Many
thinkers of the day have transferred the concept of human identity to the firm (Simoes,
Dibb and Fisk, 2005). Coming up with a strategy that helps in shaping the
overall identity of the firm is one of the major chores for the managers in
contemporary business (Stuart, 1999). Identity and image is simply the way persons
(natural or corporate) think or perceive themselves and what they purport to be.
The portrayal of the image at both the individual and corporate level is an
important endeavour in the modern day. Companies nowadays have their own
identity in terms of character, distinctiveness, essence as well as meaning. Today,
managers seek to maintain the identity of their employees which helps the
maintenance of their corporate image.
Concept of corporate identity
Albert
and Whetten (1995) describes organisational identity as comprising of the
attributes that the organisation’s members regard essential and distinctively
descriptive of the organisation and which persist over time. It can be
described as a combination of a firm’s tangible and intangible assets that
contribute to its uniqueness (Bernstein, 1984). Identity at the organisational
level is not only what a firm views itself as being, but also what it says
about itself to the public (Ronald & Jackson, 2010). Organisational or
corporate identity, corporate image and corporate personality are at times seen
confusing (Gray and John,
1998).
Moffit (1995) sought to separate these terminologies by suggesting that while identity
may be taken to refer to content, image may refer to form. He argues that when
a firm undertakes to project its identity, its image is formed in the mind of
the individual and thus a corporate image is arrived at. Olins (1995) on the
other hand talks of corporate personality as being the soul and the spirit of
the firm which is unique to that firm alone. Albert & Wheeton (1995)
perceive corporate personality in a slightly different perspective where they
equate it to organizational character.
Corporate
identity strategy is the systematic approach towards using or applying
effective as well as an integrated communications for the purpose of developing
relationships between a firm and its stakeholders. Corporate identity is
therefore the manifestation of a firm’s mission statement coupled with values
as well as corporate purpose plus a host of behavioural aspects that help a
firm improve its general personality (Ranchhold & Marandi, 2007).
It
has nowadays become a factor of the firm’s articulation of both the mission as
well as the vision summary (Ronald and Jackson, 2010). For instance, the
mission statement of Microsoft reads, “There will be a personal computer in
every desk running Microsoft software”; this simply depicts them as giants in
the software industry, an opinion that consumers subsequently buy. Other formal
statements such as credos and slogans have the effect of conveying so much
about a firm. Prudential’s slogan of “own a piece of the rock has been quite
effective in saying much about the firm’s financial strength.
Another
related concept is the concept of organizational identity. While corporate
identity is clearly affected by the feelings and attitudes of both the
employees and the members concerning a firm, organisational identity is on the
other hand liked to the opinions and thoughts of the employees and stakeholders
of a firm (Ronald & Jackson, 2010). Other facets of this concept include
corporate culture and corporate strategy in addition to organizational design.
Strategy defines the overall plan that describes the firm’s market targets. For
instance, Southwest Airlines being regionally based chose a strategy of low
costs as well as fares
Corporate
culture comprises of the common felt values and beliefs. Southwest Airlines has
a corporate culture of customer focus and internal co-operation. These values support
the corporate identity of the firm. Organizational design constitutes the basic
choices that leaders have in developing the organizational relationship
patterns.
Individuals
who get employed in some organisations today get their lives restrained by
their employers for the purposes of retaining image. Current employees tend to
represent the internal constituency of the firm that a corporate body must
consider while communicating their corporate identity. The management of the
individuals posing as employees starts with the recruitment (Dowling, 1994).
Firms like Maeck and Hewlett Packard are some of the firms that due to their
sterling reputations encourage top-notch applicants. For instance, purchasing a
car is a personal decision but most of the car manufacturers like Toyota insist
on their employees to own cars from the firm so as to retain their corporate
image (Dutton, Dukerich and Harquail, 1994).
Corporate
bodies also may seek to retain their employees whose personal identity is
considered admirable in the eyes of the public. A good example is case of the
former Apple Company’s CEO, Steve Jobs. Due to his superior personality and
public image, Apple Company had to retain him as the CEO even with his health
having deteriorated however with his duties delegated (Dutton, Dukerich and
Harquail, 1994).)
The
employee is the backbone of any organisation’s operations (Balmer and Wilson,
1998). It therefore follows that for a corporate image to be seen as effective
and reflective of the firm there must be an observed level of consistency
between the values projected by the employees and the organisation. The
corporate image is largely influenced by the vision and objectives of the
organisation. Although the process of strategy definition may involve the input
of individual employees, the resultant vision and mission statements often
differ significantly from the initial perspectives assumed by the employees due
to the incorporation of a variety and often conflicting views (Bernstein, 1984).
This necessitates the process of concise communication by the organisation to
employees in order to create the sensitisation on the resultant organisational
image which they must diligently project in their daily operations (Bernstein,
1984).
The
process of ensuring the effectiveness of a corporate image requires full
cooperation by the staff members across the whole functions of the
organisation. The concept of tying individuals to the organisations is
increasingly important in the rapidly changing business environments which tend
to influence employee behaviour across several industries (Balmer, 2008). The
self definition is a function of the individuals’ perception of the corporate
identity and subsequent realignment with the corporate image at the individual
level. This brings to the fore the communication theory of identity which views
the development of collective and individual identities as a function of communication.
By implication, this theory requires that the organisations communicate their
organisational image concisely to the employees (Bernstein, 1984). It is only
after the employees have gained accurate understanding of the corporate image
that they can realign their behavioural traits and preferences to be in synergy
with the organisational values. The organisational image can be said to be
coherent only when the organisation and the individual image can be seen as
‘one’ (Balmer and Wilson, 1998). This results in a situation where the
individuals no longer view themselves as distinct and independent components of
the organisation but rather as members of the organisation whose lives and
aspirations are integrated into the corporate vision and mission.
