Managing The Personality of the Organisation

1. Managing The Personality of the Organisation Corporate Reputation and Competitiveness Lecture 9

2. Lecture Objectives • To explore what is implied in the way an organisation functions by different aspects of corporate personality

3. Is Reputation a Strategic Paradigm? • Matching the resources of the firm to the demands of the marketplace (harmonizing image and identity) • Providing a sense of direction (improve on those aspects of image that satisfy customers) • Deliver above average profitability (worth about 5% sales growth merely by comparing what happens internally) • An asset worth about half a year’s turnover

4. Changing Reputation • STEP 1 Recognize too that managing reputation is about managing the way people feel and that emotions are difficult things to assess, let alone manage. • STEP 2 Reputation functions where they exist have evolved from PR into corporate communications functions. They need to move on to the next stage in their evolution so that they can manage the many facets of a business that contribute to reputation

5. Changing Reputation • STEP 3 Measure the image you have with customers and your identity, particularly the view of your customer facing employees • STEP 4 Identify what co-relates with, co-varies with or drives (chose your own jargon here) stakeholder satisfaction and your commercial performance

6. Changing Reputation • STEP 5 Identify those dimensions of reputation where you need to improve • STEP 6 Ask your employees and customers how they feel you should make these improvements and what specific actions you should take, what changes in micro behavior need to be addressed.

7. Changing Reputation • STEP 7 Support the ideas identified in the way employees need to feel about the organization through training, the selection and induction of new employees and internal and external communications. • STEP 8 Only once the internal view, identity has been improved is it time to communicate to customers.

8. Changing Reputation • STEP 9 Check in a year or two whether you have changed your reputation for the good by surveying staff and customers again. It takes time to change reputation so don’t try to measure it every month!.

9. Reputation and Culture • Reputation and Culture are close in a service organisation, particularly identity (who we think we are) and culture (how we do things around here). • So is it possible to link the ideas together more formally?

10. Identity Dimensions

11. The Culture Issue LO HIGH NETWORKED COMMUNAL HIGH SOCIABILITY FRAGMENTED MERCENARY LO SOLIDARITY Source: The Character of a Corporation, Rob Coffee and Gareth Jones, Harper Collins,1998

12. NETWORKED CULTURES Managers know each other well A friendly, supportive environment No real shared sense of what the organisation is about, but perhaps there is no need for this anyway Open plan, open door, meetings before meetings culture, work time used to socialise, personal differences down-played, alumni associations

13. MERCENARY CULTURES Results orientation Achievement is celebrated No socialising during working hours Communication is direct and functional People work long hours and identify with winning, beating the competition, exceeding last years’ targets Employees come and go. There are no ceremonies to celebrate long service awards, but there’s no need either.

14. FRAGMENTED CULTURES Employees are not interdependent, they do not need to be Office doors are closed Offices are often empty, but are well equiped Talk is limited to brief exchanges, documents go unread A focus on achieving professional excellence, human relationships are not seen as relevant to this goal Individualism and personal freedom are valued. Personal lives remain undisclosed

15. COMMUNAL CULTURES A strong sense of corporate identity, the walls are adorned by the company mission and vision statement Working space is shared, social and eating areas overlap with work areas People live at work, social relationships are extensions of work ones Employees are fiercely loyal, even after they leave Examples include voluntary organisations and religious groups

16. Identity Dimensions COMMUNAL NETWORKED MERCENARY FRAGMENTED

17. The Personality of Your Organisation Just What is different about an organisation typified by Agreeableness?

18. AGREEABLENESS Warmth Empathy Integrity Cheerful Concerned Honest Pleasant Reassuring Sincere Open Supportive Socially Responsible Straightforward Agreeable Trustworthy Copyright 2001

19. The Personality of Your Organisation Competence

20. COMPETENCE Conscientiousness Drive Technocracy Reliable Ambitious Technical Achievement Oriented Secure Corporate Hardworking Leading Copyright 2001

21. The Personality of Your Organisation Enterprise

22. ENTERPRISE Modernity Adventure Boldness Cool Imaginative Extrovert Trendy Up to Date Daring Young Exciting Copyright 2001 Innovative

23. The Personality of Your Organisation Chic

24. CHIC Elegance Prestige Snobbery Charming Prestigious Snobby Stylish Exclusive Elitist Elegant Refined Copyright 2001

25. The Personality of Your Organisation Ruthlessness

26. RUTHLESSNESS Egotism Dominance Arrogant Inward Looking Aggressive Authoritarian Selfish Controlling Copyright 2001

27. The Personality of Your Organisation Machismo

28. MACHISMO Masculine Tough Rugged Copyright 2001

29. The Personality of Your Organisation Informality

30. INFORMALITY Casual Simple Easy going Copyright 2001

31. Summary • Different aspects of corporate personality imply differences in culture, internal design recruitment policy, training, communication, marketing and HR policies, and corporate strategy.