Relationships with internal stakeholders within the organisation (employees) are crucial for
organisational survival and success (Hargie & Tourish, 2000:293; Jensen, 2010:32;
Koschmann, 2007:12; McDermott & Chan, 1996:5; Van der Colff, 2003:258). Therefore, twoway
symmetrical communication with employees in building relationships and relationship
management is so important (Bezuidenhout, 2010; Koschmann, 2007:8). The North-West
University focuses on maintaining good relationships with their employees through
communication, but experience challenges in this regard.
The Institutional Office of the North-West University is the main source of information and
communication with employees of all three campuses. A consultant (Media Mosaics, 2010)
and two other studies (Holtzhausen & Fourie, 2011; Mmope, 2010) identified various
problems with the communication and consequent relationships between the Institutional
Office and the Potchefstroom Campus employees. Given that good relations between the
two business units are a focus of the university and that the outcomes of internal
communication are good relationships, it is necessary to determine how the internal
communication from the North-West University Institutional Office to Potchefstroom Campus
employees are conducted in order to build good relationships.
To determine the above a literature study, questionnaire survey and semi-structured
interviews were carried out. The systems approach, reflective paradigm, excellence theory,
two-way symmetrical communication model and stakeholder relations theory were used as a
theoretical framework (Dozier, et al., 1995; Ferreira & Staude, 1991; Grunig & Grunig,
2000:310; Grunig et al., 2002; Ledingham & Bruning, 2001:63; Skinner & Von Essen,
1999:257; Steyn & Puth, 2000; Verčič et al., 2001:382).
From the results it appears that the North-West University Institutional Office and
Potchefstroom Campus employees do not agree on all aspects of the relationship and
communication between them. It appears that the North-West University Institutional Office
meets only some of the requirements of communication and relationship building, as it has
been set out in the literature, and that there is room for improvement. / MA (Communication Studies), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/12038 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Sutton, Lucinda Bella-May |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | other |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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