The
alignment of employees’ integration into the corporate image often follows a
process of identity-comparison that evaluates individual values vis a vis those of the organisation. The
stronger the level of identification, the closer the employee is to full
congruence with the organisational values that define its corporate image. Identification
occurs through cognitive attachment (Dutton, Dukerich and Harquail, 1994). This means that the employees
not only focus on the perceived identity (what they think of the firm), but
also on the perceived image (what they believe others to think of the
organisation). Other scholars have diminished the significance of the cognitive
approach and propose the promotion of identity through the creation of
emotional bonds between the organisation and individual employees (Balmer, 2008).
This view proposes the use of motivational factors to promote strong
identification with the corporate image at the individual level. The level of
identification of individual employees with the corporate image may also be a
function of the cultural context in which the organisation operates (Balmer,
2008). Cultures that promote adherence to group visions and goals tend to
provide the motivation for employees to strongly identify with the corporate
image of their organisations. Organisations also have a significant role to
play in ensuring that employees embrace the process of identification by ensuring
that they understand the employee behaviours (Dutton, Dukerich and Harquail, 1994). This understanding has been
proven to be effective in the development of motivational factors aimed at
encouraging stronger levels of identification.
The
most common approaches to corporate identity include the graphic design
approach, the synthesis approach, and the integrated communication approach
(Ranchhold and Marandi, 2007). The graphic design approach conceptualises
corporate identity as closely associated with the visual identity;
organizational nomenclature, design of the logo, and the like (Olins, 1978,
1995). According to Duncan and Everett (1993), the integrated communication
approach is described as the strategic harmonization of all the messages as
well as the media applied by a firm to add value on its brand. It takes into
consideration the various concepts of public relations (Schultz et al., 1994).
Emphasis is laid on those procedures that are applied to strategically develop,
change as well as manage a firm’s corporate identity and effectively improve
the public image. The synthesis approach presumes that the corporate identity
is attained through a combination of both the behavioural as well as the communication
strategies, and also through symbolic elements coupled with visual appearance
(Ranchhold and Marandi, 2007).
Basically,
corporate identity deals with the questions regarding the firm’s strategy, the
firm’s business, the firm’s performance, the firm’s vision and objective and so
on (Hatch and Schultz, 2004). By looking at these aspects of the business, a
firm can be said to be managing its corporate identity. In some way, the
corporate identity management can be seen as a strategic tool that can be used
by the firm to gain competitive advantage. In their work, Albert Stuart (1999)
suggests of three ways of managing corporate identity as listed below. Firstly,
corporate identity deals with a claim of character. That is, it deals with
answering questions such as “what is the objective of the firm?” or “how
important are certain features about the organization for the employees?” Secondly,
the management of corporate identity involves some particular distinctiveness.
A corporate identity is formulated through giving answers to questions like,
“how is this firm different from others?” or “how does the firm’s stakeholders
perceive this firm to be different from others?” Thirdly, the need to maintain
and preserve corporate identity has to be sustained over time. At this point,
the managers need to ask themselves such questions as “can the firm maintain
the current market leadership over time?” or “can it succeed in maintaining
sameness over a given period of time?”
It
can also be argued that strategic approach to corporate identity is not only
laid on these questions but also on establishing on the depth of their
application on determining what the organization wants to be. This means that
the strategic corporate identity programme should set the pace for articulating
the vision of the firm.
Firms
need to manage their images at the individual or corporate level. The need for maintaining
identity has most probably increased due to environmental factors which include
increased competition in the market, globalization of many businesses and so
on.
This
concept of corporate personality is adopted by firms for similar roles as those
played by branding in relationship marketing; that is for the purposes of
gaining competitive advantage as well as for the need to differentiate. For
example, where say, a telephone services provider may have enjoyed a monopoly
on services as such, it is now a different case altogether and the former
monopoly has to struggle to keep afloat in the now competitive environment.
Faced with stiff competition, the telephone company seeks to develop its
corporate identity as the start point.
Identity
also forms the basis for the image as well as the reputation of a firm.
Identity forms the basis in which marketers pursue when they attempt to
position themselves in the market. Over some period of time, a good corporate
identity builds a good corporate image. Good reputations in turn, nurture good
reputation. However, researchers have met difficulties while attempting to
quantify the direct impact of reputation or corporate image on sales due to
methodological problems (Ronald & Jackson, 2010). Even so, it is
undisputable that a good reputation is of great value to a firm. Looking at a
recent case involving the Nissan motor company, one can notice that in the
1980s this company enjoyed the image of a customer oriented leadership in the
manufacture of automobiles with a great deal of reputation as pertains
automotive engineering. By the period between 1993 and 1997, due to some poor
leadership, its image as top-notch car producer had declined a lot leading to
declining sales as well as the profits. Customers now perceive it as a
conservative maker of awkward cars after its engineering leadership image
compromised.
The
concept of identity is a concept that has been approached differently by many
academicians. The models used in this study may be different to many other
models that may be applied in different reference materials. However, the
convergence of these approaches is that the different models touch on the key
elements of the very paradigm. The application of these models in the firm has
become a necessary phenomenon that managers have to embrace. As established
earlier in analysing the benefits of applying this concept, despite there not
being a means to calculate the direct benefits of this concept in business, it
is undeniably true that the paradigm in question has direct correlation with
expanded customer base and consequently higher profits for the firm whether in
the long or short term under condition that all things remain equal.
For more theory and case studies on: http://expertresearchers.blogspot.com/
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