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The debate on the professional status of Communication Management/Public relations1 has been high on the worldwide agenda for decades. While previous research has focused on the criteria for professionalism in this field, practitioners and academics often question the efforts of professional associations to adequately address the issue of implementing systems to facilitate professional status. The emergence of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management (GA) as an umbrella body for various regional professional associations, as well as the increased emphasis on regulation, standards and governance in all spheres of the global business environment, have led to renewed questions about global efforts to achieve professional status for this field. This study focused on the goals and actions of member associations of the GA in relation to the question of professional status. In order to understand the current state of affairs an exploratory qualitative approach was followed in which member associations were surveyed and their websites reviewed. The fact that fewer than half of the 27 member associations responded to the survey suggests that a study about this matter is not deemed particularly important and/or that the issue of professional status is not widely pursued. However, the associations that participated in this study agree that professional status is important. The study has also found that many similarities exist across continents in terms of the mechanisms utilized to achieve professional status. Codes of ethics, contributions to a body of the knowledge and the provision of professional training opportunities are regarded as quite important while divergent viewpoints exist in relation to issues like accreditation and a standardized tertiary curriculum.
