Organizational Image Research Articles

Employee voice: Untapped resource or social media time bomb?

The venues by which employees can voice satisfaction, dissatisfaction, and their experiences with the organization have traditionally been limited to internal communication systems that are orchestrated and sanctioned by the organization. However, social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, as well as blogs and instant messaging, now enable employees to deliver messages to hundreds or even thousands of people with a few keystrokes...messages that may or may not be desirable to or sanctioned by the organization. Under these circumstances, employee voice can be an untapped resource for enhancing the organization's public image or a bomb waiting to explode with devastating impact on the firm's reputation. Effective management of employee voice begins with understanding its purposes: contribution to management decision making, demonstration of partnership, articulation of individual dissatisfaction, and expression of collective bargaining. These expressions of voice can be guided and managed to a strategic advantage when organizations provide a proper organizational context along with the appropriate mechanisms for employees.

Identification of influence in social media communities

Individual usage of social media is expected to have a growing impact on the corporate reputation of organisations. Influential users of social media can disseminate positive or negative information and opinions about products, services, brands or businesses among members of their online networks in the social media spaces. The impact of such actions can often be substantial; negative information and opinions posted in social networks, blogs, online communities and forums has the potential to reach large numbers of people and substantially impact on the organisation's image and reputation. It is important for organisations to identify the online influencers - customers with important social networking impact - and identify ways to interact with them in order to respond efficiently to bad publicity or customer attacks. This study, based on extensive literature review and experts panel study based on the Delphi method, we construct a model identifying the social media influencers and the impact of these influencers on the corporate reputation.

Views of HR specialists on formal mentoring: current situation and prospects for the future

PurposeThe article aims to report the findings of quantitative and qualitative analysis of the benefits, drawbacks and future prospects of formal mentoring in medium‐sized and large organisations.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical data for the study were collected via an online survey, and consist of responses from 152 human resource specialists from companies and public sector organisations in Finland.FindingsThe results reflect the organisations' current situation, and the issues that are important to the HR function. Mentoring is primarily used to transfer tacit knowledge from those near retirement to younger colleagues, foster the personnel development and create well‐being at work. Career advancement and work performance are not as important as might have been thought. The results suggest that mentoring will be more widely used in the future. Among the future potential deliverables of mentoring are strengthening competence management, creating well‐being and enhancing an organisation's image. Young people, in particular, may demand the use of social media alongside mentoring. This could also facilitate mentoring in multicultural organisations.Practical implicationsHR functions intending to make greater use of mentoring in future will require more focus and resources to do so. For example, almost one in five of the respondents saw a lack of information as a barrier to establishing mentoring.Originality/valueThis paper focuses on how organisations view mentoring, which has not been extensively examined previously.

Green buildings, environmental awareness, and organizational image

PurposeThe study seeks to investigate the mechanisms for the effects of environmental design features of a green building on occupants' environmental awareness (EA) and organizational image (OI).Design/methodology/approachOne mechanism investigated the direct effects of environmental design features of a green building on occupants' EA and OI. The other mechanism investigated the indirect effects on occupants' EA and OI resulting from the direct effects of environmental design features on occupants' workplace satisfaction. The data were collected from 175 occupants of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)‐certified green building using a questionnaire instrument.FindingsBased on frequency, correlational, and regression analyses of the data, the study found no evidence for direct effects of environmental design features on occupants' EA and OI. The study, however, found some evidence for indirect effects, indicating that individual workspace and departmental space features affected occupants' satisfaction with individual workspaces and the building, which then affected occupants' EA and OI.Research limitations/implicationsThe study involved only the employees of an organization who occupy a single LEED‐certified green building. Future studies should involve a larger sample of green buildings. Future studies should also involve other stakeholders of these buildings.Practical implicationsThe study is important for the long‐term market growth of green buildings, because it provides supporting evidence for the organizational leaders who want to use green buildings to enhance organizational values and benefits.Originality/valueThe study makes an original contribution to the field, because studies focusing on the potential links between green buildings and organizational benefits and values, and the mechanisms that may help explain these links are still rare.

Metaphor as the Foundation of Organizational Studies

This article is the first part of a Citation Classics and Foundational Works feature focused on metaphor and organizational studies. The second part of the feature is a personal reflection by Gareth Morgan on the genesis and impact of his pathbreaking book, Images of Organization ( IO). In this article, we summarize the nature of the contributions made by IO, sketch ways in which the book has prompted and served as a touchstone for new research on metaphor and organization, and discuss the application of contemporary metaphorical analysis to the problems of theory development, research methods, and puzzle solving facing scholars interested in sustainability studies and research on organizations and the natural environment (ONE). We illustrate how early research that fostered ONE scholarship is marked by the use of particularly powerful metaphorical language and attention to poetic technique as well as rigorous science. We suggest how ONE research (and organizational studies in general) can benefit from studying IO and related literature on metaphorical analysis.

The Instrumental-Symbolic Framework: Organisational Image and Attractiveness of Potential Applicants and their Companions at a Job Fair

This study investigates perceptions of organisational image and attractiveness among 200 potential applicants for the Belgian Defense and the person (e.g. friend, parent) accompanying them to a job fair. The instrumental-symbolic framework is applied to conceptualise the key dimensions of an organisation's image as an employer. The results indicate that instrumental image attributes predict perceived organisational attractiveness for both potential applicants (social activities, structure, and advancement opportunities) and their companions (educational opportunities). Moreover, consistent with the instrumental-symbolic framework, symbolic image traits explain incremental variance in the attractiveness perceptions of potential applicants (sincerity, excitement, prestige, and ruggedness) as well as of companions (sincerity and ruggedness). Overall, instrumental and symbolic image predict attractiveness more strongly for potential applicants than for their companions, and potential applicants have a somewhat more positive view of the organisation. In addition, companions' perceived attractiveness positively predicts potential applicants' attractiveness beyond potential applicants' instrumental and symbolic image perceptions.

