The constitution of the Republic of South Africa has mandated government to keep in touch with the citizens, by regularly updating them on the services available for the improvement of their lives, and further to constantly report back on progress made in implementing government policies. In recent years, the country has been experiencing sporadic service delivery protests especially at the local sphere of government (municipal level). The aim of the study was therefore to examine the success of the communication and information system of the South African government in disseminating information to citizens. The area of the study was the Province of Mpumalanga which is one (1) of the nine (9) provinces constituting the Republic of South Africa. For the study, quantitative research method in the form of a survey was adopted, the hypothesis tested and the findings generalised. In creating a sample frame for the study, both probability and non-probability sampling techniques were adopted. The type of data collection instrument adopted was a structured questionnaire. Single-stage cluster sampling was adopted for heads of government communication whereas judgemental or purposive sampling technique was adopted for citizens. Data was analysed utilising data tabulation, descriptives, and data disaggregation quantitative data analysis procedures. The key findings of the study, amongst others, are: (a) That the current communication and information system being utilised by the South African government has an impact (it has improved communication with citizens); (b) That the citizens prefer government to communicate with them in their own indigenous languages (communicating in all eleven (11) official languages); (c) That the citizens prefer face-to-face communication; (d) That citizens would like to receive government messages via social media (given its immediacy and interactivity); and (e) That the low status of the communication function at the local government level denies communicators access to information to be communicated. Amongst others, the study recommends that (1) communication should be recognised as a strategic management function in all spheres of government; (2) the use of radio as the primary channel of information should be strengthened; (3) face-to-face communication with citizens should be strengthened; (4) information dissemination should be done in all eleven (11) official languages, including in Braille and sign-language; (5) social media and SMS notification should be included in the government communication policy as one of its official information dissemination channels. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication)

The constitution of the Republic of South Africa has mandated government to keep in touch with the citizens, by regularly updating them on the services available for the improvement of their lives, and further to constantly report back on progress made in implementing government policies. In recent years, the country has been experiencing sporadic service delivery protests especially at the local sphere of government (municipal level). The aim of the study was therefore to examine the success of the communication and information system of the South African government in disseminating information to citizens. The area of the study was the Province of Mpumalanga which is one (1) of the nine (9) provinces constituting the Republic of South Africa. For the study, quantitative research method in the form of a survey was adopted, the hypothesis tested and the findings generalised. In creating a sample frame for the study, both probability and non-probability sampling techniques were adopted. The type of data collection instrument adopted was a structured questionnaire. Single-stage cluster sampling was adopted for heads of government communication whereas judgemental or purposive sampling technique was adopted for citizens. Data was analysed utilising data tabulation, descriptives, and data disaggregation quantitative data analysis procedures. The key findings of the study, amongst others, are: (a) That the current communication and information system being utilised by the South African government has an impact (it has improved communication with citizens); (b) That the citizens prefer government to communicate with them in their own indigenous languages (communicating in all eleven (11) official languages); (c) That the citizens prefer face-to-face communication; (d) That citizens would like to receive government messages via social media (given its immediacy and interactivity); and (e) That the low status of the communication function at the local government level denies communicators access to information to be communicated. Amongst others, the study recommends that (1) communication should be recognised as a strategic management function in all spheres of government; (2) the use of radio as the primary channel of information should be strengthened; (3) face-to-face communication with citizens should be strengthened; (4) information dissemination should be done in all eleven (11) official languages, including in Braille and sign-language; (5) social media and SMS notification should be included in the government communication policy as one of its official information dissemination channels. / Communication Science / M. A. (Communication)

