Abstract
Although employees are the most critical of organisation publics, it is unclear whether employee-organisation relationships (EORs) in non-profit organisations (NPOs) in Kenya are prioritised. To investigate this question further, the study explored relationship antecedents in two non-profit organisations. The study was informed by relationship management theory and the symmetrical communication framework. Semi-structured, indepth interviews were carried out among 24 purposively sampled management and nonmanagement employees. The data was manually analysed and requisite a priori and in vivo codes and themes identified. The study findings suggest a lack of understanding about the strategic role of public relations in the organisation. Further, technician oriented PRdepartments mediate the perceptions of and effort expended on internal relationships. Managing employee-organisation relationships was perceived more as a human resource rather than a PR function which precludes more robust forms of PR practice. The researchers recommend a clear demarcation between the public relations and human resource function and to build strategic PR departments that embrace internal relationship management.
 Keywords: Relationship management, employee-organisation relationships, public relations, organisation-public relationships, relationship antecedents
Highlights
For over three decades, public relations (PR) scholars have shown a growing interest in the critical role of organisation public relationships (OPRs) and the public relations manager role in managing those relationships that are critical to organisational success
The findings of this research underscores the perennial call for strategic public relations management of which relationship management is core, (Center and Jackson, 1995; 2014; McNamara, 2014)
This study points towards the need to build the capacity of public relations managers in non-profit organisations (NPOs) beyond the publicity and marketing communication function, to a more strategic one which embraces internal relationships
Summary
Public relations (PR) scholars have shown a growing interest in the critical role of organisation public relationships (OPRs) and the public relations manager role in managing those relationships that are critical to organisational success. The growth of relationship management studies was largely influenced by the need to demonstrate the value of public relations in the organisation by linking PR activities and strategies to organisational mission. Despite their proven importance in PR research and practice, organisation public relationships are difficult to measure and relationship management scholars over the years have struggled to measure and theorise this concept. Researchers have developed a dizzying lexicon to describe relationship management including: relationship management, organisation-public relationships (OPR), the relational perspective and so on. The history of relationship management is somewhat perplexing because after Ferguson’s ground breaking study, PR researchers were silent on the subject for nearly ten years until the mid to late 1990s, which witnessed an explosion of interest in OPRs
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