Researching Challenges of Public Relations Practitioners

Uniqueness of culture in Arabic culture can be both a threat and an opportunity. Cultural aspects enable a public relations practitioner choose the most effective message and communication channel for a specific target group. The smallest language problems may be very dangerous as they can lead to a total failure in the communication process.

Another unique challenge posed by U.A.E. community to public relations practitioners is rooted in the level of ambiguity in the communication process. According to scholars, communication occurs within a range of high to low context cultures. Further, they emphasize the importance of direct and exact verbal messages in low context cultures. Unites States and Northern Europe are the typical low context cultures, whereas Arab, African, and Asian countries tend to vary meaning of the message delivered depending on environment, settings, individuals, and personal relationship. As such, public relations practitioners in U.A.E face additional challenges posed by cultural differences that are rooted in the level of ambiguity.

Another issue is the lack of opportunities and training ground. Public relations practitioners in U.A.E. are not as skilled as that of in the rest of the developed world. The reason for this is rooted in a relatively small role attributed to public relations within the country and also a relatively small history of practice.

High digitalization of U.A.E. and governmental control over major communication channels constitute a unique informational environment of the local community. On one hand, invention and relatively high spread of Internet changes the very essence of public relations by shifting the focus to a new communication landscape. However, at the same time, high reliance on traditional media channels controlled by government decreases the scope of opportunities that could be realized by public relations services in the U.A.E. While the advent of printing press, radio, and television has forever changed the societal culture by granting power and opportunities to the poorest segment of society, Internet might have a similar impact on society. Interestingly, due to clash of interests within the U.A.E. community, the outcome of such a relationship as well as its impact on public relations can hardly be reasonable predicted. As such, public relations practitioners are exposed to another threat of uncertainty.