A l'estat de la qüestió s'inicia l'aproximació conceptual i terminològica mitjançant l'anàlisi de la evolució històrica de la planificació estratègica des del punt de vista miliar, de la Teoria dels Jocs, de la Teoria Organitzacional i del Management per tal de, a continuació, exposar com es concebeix la funció directiva comunicativa en tant que àmbit d'estudi, tot establint les distincions establertes des de l'Escola Organitzacional, l'Escola de les Relacions Públiques i l'Escola de la Comunicació Integral (Comunicació Total i Comunicació Corporativa).Un cop exposats els conceptes fonamentals de les Relacions Públiques (Imatge i Reputació; Percepcions, Actituts i Conducta; Identitat; Cultura Organitzacional; Visió, Misió, Valors i Credo Corporatiu; Entorn i Resposabilitat Social Corporativa -RSC-; Conflicte i Issues Management -Gestió de Conflictes Potencials-; i Públics i Stakeholders), s'aborda la descripció de diversos models de Planificació Estratègica en la Teoria de les Relacions Públiques i de la Comunicació Integral, a partir del Model RACE establert per Marston, com a pas previ a la formulació d'una aportació d'un Model Global de Planificació Estratègica, d'aplicació tant en Relacions Públiques com en Comunicació Integral.A continuació es presenta el treball de camp empíric dut a terme amb la finalitat de verificar l'adequat ús de la Planificació Estratègica per part d'algunes agències de Relacions Públiques i Comunicació de l'estat espanyol i, en últim lloc, es detallen les conclusions de la tesi doctoral. / En el estado de la cuestión se inicia la cuestión conceptual y terminológica a través del análisis de la evolución histórica de la planificación estratégica desde el punto de vista militar, de la Teoría de los Juegos, de la Teoría Organizacional y del Management para, a continuación, exponer cómo se concibe la función directiva en tanto que ámbito de estudio, estableciendo las distinciones establecidas desde la Escuela Organizacional, la Escuela de las Relaciones Públicas y la Escuela de la Comunicación Integral (Comunicación Total y Comunicación Corporativa). Tras exponer los conceptos fundamentales de las Relaciones Públicas y de la Comunicación Integral (Imagen y Reputación; Percepciones, Actitudes y Conducta; Identidad; Cultura Organizacional; Visión, Misión, Valores y Credo Corporativo; Entorno y Responsabilidad Social Corporativa -RSC-; Conflicto e Issues Management -Gestión de Conflictos Potenciales-; y Públicos y Stakeholders), se aborda la descripción de diversos modelos de Planificación Estratégica en la Teoría de las Relaciones Públicas y de la Comunicación Integral a partir del Modelo RACE establecido por Marston, como paso previo a la formulación de una aportación de un Modelo Global de Planificación Estratégica, de aplicación tanto en Relaciones Públicas como en Comunicación Integral.A continuación se presenta el trabajo de campo empírico llevado a cabo con el fin de verificar el adecuado uso de la Planificación Estratégica por parte de algunas agencias y consultoras de Relaciones Públicas y Comunicación del estado español y, por último, se detallan las conclusiones finales de la tesis doctoral. / The goal of this study is to propose a model of strategic planning in Public Relations and Corporate Communication. The literature review initiates the conceptual and terminological approach to the model. This is done by means of an analysis of the historical evolution of strategic planning from a number of points of view: the military one, game theory, and organizational and management theory. This is followed by a description and comparison of the communicative managing function as an area of study as conceived by the Organizational school, the Public Relations school, and the Corporate Communication school. Following the presentation of the main Public Relations concepts (i.e. image and reputation; perception, attitude, and conduct; identity; organizational culture; vision, mission, values, and corporate credo; environment and corporate social responsibility; conflict and issues management; audiences and stakeholders) the RACE model by Marston is used as a reference to describe a number of strategic planning models within the theory of Public Relations and Corporate Communication. On the grounds of such a description, a contribution to a model of strategic planning is made, which is applicable to both Public Relations and Corporate Communication. An empirical study follows which verifies the appropriate use of strategic planning by a number of Public Relations and Corporate Communication agencies in Spain. Finally, the conclusions to the doctoral dissertation are presented.

