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MA (Communication), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus Healthy, mutually beneficial relationships with key stakeholders are crucial for organisational survival, achieving long-term corporate goals, and ensuring value for both the organisation and the stakeholders. Such relationships can be established best by practising two-way symmetrical communication and using relationship management strategies. Due to the competitive pricing among South African banks and the bleak economy that resulted from the recent looting disaster that occurred during the completion of this study and the Covid-19 pandemic, the banking sector is facing many difficulties. Therefore, the banking institution used in this study must foster and maintain sound relationships with customers to survive. Customers are viewed as the bank’s strategic stakeholder because they contribute to the latter’s financial survival. Managing customer relationships has therefore been described as imperative for the success of an industry, with no exception to banks. Against this background, this study aims to answer the following general research question: How is communication at the specific bank’s Limpopo and Mpumalanga provincial offices managed, from a senior management’s perspective, to foster and maintain relationships with their customers, according to the guidelines of the two-way symmetrical communication model and stakeholder relationship management theory? The following theories formed the guiding theoretical framework for this study: stakeholder theory, Mitchell’s stakeholder identification theory, the two-way symmetrical communication model, and the stakeholder relationship management theory. In addition, in this qualitative study, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with six senior managers at the specific bank’s Limpopo and Mpumalanga provincial offices and branches. The participants were selected through a purposive sampling method. The aim was to understand their perception regarding the bank’s implementation of communication and strategies to foster and maintain relationships with customers at the Limpopo and Mpumalanga branches. The data collected through the interviews were analysed by qualitative thematic content analyses and the Vivo system. In summary, it was found that, while the bank is making great efforts to manage its communication with customers successfully, it meets only some requirements of communication and relationship building that is set out in the literature. There is thus room for improvement. Therefore, this study makes recommendations for the bank’s Limpopo and Mpumalanga branches to manage its external communication to build relationships with customers amidst the challenging environment in South Africa that influences the banking context. Masters |
