The King Cetshwayo District Municipality’s Reputational Communication Management within its amalgamated municipalities
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Date
2020
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Publisher
University of Zululand
Abstract
The study examines how the King Cetshwayo district municipality managed its reputation after the 2016 local provincial elections where many municipalities were incorporated into one municipality. The purpose of the study is to analyse how new communication technologies aid municipalities in maintaining their reputation. Modern technologies are emerging and evolving rapidly; therefore, the study focuses on how these swift changes impact on society’s perspectives of municipal trends. Further, the study examines forces of change within the King Cetshwayo District Municipality as well as communication strategies which the merged municipality has in place to satisfy customer needs. The study also evaluates brand reputational management techniques used by the new municipality. The research strategy employed a triangulation of methodologies which included qualitative and quantitative research methods. Data was gathered using survey questionnaires and structured interviews, where the researcher personally interacted with the respondents. There has been a strong indication that communication in rural areas is still problematic. Respondents preferred the municipality to use innovative ways of communication which are associated with new communication technology. Respondents also indicated that municipalities should communicate effectively with the media and that they ought to incorporate integrated communication strategies to ensure that internal and external communication with key stakeholders is maintained. Recommendations included major improvement to communications which included the application of up to date communication technologies. Analysis of findings also stressed the need for improving transparency within the organisation.
Description
A dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the academic requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce in the Department of Communication Science in the Faculty of Arts, University of Zululand, 2020.
Keywords
Communication Management, amalgamated municipalities