PR - a lost art?

I wondered why so much time was spent in the early PR units leading up to the placement - pushing the idea of constant pitching (PR) to workplace managers . Why would it be that a firm could not easily see the sense and importance of keeping messages and all communications too, from and in between the company tight, to the point and robust? Its because like Zen Masters, Whirling Dervishes and Mike Munro - nobody knows what PR does they just know they need it.

Communication problems are the number 1 reason partnerships break down (Justin Langer: Seeing the Sun Rise 2008) and even tho sledging Pakistani bowlers with Matt Hayden may be a little different from corporate to-ing and fro-ing all communications are based on the same principals - know what you want to say; know who you want to say it to and know how to respond to your messages. The major difference between batting  and corporate partnerships however, is that in cricket your fortune changes in an instant - a sharp piece of fielding a crack in the pitch. Its easy to see where you go wrong in cricket. In other workplaces partnerships build or fail slowly. Adhoc approaches to corporate comms slowly erodes the cache or reputation of the firm until messages sent no longer remain a priority to those who need to hear and respond in a timely fashion.

I have a presentation with my managers in a few days regarding a poorly constructed and managed Intranet. Now to figure out how to tell them to scrap it and focus on PR tools and practices that will correct the adhoc comms course they are currently on. First I'll youtube some classic Justin Langer sledges to get me in the communications mood...