Relationship Management Theory

“Public Relations is the effective and efficient management of organization-public relationships, based on common interests and shared goals, over time, to engender mutual understanding and mutual benefit” (Ledingham, 2003, p. 184). In this conceptualization, the term relationship management refers to the process of managing organization-public relationships in such a way as to benefit organizations and publics alike. Ledingham further defined relationship as “the state which exists between an organization and its key publics in which the actions of either can impact the economic, social, cultural or political well-being of the other” (2003, p. 184). In this theory, the term organization-public[Page 782]relationships is a convenience and is not intended to suggest greater importance in the relationship of an organization or a public.

In this way, the notion of relationships as the domain of public relations has forced a reconceptualization of the discipline. In the past, public relations practitioners considered their function to be the production and placement of persuasive messages primarily through the mass media in order to enhance an organization's corporate reputation or its products or services. Performance usually was measured in terms of communication quantity. Benefit for the organization's publics was not generally considered a necessary part of the public relations function.

Conversely, today's public relations manager increasingly sees the public relations function as managing the relationship between a client organization and the publics with which it interacts. The practitioner does so by using practice applications such as special events, as well as governmental and community relations. Publicity is recognized as an important application, but only one of many. The concept of relationship management, then, switches program evaluation from the quantity of communication vehicles to the quality of the organization-public relationship (OPR).

Another key component of the relational concept is the notion of mutuality. Research indicates that perceptions of mutuality (mutual control, mutual understanding, mutual benefit) are linked to long-term relationships, positive perceptions of an organization's public positions, and loyalty toward an organization's product and services. Perceptions of mutuality are linked to positive relationships with internal publics—such as employees or volunteers— which help build organizational morale.

Finally, the so-called relational perspective provides an overarching framework for scholarly inquiry and for developing educational curricula.

A relationship management process model, SMARTS, has been advanced, consisting of scan (environmental surveillance), map (setting goals and objectives), act (developing and pretesting initiatives), rollout (putting programs in place), track (evaluating the success of the initiatives), and steward (monitoring and maintaining relationship quality). Other models delineate antecedents, maintenance and outcomes of OPRs, or offer processes for further analyzing those relationships.

The emergence of relationship management as a foundation for public relations study and practice is said to have been spurred by four key developments:

• 1.
  Recognition of relationships as the domain of public relations. The notion of relationships as the domain of public relations—rather than the organization, the public, or the communication process—provided a unifying concept for public relations and gave rise to a major shift in the core focus of the discipline.
• 2.
  Reconceptualization of public relations as a management function. The idea of managing OPRs introduced principles and processes linking public relations to organizational goals. Moreover, reconceptualization underscored the need for public relations managers to account for their activities in ways understood and appreciated by senior management.
• 3.
  Identification of components and types of relationships. Key dimensions of OPRs were identified and linked to public perceptions and choice behavior. Also, OPR measurement scales were developed for use in measuring organizational quality and predicting public behavior.
• 4.
  Construction of organization-public relationship models. A multistep model was developed to provide insight into the “coming together” and the “coming apart” of organization-public relationships.

OPRs mimic interpersonal relationships in terms of dimensions that impact relationship quality. These dimensions include trust, openness, credibility, mutual control, emotion, intimacy, similarity, immediacy, agreement, issue perception, shared interests, relational history, and in certain cultures, face and favor. Moreover, organizational-public relationships have been found to cluster into three relationship types—interpersonal, professional, and community. An interpersonal relationship refers to the personal interactions of organizational representatives and public members. A professional relationship refers to the delivery of professional services to public members, and community relationship is linked to perceptions that the organization supports the interests of the community. Also, relationships may be communication driven (symbolic) or [Page 783]behavior driven (programmatic), underscoring the importance of both in developing long-term, mutually beneficial relationships.

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