Assessing the Practice of Public Relations’ Practitioners in Creating Service Awareness and Reputation The Case of Headquarters Commercial Bank of Ethiopia

Abstract

Public Relations (PRs) is a very important tool to facilitate the efforts of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) by undergoing public attitude and disseminating information to the public. However, the contribution of professional public relations is not given due consideration at CBE. The study aims to assess the practices of public relations‟ practitioners in creating service awareness and enhancing the reputation of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. The study adopted a case study design and qualitative research approaches. To collect data from the participants, using purposive sampling techniques, the study employed in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, document analysis, and a questionnaire. The questionnaire was used to collect only the participants‟ background information. The study analyzed the qualitative data using thematic analysis and the survey data using frequency and percentage. The result showed that the public relations unit knows what is expected of it, carries out its tasks moderately, and utilizes as many public relations tools to create service awareness and improve the reputation of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. Nevertheless, the study mainly points out that less attention was paid to professional public relations practice, and Public Relations was not considered a top management function. Lack of effective professional ability to set and evaluate strategic goals, an unrelated field of study of most of the PRs practitioners, lack of adequate human power, and lack of adequate budget and absence of adequate capacity-building training were the main challenges of the practice in Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. To solve the problem, the study forwarded some recommendations.