Page 87 - Corporate Communication

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76 Mapping the Field

Table 3.3 Organizational identity research methods
Ease of Expert analysts
Method Participants Data collection analysis needed Costs
Cob-web Group of senior Brainstorming High No Low
method managers session
Focus group Groups of senior Brainstorming High No; but group Low–
managers and session facilitator moderate
employees (consultant)
Projective Groups of senior Interviews with Low Yes; trained Low–
tests managers and use of visual psychologist/ moderate
employees aids researcher
Laddering/ Groups of senior Open interviews Low Yes; trained Low–
critical managers and researcher moderate
incident employees
Audit/survey Groups of senior Questionnaire High Yes; trained Low–
managers and researcher moderate
employees

Without doubt, the values that an organization stands for through its members to
be true, authentic and differentiating stretch beyond communications and the remit
of communications practitioners alone.The CEO and the senior management team
are the most obvious patrons of organization-wide identity questions, and the way
in which these become translated into mission and vision documents and become
spread throughout the organization.When Carlos Ghosn for instance took the helm
at Nissan in 1999 he personally led the restoration and strengthening of Nissan’s
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identity, which had become sloppy, weak and insufficiently exploited. Alongside
a restructuring and cost-cutting programme to boost productivity and profitability
(for which he took a lot of flak), Ghosn revamped Nissan’s identity of quality engi-
neering and the uniquely Japanese combination of keen competitiveness and sense
of community. He ensured that through his own performance and commitment as
well as through internal communications these values trickled down through the
ranks to embrace all employees.
As the example of Nissan shows, it is important that a sense of organizational
identity becomes internalized by members of the organization, so that they can live
and enact the company’s values in their day-to-day work. In particular, those
members of the organization who personally represent the organization in the eyes
of stakeholders such as the CEO, front-office personnel and shopkeepers, and those
who are responsible for marketing and communications, need to have a fine grasp of
the company’s core ideologies and values. Senior managers with the help of senior
communications practitioners, as experts on stakeholder management, can facili-
tate this understanding by articulating and actively communicating the company’s
values to all staff within the organization through policy documents and internal
communications.
A number of analytical tools are available to senior managers and senior
communications professionals for drawing out and articulating the organizational
identity (Table 3.3). These different tools, ranging from management exercises to
more psychological projective tests, can all be used to elicit the values within the