After facing the economic recession, the South–African and global business sectors started revaluating their human capital and the positions they represent within an organisation. Each individual now had to prove that they contributed towards the organisation’s bottom line, as each and every cent had to be counted and accounted for. Some functions within organisations could easily prove their contribution towards the bottom line by providing production or sales outputs. The public relations practitioners and the corporate communication efforts they offered, however, faced a bleak future, as their contribution towards the tangible assets was very rarely recognised (Kim, 2000:276). The financial services sector however, in which an advisor’s contribution towards the organisational bottom line is easily quantified, started to acknowledge the need for this sector to improve upon its ‘softer’ intangible assets such as client communication and client relationships. The sector believes that communication establishes relationships, and sound client relationships is the only way to sell financial products and services, as people seldom entrust their life earnings or financial dreams to strangers (Christiansen & DeVaney, 1998:7). Public relations practitioners know how to use communication optimally in the quest for building client relationships, and financial services need those skills in order to sell their products and contribute towards the bottom line. These two functions could thus work together towards the achievement of their goals - public relations to prove their bottom line contribution, and the financial services sector towards improving client relationships. These statements led to the general Research Question of this study: “What is the nature of the relationship between (i) corporate communication efforts, (ii) client communication satisfaction and (iii) client relationship satisfaction, and these concepts’ relationship to (iv) client economic contribution, within a financial services organisation?” This Research Question is answered from the systems theory as meta–theory with the support of the strategic communication, excellence and relationship management theories, and Futurum Financial Group (FFG) services as the financial services organisation for this study. A qualitative and quantitative research approach was followed to establish the constructs, and the relationships between the constructs. The Financial Advisors and public relations practitioner in FFG have a good understanding of the need for strategic communication efforts, and a relationship between their efforts and the client communication satisfaction and client relationship satisfaction could therefore be indicated. A further relationship between the client communication satisfaction and client relationship satisfaction and the client economic contribution was also established. Recommendations to improve the situation within FFG included a better focus on database administration, corporate communication consistency, Financial Advisor diligence, and providing clients with more frequent updates regarding their financial situation. The greatest strengths were client–advisor trust and corporate communication professionalism. This study thus contributes to the argument that communication efforts add tangibly, by means of client economic contribution, to the organisation’s bottom line, within the financial services industry. The study furthermore provides some recommendations for the financial services industry to improve their communication skills in order to build client relationships. / Thesis (M.A. (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

After facing the economic recession, the South–African and global business sectors started revaluating their human capital and the positions they represent within an organisation. Each individual now had to prove that they contributed towards the organisation’s bottom line, as each and every cent had to be counted and accounted for. Some functions within organisations could easily prove their contribution towards the bottom line by providing production or sales outputs. The public relations practitioners and the corporate communication efforts they offered, however, faced a bleak future, as their contribution towards the tangible assets was very rarely recognised (Kim, 2000:276). The financial services sector however, in which an advisor’s contribution towards the organisational bottom line is easily quantified, started to acknowledge the need for this sector to improve upon its ‘softer’ intangible assets such as client communication and client relationships. The sector believes that communication establishes relationships, and sound client relationships is the only way to sell financial products and services, as people seldom entrust their life earnings or financial dreams to strangers (Christiansen & DeVaney, 1998:7). Public relations practitioners know how to use communication optimally in the quest for building client relationships, and financial services need those skills in order to sell their products and contribute towards the bottom line. These two functions could thus work together towards the achievement of their goals - public relations to prove their bottom line contribution, and the financial services sector towards improving client relationships. These statements led to the general Research Question of this study: “What is the nature of the relationship between (i) corporate communication efforts, (ii) client communication satisfaction and (iii) client relationship satisfaction, and these