Description
Non-profit organizations have recognized the need to create and maintain relationships with their publics. This goal can be accomplished with the practice of public relations. Public relations programs strive to create and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with key stakeholders. Previously described in the Excellence Study of 1992 as the two-way symmetrical model of public relations, this thesis studied the symmetrical communication dimension of public relations. Symmetrical communication was examined for two different publics, an external public (volunteers) and an internal public (staff). Few researchers have analyzed the simultaneous use of symmetrical communication internally and externally for a non-profit organization. This study analyzed confidential, qualitative, indepth interviews conducted with stakeholders in a non-profit organization. Interview participants were selected using purposive and snowball sampling. Additionally, this study analyzed previously collected, anonymous survey data from the same non-profit organization to supplement the qualitative research. The additional, existing research provided a wellrounded perspective and produced new conclusions between this study and the prior research. This thesis research encourages organizations to re-evaluate their public relations methods of communication. Additionally, it can serve as a method of measurement for other organizations to use in order to evaluate the consistencies and inconsistencies and whether they communicate symmetrically, internally and externally. This research can contribute to existing scholarship on internal and external publics, symmetrical communication, employee communication and communication in non-profit organizations.
