Cultural selection and its influence on perceptions of reputation within organisations

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• Cultural selection and its influence on
  perceptions of reputation within organisations
• Kim A. Johnston
• James L. Everett
• Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane
  Australia

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• Background of study
• Organisational reputation has been linked to
  sensemaking experiences of organisational members
  (van Riel Fombrun, 2007)

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• Research problem
• Explore and describe the role of cultural
  selection on development of member
  conceptualisations of organisational reputation.

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• Central premises
• Managements
• worldviews influence how they interpret
  environmental changes and subsequent responses
  (Weick, 1979).
• assumptions of their environmental reality shape
  what they value (Hatch, 1993).
• perception of environmental reality is
  distinguished by their understanding of the real
  and conceived elements outside the organisations
  boundaries (Robbins Barnwell, 2006).

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Theoretical foundations
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• Weicks (1969, 1979) Sociocultural model of
  organising
• Relational communication model
• Principle of organising is to reduce equivocality
• Prominent theoretical presence in literature
• Organisational ecology
• concept of ecology describes the behavioural
  interdependences of working systems to their
  environment (Dil, 1980)
• Communication strategy
• internal organisational factors that shape
  communication with stakeholders (Seeger, Sellnow,
  Ulmer, 2001)

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Selection
Retention
Ecological change
Enactment
(Weick 1969, 1979) A process model - social
interaction to reduce equivocality
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• The Culture Concept
• a mediating influence on human action (Dil, 1980
  Durham, 1991 Milton, 1996)
• an information source that shapes action and
  meaning for a specific group (Durham, 1991
  Milton, 1996 Norlin et al., 2003)
• will bias decisions to ensure congruency with
  existing organisational values and belief systems
  (Durham, 1991)
• expressed as patterns of assumptions by a group
  as a way of coping with adaptation and
  integration (Schein, 1984)
• ? Concept of culture is theoretically crucial to
  the analysis of the problem of adapting to
  environments enacted by organisational members
  (Everett, 2002)

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• Culture as criterion cultural selection
• Definition the differential social transmission
  of cultural variants through human
  decision-making or simply as preservation by
  preference (Durham, 1991, p.198).
• Describes the capacity of the cultural system to
  influence the nature of its own evolution
  (Durham, 1991).
• Selection processes change the information that
  people act upon
• In an organisational setting, selection
  processes operate by affecting the information
  and resources available to people, workgroups,
  organisations, and populations (Aldrich, 1999,
  p. 29).
• Through cultural selection organisational members
  can be situated in and interact with their
  environment through negotiated meanings (Milton,
  1996).

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• The role of cultural selection as units
  influencing organizing leads to the key research
  question guiding this study
• What is the role of cultural selection in the
  development and maintenance of organisational
  member perceptions of organisational reputation?

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• Method
• Framed in Interpretivist epistemology
• Designed in tradition of organisational
  ethnography
• Follows social science approaches that explore
  social influences on how people construct meaning
  in natural settings (e.g., Hammersley,1990
  Neuman, 2003)
• Study site
• State chapter of national Australian NGO
• Data
• 20 depth interviews (1.5 hr av)
• Non participatory observation - 6 months
• direct and event- based meetings

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• Data analysis
• Thematically focussed
• words, paragraphs and actions of members,
  organised around direct experience, social
  action, talk and supplementary data
• NVivo 7 used to assist in the storing and
  retrieval of data.
• Limitations
• Access and time constrained by modern realities
• Researcher interpretation ( -)

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• Analysis and Findings
• Member perceptions of the focal organisations
  reputation consistent
• symbol (logo) of the focal organisation
• complex disaster organisation.
• Themes
• public respect
• high levels of esteem
• serious organisation emerged
• a crisis and disaster based organisation

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Figure 1 organisational members perceptions of
the organisations reputation
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• Cultural criteria acting on Selection processes
• Evident when examining communication responses
• our way of doing things
• people just make general comments. Oh it's
  (our org name), if anything's going on, it's,
  Oh, it's just (our org name). So I think
  that's fairly consistent, yeah. (Marketing and
  communication officer) 
• ? rational for that way or response was
  unknown.
• Yep, and what it does do is, it permeates
  through the organisation, where people say,
  "That's unfortunately the (org name) attitude."
• Q What is that?
• The (org name) attitude? It's a not-for-profit
  psyche that a lot of people have. (Senior
  manager) 
• Disaster organisation scope of services
  compromised
• I think people know what they want to know and
  if they need Meals on Wheels then they'll find
  out about Meals on Wheels or if save-a mate
  they are at that level of their life or in that
  age group. or is there in that arena of taking
  drugs or what ever, they will know all about
  that. So I don't think you can say, as a person
  you know about all the services because you going
  to know about what is relevant and applicable to
  you. So I don't think that's ever an achievable
  goal. I don't even know about everything we do,
  but that's not necessarily a failure on our
  communications. I think that it's I know what's
  applicable now to (our region) and my role and
  what I need to know. (Marketing and communication
  officer)
• High brand recognition for evaluating
  communication action extended to other
  communication actions
• I am following what was done last year it
  seems to be the same every year, like a recipe,
  because people know who we are and what we are
  asking for why change if people know what to
  expect even though it could be made better
  (Marketing and communication officer)
• Sharing risk - Having a discussion, avoiding
  documentation and awareness of consequence
• At various times, depending on the particular
  relationships because bearing in mind that in
  some national functions or national programs
  our program managers will have developed a
  relationship with their national managers and so
  how those programs work in being implemented is
  actually based a lot on how those relationships
  work. (Executive)

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Figure 2 Interplay of perceptions of reputation
and cultural criteria acting on drivers of
response
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• Implications
• Reinforces the value of a sociocultural
  perspective
• organisational adaptation
• Role of public relations to facilitate adaptation
  
• Response based on the ability of the organisation
  to interpret, understand or translate equivocal
  environmental information (Beer et. al, 2005
  Weick, 1979)
• Internal reputation results from mindful
  collective internal processes that interpret and
  analyse environmental equivocality or change
  (Weick, 1979 Weick Sutcliffe, 2001).

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• Contribution
• Understanding the guiding influence of cultural
  selection on the beliefs and values that
  constitute an organisations culture, on public
  relations actions and messages (communication
  strategy) reflect the action of cultural
  selection as much as it reflects perceived
  imperatives of the environment.
• In the context of organisational reputation, a
  core domain of public relations practice, much of
  the focus of practice is on environmental
  scanning and interpretation.

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• Future research
• With additional research in this area, we may
  well find that the historical emphasis on
  scanning and monitoring of environmental factors
  is a less essential task for effective public
  relations practice that the practitioners
  competency in the analysis of cultural processes
  within an organisation.
• Questions?