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Abstract
Military Public
Affairs personnel have one of the most challenging and unique missions
in the armed services. They are responsible for developing and implementing
information campaigns to inform and educate military members and
the American public about the roles and mission of the military
in peacetime and in war. Despite an obvious need for leadership
involvement and support, not every military commander realizes the
true value of Public Affairs, and the result is a lack of support
for the PA mission. Determining commander’s perceptions and attitudes
toward the role of Public Affairs would be extremely valuable to
the effectiveness of PA programs currently suffering from lack of
leadership involvement and support.
This Capstone
project is designed to determine the influences that ultimately
translate into either supportive or non-supportive attitudes and
behavior. To ascertain those influences, the researchers developed
a 50-question survey consisting of 49 Likert scale questions and
one subjective comment distributed to PA professionals in all five
military branches of service. The purpose of this survey is to assess
their commander’s attitudes toward Public Affairs. The researchers
recommend that a follow-on version should eventually be sent to
commanders, and the results from both should be analyzed to assess
the major influences shaping leader’s perceptions and attitudes
toward Public Affairs. The ultimate goal of this research would
be to devise strategies that PA professionals could use to foster
a positive and productive relationship between the commander and
Public Affairs. The results from this study may be valuable to not
just the Public Affairs professionals, but to the units and commanders.
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