COMM 3170: Introduction to Organizational Communication

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COMM 3170Introduction toOrganizational
Communication

• Summer 2005
• Dan Lair
• d.lair_at_utah.edu

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Questions from Chapter Five
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What Is Identity?

• Changing nature of identity from sameness to
  uniqueness.
• Kuhn McPartlands Twenty Statements Test
• Exercise Answer 20 times the question, I am .
  . . .
• Now, consider how many of your answers are
• characteristics (e.g., honest, friendly)
• social roles (e.g., mother, brother)
• group or organizational memberships (e.g.,
  positions)
• Identity as the sum total of identifications
  (Burke)

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Discussion Organizational Identification

• What is organizational identification?
• What was your level of identification with your
  organization?
• What factors do you feel contributed to your
  level of identification with employees?
• Is identification always a desired organizational
  goal?

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Inducements to Identification

• Common-ground (e.g., I was poor, too.)
• Antithesis (i.e., unity in opposition)
• Assumed or transcendent we (e.g., We at Acme
  believe)
• Unifying symbols (e.g., logos, banners)
• --from Kenneth Burke (1950), then adapted by
• Cheney (1983), and DiSanza Bullis (1999)

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Identification and Decision Making

• A person identifies with an organization when he
  or she seeks to select alternatives with the
  interests of the organizationas best they can be
  determineduppermost in mind
• --Tompkins Cheney (1985), adapting the
  operational definition by Simon (1976)

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The Problem of Organizational Identity
Communicating Identity in A Crowded Communication
Environment

• Increased media outlets
• Increased stakeholder pressures
• Increased competition
• Other trends?
• In a crowded communication climate, communication
  is both a cause of and solution to the problem.

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Projecting Organizational Identity A Timeline
of External Corporate Communication

• 1860s Early Developments in Advertising
• 1880s Early Developments in Public Relations
• 1920s Growth of Advertising Emergence of
  Lifestyle
• 1950s Advent of Marketing Growth of
  Consumerism
• 1960s-1970s Consumer Advocacy and Other Social
  Movements
• 1975? Issues/Values Advertising/Management
• 1980s Rise of Identity Management
• 1990s Dominance of Marketing Discourse
• 2000 Attempted Consolidation of Communications
  Functions

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The Problem of Organizational Identity Branding
as Strategy

• Branding and the Unique Selling Proposition
  (Olins, 2000, p. 53)
• This product is better because it contains X
  (secret, magic, new, miracle) ingredient that
  will make it work more effectively.
• If you use it, it will mean that your home will
  look more beautiful, or your food will taste much
  better, or you yourself will be even more
  glamorous than before.
• This will leave you more time to remain even more
  desirable and attractive for your lovely husband
  and family.

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The Problem of Organizational Identity Branding,
Continued

• Evolution and Extension of Branding
• Consumer brands (USP)
• Retail brands
• Product brands
• Corporate brands
• National brands
• ????

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The Problem of Organizational Identity
Auto-communication

• The organization sends messages to the outside
  that it then receives itself.
• This may be conscious or largely unconscious.
• The organization repeats a message so that it
  eventually internalizes it.
• The organization sees the environment in such a
  way that confirms its own expectations.
• The last two are largely unconscious.