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The majority of this article has focused on describing dialogue in general, and explaining how dialogue might be incorporated into everyday public relations practice. Not everyone agrees, however, whether dialogic public relations is even possible or practical. Research from public forums such as town meetings71 and community workshops72 shows that the process and product of well-intended, theoretically grounded, and highly structured dialogic communication efforts often fall short of participants' aspirations. There is also the criticism that a dialogic approach can be easily exploited by one group or the other. That is, when publics engage in "dialogue" with organizations they run the risk that their disclosures will be used to exploit or manipulate them. A final criticism of dialogue is that dialogue is often called "more ethical" but no "evidence" exists to support such a claim. Dialogue is considered more ethical for the same reason that Americans consider democracy more ethical than dictatorship
or monarchy: it gives a voice to all. Dialogue is considered "more ethical" because it is based on principles of honesty, trust, and positive regard for the other rather than simply a conception of the public as means to end.
There are no easy answers to how to implement dialogic systems in organizations. Dialogue is a complex and multifarious process. Before dialogic systems can be implemented on the organizational level, however, a framework for thinking about dialogue is necessary. This article has provided that beginning framework with five dialogic tenets: mutuality, empathy, propinquity, risk, and commitment. Taking the discussion of dialogue from the theoretical to
the pragmatic, this article also described three approaches useful for creating dialogic communication systems. In order to bring dialogue to the attention of organizations interested in fostering more effective communication systems, scholars and practitioners must be able to provide concrete structures -not just idealized descriptions of humane communication. If dialogue is to become a viable organizational tool, then the wealth of possibilities must be reduced from dozens of concepts and possibilities to but a few effective alternatives. Future research
and commentary should begin to address additional theoretical issues in dialogue. Just as many members of the field have spent the last 25 years defining, refining, and articulating a theory of symmetrical communication, it is now time to use the same rigor and idealism on the next stage of public relations theory development: dialogue. Although "dialogue" cannot guarantee ethical public relations outcomes, a dialogic communication orientation does increase the likelihood that publics and organizations will better understand each other and have ground rules for communication.

Michael L. Kent and Maureen Taylor, Toward a dialogic theory of public relations, Public Relations Review, Volume 28, Issue 1, February 2002, Pages 21-37, PDF.

Citas del artículo en Scopus.