It's a Bank Holiday Monday, so of course I'm reviewing the literature on my PhD project.

What can theory tell us about practice? Too often we dismiss academic thinking in social sciences as irrelevant, and nowhere more so than in corporate communications and public relations.

The argument for communications as a strategic management discipline is well established in the scholarship. But you wouldn't know it from practice.

We keep re-litigating the value of the function to management, and we get asked to communicate decisions already taken (using posters, press releases and social media) rather than contribute to the strategy that shapes them.

It’s boring, dull and shows a lack of confidence.

There is a clear arc over 50 years, originating in management knowledge itself, making the case for the contribution. Fifteen consequential works underpin the argument from management to public relations and back to management. This is our ground to claim in practice.

What would you add?