How do theories get transformed into a common practice?

After my post on Grunig’s theory (which seems to be applied into practice in local government although I doubt its success, following Roper) I was left to wonder how do theories turn into practices in the municipalities. I am pretty sure many of them do not know about Mr Grunig and his works (at least if PR is not professionally organized) - yet they all seem to act in a similar way.  It seems to me that most of the municipalities in Finland have adopted these theories and realize them in their PR practices - perhaps not always recognizing the theoretical backgrounds of their actions. In other words, the theories have turned into a common policy in PR and communication in local government. 

In Finland the Association for Local and Regional Authorities (Suomen Kuntaliitto) has quite a strong position as for the steering of the development of local affairs. This also seems to apply in PR and communication. In other words it is one of the channels (and probably one of the most important ones) for transferring theories into practice. It is done by using this kind of tools:

• instructions (eg. general instructions for communication practices, crisis situation instructions, 
• studies and research, evaluation
• guides (eg. internet as a channel of information - verkkoviestintäohje)
• training
• learning from best practices

(see Kuntaliitto; PR and Communication)


I find the spreading of ideas and the creation of common policies very interesting - and not always so unproblematic as it may seem. If the actors are not aware of the grounds and roots for their actions  and do not recognize the routes that ideas and theories travel to them:

- how can they really accommodate these to the local circumstances?
- how can they assess their own operations and actions in a consistent and critical way?