Despite agility’s increased importance for public relations, the change process from traditional, hierarchically structured public relations to a dynamic agile entity has not yet been comprehensively investigated. This article tackles the research desideratum by discussing this change process from a structuration-theoretical perspective. The subsequent empirical analyses via two qualitative studies from the field of corporate communications focus on the perspective of consultants. These experts support the communication management in this change process with their expertise and neutrality, which the public relations departments themselves lack. Thus, consultants are key contacts for an explorative analysis of the change process toward more agility. In the first study, 39 consultants were interviewed about the change processes that they have guided in order to transform public relations into an agile department. The subsequent case study focuses on an internationally active medical technology manufacturer and analyzes their experience with consulting throughout the agile change process in their public relations department. The results show that the concept of recursiveness is central to the successful implementation of agility in public relations. Expressed in the language of structuration theory, consultants aim to develop rules and resources as modalities that describe an agile structure and then translate them directly into actions. These modalities are continuously developed via sprints, a dynamic process that results in the constant adaptation of the agile structures until the desired result is achieved. The results illustrate the advantages of a neutral, outside authority for the implementation of such a change process.

尽管敏捷对于公共关系的重要性日益增加，但尚未全面研究从传统的、分层结构的公共关系到动态敏捷实体的转变过程。本文通过从结构化理论的角度讨论这一变化过程来解决研究的需要。随后通过来自企业传播领域的两项定性研究进行的实证分析侧重于顾问的视角。这些专家以其专业知识和中立性来支持这个变革过程中的沟通管理，这是公关部门本身所缺乏的。因此，顾问是对变​​革过程进行探索性分析以实现更高敏捷性的关键联系人。在第一项研究中，39 位顾问接受了采访，了解他们为将公共关系转变为敏捷部门而指导的变革过程。随后的案例研究侧重于一家国际活跃的医疗技术制造商，并分析了他们在公共关系部门整个敏捷变革过程中的咨询经验。结果表明，递归的概念是在公共关系中成功实施敏捷性的核心。用结构化理论的语言表达，顾问旨在开发规则和资源作为描述敏捷结构的模式，然后将它们直接转化为行动。这些模式通过冲刺不断发展，冲刺是一个动态过程，导致敏捷结构不断适应，直到实现预期结果。