concepts’ relationship to (iv) client economic contribution, within a financial services organisation?” This Research Question is answered from the systems theory as meta–theory with the support of the strategic communication, excellence and relationship management theories, and Futurum Financial Group (FFG) services as the financial services organisation for this study. A qualitative and quantitative research approach was followed to establish the constructs, and the relationships between the constructs. The Financial Advisors and public relations practitioner in FFG have a good understanding of the need for strategic communication efforts, and a relationship between their efforts and the client communication satisfaction and client relationship satisfaction could therefore be indicated. A further relationship between the client communication satisfaction and client relationship satisfaction and the client economic contribution was also established. Recommendations to improve the situation within FFG included a better focus on database administration, corporate communication consistency, Financial Advisor diligence, and providing clients with more frequent updates regarding their financial situation. The greatest strengths were client–advisor trust and corporate communication professionalism. This study thus contributes to the argument that communication efforts add tangibly, by means of client economic contribution, to the organisation’s bottom line, within the financial services industry. The study furthermore provides some recommendations for the financial services industry to improve their communication skills in order to build client relationships. / Thesis (M.A. (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Abstract in English with Afrikaans and SeSotho translations / Employee engagement is a phenomenon that has gained increasingly more attention in organisational communication studies and also in the postmodern organisational context. In the postmodern organisational environment, employee engagement focuses more on building relationships with employees than on individual performance. However, the value of internal communication practices to enhance employee engagement within a postmodern organisation has still not fully been explored. The study thus investigated, in accordance with what the literature suggests, a single case to test which internal communication practices are perceived as strengthening employee engagement within a postmodern organisation. Consequently, the study adopted a mixed method research approach utilising three research methods, namely a survey, a focus group and semi-structured interviews, to establish which internal communication practices the management of the organisation must adopt to strengthen employee engagement. The worldview adopted for this study was both the positivist and interpretivist research paradigms. Findings indicate that because the organisation’s employees’ views are heard, responded to and even form part of the solution, employees become more engaged. In addition, having too many internal communication tools and implementing them without a strategy in place can lead to employees becoming less engaged. Overall, the findings indicate that having a supportive management style, meeting employees’ needs and providing enough opportunities for employees to participate in problem-solving are deemed important for employee engagement. Interestingly, the findings show no correlation between the importance of establishing a good organisational culture and enhancing employee engagement in the organisation. Although the findings cannot be generalised to the larger population, the insight gained could serve as a heuristic for similar organisations to strengthen their employee engagement. / Werknemerbetrokkenheid is ’n verskynsel wat al hoe meer aandag kry in organisatoriese kommunikasiestudies en ook in die postmoderne organisatoriese konteks. In laasgenoemde konteks word daar meer met werknemerbetrokkenheid gefokus op die bou van verhoudings met werknemers as op individuele prestasie. Die waarde van interne kommunikasiepraktyke om werknemerbetrokkenheid binne ’n postmoderne organisasie te bevorder, is nog steeds nie ten volle ondersoek nie. Daar is dus in die studie, in ooreenstemming met wat die literatuur suggereer, ’n enkele gevallestudie ondersoek om te bepaal watter interne kommunikasiepraktyke beskou word as praktyke wat werknemerbetrokkenheid binne ’n postmoderne organisasie bevorder. Gevolglik is daar in die studie ’n gemengdemetode-navorsingsbenadering aangeneem wat drie navorsingsmetodes insluit, naamlik ’n opname, fokusgroep en semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude, met die doel om vas te stel watter interne kommunikasiepraktyke die bestuur van die organisasie moet aanneem om werknemerbetrokkenheid te bevorder. Die wêreldbeskouing wat vir hierdie studie aangeneem is, is sowel die positivistiese as vertolkende navorsingsparadigmas. Bevindinge dui daarop dat omrede die werknemers van die organisasie se sienings aangehoor word, daarop gereageer word en dit selfs deel van die oplossing uitmaak, werknemers meer betrokke raak. Daarbenewens kan te veel interne kommunikasie-middels en die implementering daarvan sonder ’n strategie daartoe lei dat werknemers minder betrokke raak. Oor die algemeen dui die bevindinge daarop dat ’n ondersteunende bestuurstyl, voldoening aan werknemers se behoeftes en die verskaffing van genoegsame geleenthede vir werknemers om aan probleemoplossing deel te neem, as belangrik geag word vir werknemerbetrokkenheid. Interessant