Page 81 - Corporate Communication

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70 Mapping the Field

on the information and cues that are received from the organization itself, as other
sources including word-of-mouth and media reporting have an impact as well.
Figure 3.3 suggests nonetheless that successful companies realize and work from the
position that their own communications, products and behaviour have a key impact
on the reputations that stakeholders hold, and that their own corporate identity mix
needs to be managed accordingly.In this process,organizations need to link the corpo-
rate identity – the picture of the organization that is presented to external stake-
holders – to the organizational identity – the values that members of the organization
themselves associate with the organization and ascribe to it.This idea is present in
many academic and practitioner writings, where corporate identity is considered as
the self-presentation or outward manifestation of an organization that is based on the
company philosophy, strategy, culture and vision; in short, its organizational identity. 25
Making sure that the corporate identity is rooted in the organizational identity then
not only offers a distinctive edge in the marketplace, but also ensures that the image
that is projected is not cosmetic but authentic and actually carried and shared by
members of the organization.

Organizational identity and corporate identity

Conceptually, corporate identity can thus be defined as the picture of the organiza-
tion in terms of how this is presented to various audiences. Originally, corporate
identity was associated with logos and the company house style (stationary etc.) of
an organization, but has gradually been broadened to include all communications
(e.g. advertising, events, sponsorship, press/publicity and promotions), and all the
ways – including products and services and employee behaviour – through which
a picture of the organization is communicated. Corporate identity is thus quite
encompassing, and as a consequence, spirals out into different functional areas within
the organization. Communications practitioners (including marketing communica-
tions professionals), while involved with senior management in the overall formula-
tion of the corporate identity, often bear the direct responsibility only for corporate
symbolism and communications, while product and brand managers are responsible
for the positioning of products and services, and human resource staff and middle
managers for the guidance to and monitoring of employee behaviour.
Organizational identity relates to how an organization’s members perceive and
understand the organization. 26 Organizational identity is often defined with the
central questions of ‘who we are’ and ‘what we stand for’ that managers put to them-
selves and other members of the organization.This then results in a number of values,
beliefs and aspirations that are commonly captured in the mission, strategic vision
and the more general corporate culture of an organization.The mission and vision
represent the basic who and what of an organization: what business the organization
is in and what it wants to be known and appreciated for.The mission often already
includes a statement on the beliefs that constitute the organization’s culture and
underpin its management style and strategy, and also suggests how it wants to be
known by groups outside the organization. Design guru Wally Olins phrased the
difference between organizational identity (a concept that he initially labelled as corpo-
rate personality) and corporate identity rather vividly within the following quote: