Organisational Leadership Style and Its Impact on the Process of Strategic Public Relations in Tanzanian Commercial Banks

Abstract

This paper assessed the impact of organisational leadership style on the process of strategic public relations in the context of selected commercial banks in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The assessed banks were the National Bank of Commerce (NBC), National Micro-Finance Bank (NMB Plc), and CRDB Bank Plc. The paper sought to contribute to strategic communication literature that indicates that public relations personnel cannot realise the process of strategic public relations without commitment and support of the top leaders and related leadership style. Guided by the interpretivism research philosophy, the study qualitatively and purposively gathered data from 12 participants: three chief executive officers, three public relations personnel, three human resource directors, and three marketing directors. The study found that some leadership style behaviours of the top leaders and majority of the line managers in the banks hinder the process of strategic public relations whose four steps are research and analysis of the communication opportunity or problem, planning and management of strategic communication programmes, implementation of the communication strategy, and evaluation of strategic communication efforts. The paper concludes that in the context of commercial banks in Tanzania, both the top leaders and the public relations personnel should play their roles effectively to foster public relations value.