genoeg wys die bevindinge geen korrelasie tussen die belangrikheid daarvan om ’n goeie organisatoriese kultuur te vestig en om werknemerbetrokkenheid in die organisasie te bevorder nie. Hoewel die bevindinge nie veralgemeen kan word om die groter bevolking in te sluit nie, kan die insig wat verkry word as ’n leerproses gebruik word vir soorgelyke organisasies om hulle werknemerbetrokkenheid te bevorder. / Bonkakarolo ba basebetsi ke ntho e hapileng tlhokomelo e eketsehileng dithutong tsa puisano tsa mekgatlo hape le maemong a morao-rao a mekgatlo. Tikolohong ya morao-rao ya mekgatlo, onkakarolo ba basebetsi bo shebana haholo le ho haha dikamano le basebetsi ho fapana le tshebetso ya motho ka mong. Leha ho le jwalo, boleng ba ditlwaelo tsa puisano tsa kahare ba ho ntlafatsa bonkakarolo ba basebetsi kahara mekgatlo ya morao-rao ha bo so ka bo hlahlojwa ka botlalo. Kahoo, phuputso e fupuditse ho latela seo dingodilweng di se supang, tlhahlobisiso e le nngwe ya ho lekola hore na ke mekgwa efe ya puisano ya kahare e nkuwang e matlafatsa bonkakarolo ba asebetsi kahara mokgatlo wa kamora nako ya morao-rao. Ka lebaka leo, phuputso e ile ya sebedisa mokgwa o tswakilweng wa dipatlisiso o sebedisang mekgwa e meraro ya dipatlisiso, e leng phuputso, sehlopha seo ho shebanweng le sona le dipuisano tse batlang di hlophisitswe hantle, ho sheba hore na ke mekgwa efe ya puisano ya kahare eo tsamaiso e lokelang ho e amohela ho matlafatsa bonkakarolo ba asebetsi. Maikutlo a lefatshe a amohetsweng phuputsong ena e ne e le a dipatlisiso a bontshang hore tlhokomelo le lebaka ke mekgwa ya kutlwisiso ya boitshwaro ba batho le a dipatlisiso tsa botoloki. Diphumano di bontsha hore hobane maikutlo a basebetsi ba mokgatlo a utluwa, a arabelwa ebile a etsa karolo ya tharollo, basebetsi ba kakgela ka setotswana le hofeta. Ntle le moo, ho ba le disebediswa tse ngata haholo tsa puisano tsa kahare le ho di kenya tshebetsong ntle le leano ho ka etsa hore basebetsi ba se ke ba sebetsa hantle. Ka kakaretso, diphumano di bontsha hore ho ba le mokgwa wa botsamaisi o tshehetsang, ho fihlela ditlhoko tsa basebetsi le ho fana ka menyetla e lekaneng ho basebetsi ya ho nka karolo tharollong ya mathata ho nkuwa ho le bohlokwa bakeng sa ho nka karolo ha basebetsi. Ho kgahlisang ke hore diphumano ha di bontshe kamano dipakeng tsa bohlokwa ba ho theha setso se hantle sa mokgatlo le ho matlafatsa bonkakarolo ba basebetsi mokgatlong. Leha diphumano e ke ke ya ba tse akaretsang ho batho ba bangata, temohisiso e fumanweng e ka sebetsa e le leano la mekgatlo e tshwanang ho matlafatsa bonkakarolo ba basebetsi ba yona. Mantswe a sehlooho: bonkakarolo ba basebetsi, puisano ya kahare, mekgwa ya puisano ya kahare, puisano ya mokgatlo, tshebediso e nang le sepheo ya puisano / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication Science)

Strategizing är vad människor i en organisation gör när de planerar och medverkar i aktiviteter som ska bidra till företagets riktning. Forskning inom strategizing har tidigare fokuserat på organisationens ledning, men även medarbetarperspektivet kan bidra till en bredare uppfattning, då medarbetarna ofta uppfattar strategisk kommunikation på ett annat sätt. Mellancheferna är väsentliga medlare i genomförandet av strategiska förändringar och deras roll är att förmedla samt anpassa strategisk information till sina medarbetare. Syftet med studien är att vidga förståelsen kring strategizing genom att undersöka hur företagens strategiska information kommuniceras genom mellancheferna på operativ nivå inom dagligvaruhandeln. Den empiriska datan är baserad på två företag inom dagligvaruhandeln, Willys och City Gross. Datan har samlats in genom kvalitativ metod med hjälp av en kombination av intervjuer, observationer och dokumentanalys, bestående av externa och interna dokument. Studiens resultat lyfter teamets arbete och menar att trivsel skapar effektivitet och måluppfyllnad. En varierad arbetssituation lägger grunden för förändringar i personalbehovet. Mellancheferna bör fortsätta använda sig av dialoger för att säkerställa anpassningen och översättningen av informationen. De behöver bli bättre på att använda mötesstrukturen och tekniska hjälpmedel. / Strategizing is what people within the organization do when they plan and take part in activities that should contribute to the direction of the company. Research in strategizing has previously focused on top management but the perspective of the employees can contribute to a wider perception as well, because of the employees’ conception of strategic communication. The middle managers are crucial intermediators in the implementation of strategic development and their position is to communicate and adjust the strategic information to their employees. The purpose of this study is to expand the understanding about strategizing by investegate how the companies’ strategic information communicates through the middle managers on the operational level within the retail sector.  The empirical data is based on two companies within the retail sector, Willys and City Gross. The data has been gathered through a qualitative method using a combination of interviews, observations and content analysis, containing external and internal documents. The result of the study highlights teamwork and that well-being creates efficiency and goal fulfillment. A work situation with variation establishes a foundation for changes in staff requirements. The middle managers should keep using dialogues to ensure the adjustment and translation of the information. They need to improve their use of meeting structure and technical tools.

