialogue-oriented communication. Many organisations in Austria make us of public relations instruments, like writing various public relations texts, planning public relations campaigns and events, drawing up public relations concepts or setting up contact with the corresponding media. Public relations is regarded as a new function for companies. From an economic point of view it can be seen as a new management tool for any organisation in each branch, from a sociological point of view it can be seen as a human relations tool, meaning that understanding, listening to, communicating with and trusting the public represent a central goal of public relations (Nessmann, 2004, pp. 16-9). However, leading journals and books dealing with the development of public relations and public relations as a discipline reveal that several additional fields have emerged over the last few years. Taking crisis management, online management, in particular the new opportunities delivered by social media and personal public relations into consideration one can outline that these fields are booming and are heavily growing (ibid., 2004, pp. 17-26). Personal PR is of utmost importance, as people in general represent the centre of attention. Representing one’s person professionally in public has to be trained; in consequence more and more people take the service of public relations coaches
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