15. WHERE DOES “PR” BELONG IN ORGANIZATIONS?

Public Relations (PR) in literature is a communication process focused on building and maintaining positive relationships between an organization and its various public, including customers, investors, employees, media, and the general community. It is often discussed as a crucial component of the promotion mix within marketing. PR differs significantly from advertising in that it primarily seeks "earned media"; favorable coverage generated through news articles, features, and public interest stories, rather than paid placements. The goal is to influence perceptions, build brand equity, and enhance credibility by sharing information that highlights the organization's positive attributes, product launches, social responsibility initiatives, and overall values, thus enhancing the brand image of the organization.

There is an argument about where the PR department should exist within an organization's structure. There is no ideal structure, as it depends on the organization's size, industry, strategic priorities, and the role and power of the marketing department in the organization. Historically, PR might have been integrated under the marketing department if its role in these organizations performed strategically, but if the marketing department is not strong enough that might limit its scope to just promotional activities. However, another argument exists for placing PR at a higher, more strategic level, often reporting directly to the CEO. This elevated position allows PR to act as a separate management function, providing guidance on critical decisions that could impact on the organization's reputation and relationships; it can proactively identify potential issues, manage crises effectively, and ensure that all organizational communications align with its overall vision and values.

I believe that PR should be placed within the marketing department if marketing is strategically responsible for customer relationships, stakeholder engagement, organization-wide branding, and even treats employees internally as ambassadors for the brand image of the organization. This is because when PR is relatively separated from marketing and reports directly to the CEO, this often leads to miscommunication issues and a lack of clarity between its core marketing-related mission as an essential part of promotion mix and the organization’s strategic goals.

Article By Amr H. Abayazeed - June 27, 2025.

14. EXPERIENCE & ENTITLEMENT SYNDROME

Experience is the practical application of knowledge over time, through action, reflection, and adaptation. It includes lessons learned, skills sharpened, and judgment developed. Based on this definition, we can represent experience in the following equation:

Experience = Knowledge + Practice + Reflection (Outcome).

Therefore, knowledge without practice is often referred to as "Book Knowledge" rather than true experience. Similarly, practice without knowledge is referred to as "Flying Blind" or, as we say in Egypt "فهلوة" as slang.

Another related topic is Entitlement Syndrome in organizations, which occurs when employees believe they deserve special treatment, certain privileges, recognition, or rewards, regardless of their effort, performance, or merit. They may expect benefits just because they have been with the company for a long time (Claim of Expertise) or think they are more important than others. This attitude often comes from poor true evaluation, unclear rules, lack of criteria, or an organizational culture that does not reward hard work fairly. It can also develop if managers avoid giving honest feedback or if people are praised too much without real results. This behavior can hurt teamwork and lower motivation across the organization.

To mitigate entitlement syndrome in workplaces, especially in Egyptian culture — a widespread phenomenon that deserves to be studied there — the primary actions involve prioritizing real experience and truly effective evaluation with clear determined criteria over unearned claims and inflated self-assessments. This adjustment will allow recognition and reward systems in organizations to begin aligning success with actual work, rather than assumptions. These are not all actions, but the key actions, among others, to ensure fairness, boost teamwork, and maintain high motivation.

 Article by Amr H. Abayazeed - May 16, 2025.

13. THE SCIENCE BEHIND SOCIAL SCIENCE

Some people mistakenly assume that economics, marketing, human resources, management, etc., which are categorized as social science, are not real science because they seem vague, undefined, and not meticulous. There are many classifications of science, as mentioned in various papers and handbooks. The most common classifications are: 1) Natural Science, which study nature in the broadest sense, such as physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, geology, etc; 2) Social Science, which study people and societies such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, history, political science, etc.; and 3) Formal Science, which study abstract concepts, such as mathematics, logic, computer science, etc. For simplicity, we can group these into two major pillars: Natural and Social Science.

As my recent studies have been in business and management (social science), I believe that social science is not vague when compared to natural science. Generally, natural science defines specific input(s), and when these input(s) interact inside a system(s), a defined output(s) is produced — as in chemical reactions (A+B → C+D) or in mathematics (1+1=2). Based on my engineering background, I contend that, social science operates similarly, as illustrated in the figure; inputs interact inside systems to generate outputs. The main difference is that social science involves many inputs or variables, diverse systems and dynamic contexts resulting in multiple complex outputs with high uncertainty.

This complexity makes it difficult to identify consistent outputs, unlike in the natural science. Consequently, social science theories are generalized to predict outcomes, which we commonly refer to as recognized and generally accepted good practices — or best practices — due to the inherent variability and complexity of systems, like human system, as an example. However, I argue that if the inputs and systems in the social science were fully defined (which is rarely applicable), then outputs could be predicted with greater certainty, similar to natural science.

Article By Amr H. Abayazeed - May 02, 2025.

12. UNDERSTANDING STRATEGY

The concept of strategy is often misunderstood. Some define it as a long-term plan, while others see it as a set of action plans. Michael Porter, a professor at Harvard Business School and widely regarded as the father of modern strategy, defined strategy in organizations as a set of long-term choices made to distinguish oneself from competitors. While this definition is powerful as a high-level philosophy and captures the essence of strategy, it remains unclear to the public.

In my point of view — supported by extensive literature — the concept of strategy fundamentally revolves around achieving an objective (moving from point A to point B) by leveraging available resources within a broader environment or ecosystem.

The strategic statement that guides all upcoming strategic processes involves answering three critical questions, each beginning with “How?”:

1. How to get? – Acquiring the necessary resources or capabilities.

2. How to keep? – Sustaining and managing those resources effectively.

3. How to grow? – Scaling and optimizing for future expansion.

The framework, as shown in the next figure, highlights the dynamic interplay between internal capabilities (resources and objectives) and external environmental scanning (bounded by a dotted line), guided by a clear strategic statement to ensure direction, sustainability, and growth.

 

Article by Amr H. Abayazeed - April 18, 2025.