For organisations to survive in an ever-changing milieu, as evident from the current business environment, sufficient crisis communication and management practices need to be in place to ensure organisational survival. Despite the latter, organisational crises are often inefficiently managed which could be ascribed to the lack of managing crises strategically (Kash & Darling 1998:180). This study explores the lack of strategic crisis communication processes within the financial industry specifically, to ensure effective crisis communication with the media as stakeholder group, through the proposition of an integrated crisis communication framework, which focuses on: · Combining integrated communication (IC) literature with Grunig’s theory of communication excellence to build sustainable media relationships through two-way communication; and · Implementing a crisis communication process that has proactive, reactive and post-evaluative crisis communication stages, thereby moving away from crisis communication as a predominant reactive function. / Communication Sciences / M.A. (Communication)

A dominant focus on organisational stakeholders is currently evident in both the literature and in practice since it is argued that the success of organisations is predominantly dependent on stakeholders’ perception of the organisation. This stakeholder emphasis is evident in the inclusion of a chapter on governing stakeholder relations in the King III report and the development of various stakeholder standards in South Africa, including corporate social investment, corporate governance, corporate citizenship, corporate sustainability and the triple bottom line. Despite the recognition of the importance and necessity of building and maintaining stakeholder relations in the literature, there is a dearth of research on how to actually build these relationships. The aim of this study was to address this shortcoming by proposing a generic, integrated approach to sustainable organisation-stakeholder relationship (OSR) building with strategic stakeholders whereby strategic stakeholder identification, OSR development and OSR maintenance, which are often studied independently, would be integrated in order to constitute a new unified model. This model will promote a sustainable OSR-building process for organisation-stakeholder partnership (OSP) development.The following three building blocks for such a model were proposed: a strategic communication foundation that promotes the integration of specific corporate communication functions that is practised from a two-way symmetrical communication perspective as the basis for effective OSR building; a theoretical foundation, which is an integration of Freeman’s stakeholder concept (1984) from a normative, relational viewpoint, Ferguson’s relational paradigm for public relations (1984) and Ledingham’s (2003) theory of relationship management, encapsulated by Grunig’s (1984) excellence theory, of which the proposed OSR-building model would be a pragmatic representation; and a conceptualisation of the OSR-building model where the actual phases of the OSR-building process would be proposed to provide step-by-step guidance for OSR building. This model promotes a partnership approach with strategic stakeholders, which is based on the proposition of an OSR development continuum, which implies that an OSR could grow in intensity over time, from a foundational OSR, mutually-beneficial OSR, sustainable OSR, to ultimate organisational-stakeholder partnerships (OSPs). This model was built from a corporate communication perspective, and subsequently highlighted the contribution of corporate communication in the organisation as an OSR-building function to ensure organisational effectiveness. This study provided an exploratory literature review to constitute a conceptual framework for OSR-building of which the principles of the framework would be further explored and measured in leading listed South African organisations, by means of a quantitative web-based survey and qualitative one-on-one interviews to compose an OSR-building model that provides guidance on the process of OSR building on the basis of insights from theory and practice. / Ingevolge die argument dat