The role of public relations in ENHANCING CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION IN A GOVERNMENT PERASTATTALS (A CASE STUDY) OF THE ENUGU STATE IDATER CORPORATION) is hinged on disclosing the necessity of applying public relations and the role public relations can play in rendering a satisfactory services which will not only retain customer but attract more customers to a government firm.

Accordingly, customer satisfaction has to do with serving the customers in a most respectable and satisfying manner as well as conducting such services in a way he customer like or want according to John Hoepers (1985) “in the free market economy, one gains wealth only through serving the customers best d determined by the opinion of the customers themselves. The researcher has investigated on how the management sees the public relations department of the Enugu state water corporation and what satrapies it has employed in including the satisfaction of the corporations customers and how these strategies have affected the relationship of customers with the government organizations Questionnaires and oral interviews were used by the researcher to obtain data. A total of 150 questionnaires were given to respondents comprising the employee, management and customers of Enugu state water corporation but only 122 questionnaires were returned. The researcher also make use of reluctant and reliable test books written by authors on public relations.

From findings, the researcher was able to observe that the public relations department of the Enugu Sate water corporation is highly regarded and its action ties have contributed to the tremendous growth of the corporation and its suggestions also form the basis of their policies.

Another major observation is that the corporation through the role of the public relations department has adopted and implemented some suggestion made by customers in order to serve them better.

In ending this study, the researcher has made some recommendations both for the growth and progress of the corporation and also for further studies in this area.

The project, for the purpose of easy understanding is divided into five chapter. The first chapter entails the introduction of the topic under study which the second chapter deals with the review of relevant literatures that have been used in this project.

Chapter three deals with the outline of the methodology used where as chapter four contains the analysis and interpretation of the result.

The summary of this work is discussed in chapter five together with conclusion and recommendations for further study.

TABLE OF CONTENT

TITLE PAGE II

APPROVAL PAGE III

DEDICATION IV

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT V

ABSTRACT VII

TABLE OF CONTENT X

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACK GROUND OF STUDY 1

1.2 BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ENUGU STATE WATER CORPORATION 10

1.3 STATEMENT OF STUDY 15

1.4 OBJECTIVES OF STUDY 20

1.5 SIGNIFICATION OF STUDY 22

1.6 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 23

1.7 HYPOTHESES 24

1.8 CONCEPTUAL AND OPERATIONAL DEFINITION 26

1.9 ASSUMPTIONS 27

1.10 LIMITATIONS 28

1.11 Theoretical framework 29

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 Literature Review 30

2.1 The Education of Public Relations 31

2.2 Towards A Definition of Public Relations 36

2.3 Operative Parts Of the Above Definitions 42

2.4 Functions of PR………………………………… 47

2.5 The Role of the PR in Customer Satisfaction 49

2.6 Summary of Literature Review 53

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 Methodology …………………………………………. 57

3.1 Research Method ………………………………….. 57

3.2 Research Design…………………………………… 57

3.3 Population Size…………………………………… 58

3.4 Measuring Instrument…………………………… 60

3.5 Data Collection…………………………………….. 60

3.6 Data Analysis………………………………… 60

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 Data Analysis and Results……………….. 62

4.1 Presentation of result Employee and Management Questionnaire. 63

4.2 Presentation and Analysis of Customer Questionnaire……………. 73

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 Summary and Recommendation 88

5.1 Summary of Findings 80

5.2 Conclusion 91

5.3 Recommendation 93

5.4 Appendix 99

5.5 Bibliography 96

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACK GROUND OF STUDY

In this are of multifarious organization for production, service or distribution and its subsequent water – tight competition among the concerns, it has become germane for an organization whether profit – oriented or public service type to continually adjust themselves to the needs of the environment in order to survive.

“No man island”. The same is applicable to an organization because no organization can function in isolation from its public that constitute its environment.

The public which constitutes the environment and forms the nucleus of any society has to be pleased and satisfied that an organization has its interest at heart for the organization to survive. There can be no escape in today’s world from the grinding wheels of public attitude. This is the era of “ the public be pleased”. For the obvious reason that every organization is dependent on its public for survival. And public support can only gained of the public are satisfied.

The prevailing notion that “the customer is always right” therefore needs to be treated courteously and respectively has heightened and intensified the relevance of the public relations in to day’s business organization. Subsequently business organizations should not keep away from the pubic, but should maintain a progressive cordial relationship with them.

The public relations role includes how well an organization has been able to elicit the understanding of its customers, which it needs to survive and grow in business.

The nature this relations with customers depend very much on how well the customer are treated and how well they are satisfied with the services of the organization which will invariable affect the reputation of the organization public relations can play an important role in safe guarding a reputation or in establishing a new public