Public relations is essential in helping to develop, shape, maintain and manage relationships between an organisation and its publics. However, for that to occur PR must play a strategic/managerial role. It is only when the practitioner is involved in strategic management and engages in managerial activities, can PR really excel and add real value to the organisation. The present study presents findings from an investigation of the role of senior PR practitioners in the financial services sector of Ghana. It examines the roles practitioners in the FSS perform, the strategic nature of these roles, and the challenges that affect the performance of the strategic role. The research was inspired by a lack of knowledge on the specific roles performed by PR practitioners in Ghana, which affects the practice of the profession and limits scholars in the country from fully participating in the discussion on the subject. The article reviews literature on roles research from western and African perspectives and empirically analysis two key roles—technician and manager. Data were gathered utilising a one-on-one interview with 22 senior PR practitioners in the financial services sector. The study found little evidence of a separation between the technician and managerial roles. An important finding was that even though practitioners enjoyed access to senior management, they were not involved in the decision-making process. Also, they faced challenges such as lack of understanding by the management of the value of PR. The paper concludes that the lack of involvement in the decision-making process and the challenges faced limits the ability of practitioners to fully perform the strategic role. Significantly, there is a need for scholars in Ghana to examine the perceived value of PR to organisations from the perspective of senior management. The study calls for comprehensive research in this area in relation to the unique characteristic of African PR practice.

公共关系对于帮助发展，塑造，维持和管理组织与公众之间的关系至关重要。但是，要做到这一点，公关必须发挥战略/管理作用。只有从业人员参与战略管理并从事管理活动，公关才能真正脱颖而出并为组织增加真正的价值。本研究提出了对高级公关从业人员在加纳金融服务部门中的作用的调查结果。它研究了FSS中从业人员所扮演的角色，这些角色的战略性质以及影响战略角色绩效的挑战。这项研究的灵感来自对加纳公关从业人员所扮演的具体角色的了解不足，这影响了该行业的实践，并限制了该国的学者全面参与有关该主题的讨论。本文从西方和非洲的角度回顾了有关角色研究的文献，并从经验上分析了两个关键角色：技术人员和管理人员。数据是通过对22位金融服务业高级公关从业人员进行一对一访谈而收集的。该研究发现几乎没有证据表明技术人员和管理人员之间存在分离。一个重要发现是，尽管从业者享有进入高级管理层的机会，但他们并未参与决策过程。此外，他们还面临挑战，例如对公关价值的管理缺乏了解。本文的结论是，缺乏参与决策过程以及面临的挑战限制了从业人员充分发挥战略作用的能力。重要的是，加纳的学者有必要从高级管理层的角度研究公关对组织的感知价值。该研究呼吁就非洲公共关系实践的独特特征在这一领域进行全面研究。