B-“ in the Plank Center’s Report Card 2021: Did the pandemic improve leadership in public relations?

B.K Berger, Juan Meng, and J Katz. (June, 2022). Public relations leaders earn a “B-“ in the Plank Center’s Report Card 2021: Did the pandemic improve leadership in public relations?” published by The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations. https://plankcenter.ua.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/2021_LR_PDF.pdf

Abstract: The Report Card on Public Relations Leaders is a biennial study that began in 2015 to survey leaders and their employees on leadership performance, job satisfaction, organizational trust, organizational culture and job engagement. Following small declines in leader performance in 2017 and 2019, the Report Card 2021 marks some improvements. Leaders in public relations improved their performance during the volatile and challenging world of 2020-2022. For the first time since the biennial Leadership Report Card was launched in 2015, the grade for overall leadership performance rose to B-. The Report Card 2021 marks improvements in overall leadership performance, and gains in employee trust, job satisfaction, job engagement and organizational culture. Most significantly, a previous widening gender gap regarding perceptions of leadership in PR was closed. The profession moved from average to “almost good,” with “great” still in the scope in the distance. Nationwide, 536 PR leaders and professionals evaluated five fundamental areas of leadership linked to outcomes in our field—organizational culture, leadership performance, organizational trust, work engagement and job satisfaction.