die sukses van organisasies hoofsaaklik afhanklik is van die persepsies wat belangegroepe oor organisasies het, word ‘n dominante fokus tans op organisatoriese belangegroepe in die literatuur en praktyk geplaas. Die fokus op belangegroepe is sigbaar in die insluiting van ‘n hoofstuk oor die bou van belangegroepverhoudings in die King III verslag asook die ontwikkeling van verskeie belangegroepstandaarde in Suid Afrika, wat korporatiewe sosiale verantwoordelikheid, korporatiewe burgerskap, korporatiewe volhoubaarheid en drievoudige eindresultaat insluit. Ten spyte daarvan dat die belangrikheid en noodsaaklikheid van die bou en behoud van belangegroepverhoudings erken word in die literatuur, is daar ‘n tekort aan navorsing oor hoe om die verhoudings te bou. Die studie poog om dié tekortkoming aan te spreek deur middel van ‘n generiese, geϊntegreerde benadering vir volhoubare organisatoriese-belangegroepvershoudings (OBV) met strategiese belangegroepe voor te stel, waar strategiese belangegroep identifikasie, OBV ontwikkeling en OBV instandhouding, aspekte wat dikwels afsonderlik bestudeer word, geintegreer word in ‘n nuwe, verenigde model. Hierdie model sal ’n volhoubare OBV verbouiingsproses voorstel vir die ontwikkeling van organisatoriese-belangegroepvennootskappe. Drie boustene word vir die model voorgestel naamlik; ‘n strategiese kommunkasie fondasie wat die integrasie van spesifieke korporatiewe kommunikasie funksies vanuit ‘n twee-rigting simmetriese kommunikasie perspektief as basis vir die effektiewe bou van OBV insluit; ‘n teoretiese fondasie wat ‘n integrasie van Freeman (1984) se belangegroepkonsep van ‘n normatiewe, verhoudingsstandpunt, Ferguson (1984) se verhoudingsparadigma vir openbare skakelwerk en Ledingham (2003) se verhoudingsbestuursteorie insluit, omhul deur Grunig (1984) se uitnemendheidsteorie, waarvan die voorgestelde OBV model ‘n praktiese voorstelling sal wees; en ‘n konseptualisering van OBV-verbouing wat die fases van die OBV proses sal stipuleer om stap-vir-stap riglyne vir die bou van OBV voor te stel. ‘n Vennootskapsbenadering met strategiese belangegroepe word voorgestel deur die model, wat gebaseer is op die proposisie van ‘n OBV ontwikkelingskontinuum, wat impliseer dat ‘n OBV oor tyd in intensiteit kan groei van ‘n basiese OBV, wedersydse voordelige OBV, volhoubare OBV tot ‘n uiteindelike organisatoriese-belangegroepvennootskap. Die model is gebou uit ‘n korporatiewe kommunikasiestandpunt, wat gevolglik die bydrae van korporatiewe kommunikasie in die organisasie as ’n OBV-verbouingsfunksie om organisatoriese effektiwiteit te verseker, beklemtoon. Die studie bied ‘n verkennende literatuurstudie om ’n konseptuele raamwerk vir OBV-verbouing daar te stel, waarvan die beginsels van die raamwerk verder verken en gemeet is in gelysde Suid-Afrikaanse organisasies deur middel van ‘n kwantitatiewe web-gebaseerde opname en een-tot-een onderhoude om ’n OBV-verbouingsmodel te ontwikkel wat riglyne vir die proses van OBV-verbouing bied, gebaseer op beide teoretiese en praktiese insigte. / Communication Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Communication)

For organisations to survive in an ever-changing milieu, as evident from the current business environment, sufficient crisis communication and management practices need to be in place to ensure organisational survival. Despite the latter, organisational crises are often inefficiently managed which could be ascribed to the lack of managing crises strategically (Kash & Darling 1998:180). This study explores the lack of strategic crisis communication processes within the financial industry specifically, to ensure effective crisis communication with the media as stakeholder group, through the proposition of an integrated crisis communication framework, which focuses on: · Combining integrated communication (IC) literature with Grunig’s theory of communication excellence to build sustainable media relationships through two-way communication; and · Implementing a crisis communication process that has proactive, reactive and post-evaluative crisis communication stages, thereby moving away from crisis communication as a predominant reactive function. / Communication Sciences / M.A. (Communication)