Axioms of Relationship Management

Abstract

Public relations scholars who have adopted a relationship management perspective have reported that the relationship that exists between an organization and key public members influences key public member perceptions, attitudes, evaluations, and behaviors. Scholars argue that in the relationship management perspective, the role of the public relations practitioner is to support and manage organization-public relationships, not simply transfer information. However, the practice of public relations more typically employs traditional mass communication models rather than true relationship principles. The current investigation extends the axioms of interpersonal communication to an organization-public context, finding that many of the concepts, when adapted slightly, are applicable to an organization-public relationship. Understanding the axioms of organization-public relationship communication should help practitioners develop a clearer conceptualization of the role that communication and relationships play in organizational functioning, and lend more credence to the notion of public relations as relationship management.