J. Hage and F. Hull (1981) developed a typology of organizations based on two major dimensions--scale and complexity. The typology delineates four types of organizations: Type 1, "traditional" organizations, typically small-scale structures with low complexity; Type 2, "mechanical" organizations that are large scale, low complexity structures employing many people; Type 3, "organic" organizations that are small scale but characterized by high complexity and small numbers of employees; and Type 4, mixed mechanical/organic groups that are large scale, high complexity operations employing many people. Using existing data collected from 216 organizations employing public relations practitioners, a study investigated how public relations is related to the Hage-Hall typology of organizational systems. Data analysis revealed that (1) Type 1 organizations were characterized by public relations practitioners who only rarely counseled management about public opinion toward their organization, and by public relations activities that were more centralized than in other organizations; (2) Type 2 organizations had less centralization of public relations functions than Type 1 groups; (3) Type 3 organizations were the only ones to place significantly less emphasis on holding press conferences and making formal contact with journalists; and (4) public relations practitioners in Type 4 organizations produced the least number of press releases, instead spending their time writing speeches, counseling management, and working with the news media. (FL)