Organizational retention strategies and employee performance of Zenith Bank in Nigeria

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically examine employee‐retention strategies and performance in the Nigerian banking sector over the period 2000‐2005, with focus on Zenith Bank in Nigeria. The sector is unique in terms of its contribution to Nigeria's gross domestic product.Design/methodology/approachThe survey research design involving the use of questionnaire and structured interview to obtain primary and secondary data from relevant books, journals and the internet were adopted. The paper also adopted the χ2‐analytical technique to test for significant relationship between variables.FindingsThe study revealed that it is more profitable for organizations to put in place appropriate employee‐retention strategies such as good organization's image, staff participation in decision making, enhanced and regular salary package, and humane treatment of employees as strategies for organizational performance.Practical implicationsParticularly, organizations are likely to experience frequent employee turnover for as long as they fail to put in place appropriate employee‐retention strategies, which is capable of preventing enhanced performance.Originality/valueThis paper provides insight into what could enhance the performance of organizations in their quest for quality service delivery and profitability. Its findings could also be a source of motivation to organizations in other sectors in the area of employee performance.

Community Stakeholders and Marketplace Advocacy: A Model of Advocacy, Agenda Building, and Industry Approval

Often considered a controversial form of communication, issue advocacy moves beyond the traditional realm of promoting an organization's image, product, or service, into efforts to influence a legi...

Global activism and new media: A study of transnational NGOs’ online public relations

This study examines how transnational nongovernmental organizations make use of new media tools in their public relation activities and what factors influence their online public relations. A survey of communication representatives at 75 transnational NGOs based in the United States found that promoting the organization's image and fund-raising were the two most important functions of new media for the NGOs. Organizational capacity and main objective of the organization were significant predictors of NGOs’ new media use in their public relations. However, organizational efficiency and revenue did not significantly predict NGOs’ use of new media.

Employees' commitment to brands in the service sector: Luxury hotel chains in Thailand

In the past, many service brands have applied a consumer-goods approach to branding to respond to a more competitive environment. This approach emphasises the role of advertising in building a strong brand, but underestimates the role played by employees in developing the brand during their interactions with customers. More recently, the development of models that provide an understanding of the process of building a powerful service brand has emphasised the role of employees and their contribution to enhance brand equity. The role of employees in building the brand and making the brand ‘come alive’ is seen as essential. Employees must be committed to demonstrating the brand values (as expressed by top management) each time a customer interacts with the brand. The present research explores employees’ brand commitment in the hotel industry in a highly competitive market (the 5-star hotel category in Bangkok). Employees’ brand commitment is defined as the extent to which employees experience a sense of identification and involvement with the brand values of the company they work for. The dimensions of employer brand (the organisation's image as seen through the eyes of associates and potential hires) are used as independent variables for explaining the level of employee's commitment to their company's brand.

Communicating with External Publics: Managing Public Opinion and Behavior

SUMMARY In health care organizational settings public relations plays an important role in managing relationships with a variety of external publics as well as with society in general. Managing these relationships involves both reactive and proactive communication activities. Reactively, public relations responds to public issues, crises and concerns, as well as inquires from the media and other social institutions. Proactively, public relations engages in deliberately planned campaigns and programs to inform, influence or change behaviors of targeted publics for a wide range of strategic purposes. These purposes include managing the organization's image and identity; influencing public policies; supporting health promotion and education; promoting fund raising and volunteerism; and managing organizational change and crises.

Spectacles of Resistance and Resistance of Spectacles

The author explores organizational controls in an era dominated by spectacles, images, and pictures and seeks to identify forms of resistance that subvert and undermine these controls. The author analyzes new forms of resistance, such as whistle-blowing, that are particularly aimed at besmirching an organization's image and reputation and argues that although many employees have lost their collective voice, they occasionally raise their individual voices in opposition, cynical rejection, or questioning of managerial practices and discourses or, more often, resort to exit. The author concludes that many current forms of workplace resistance mirror similar forms of resistance used by individuals as consumers in questioning, disrupting, and, at times, challenging the claims of consumerism.

To do or not to do: the dilemma of technology‐based service improvement

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to suggest a conceptual framework to examine customer satisfaction with a technology‐based service improvement. Three factors are suggested that influence customers' acceptance of the improved service: internal, consistency and external (ICE).Design/methodology/approachHypotheses are constructed by reviewing literature in the areas of customer satisfaction, marketing services and diffusion of innovation. An exploratory study was conducted in an academic setting, to examine changes in learning formats, and the resulting reactions. The empirical research involves three major procedures: personal interviews, focus groups and surveys.FindingsThe findings, based on both qualitative and quantitative research, support the proposed conceptual framework. It was found that students' behavioral intentions regarding a new, technology‐based learning format, can be explained by the following factors: perceived outcome and ease of use (internal factor), technology orientation and consistency of the new with the old delivery process (consistency factor), and the perceived image of the academic institute (external factor).Originality/valueIt is suggested that when considering service improvements, more attention should be paid to the organization's image, the consistency with the traditional service and the customer technology orientation.

Building trust for excellence in performance and adaptation to change

In the last 20 years significant developments in science, technology and the world economy have brought dramatic change in almost every sphere of human activity. Today's pace of change has become non-linear, accelerating and almost totally unpredictable. Our present search for ways to achieve sustainable excellence in performance are not to be found in models or metaphors of an organization as an ‘ideal machine’ from physics, but in those of biology and ecology. In an ecology-oriented worldview, an organization's image is that of a vibrant network of interacting human agents. The new image of the competitive field is now that of a continually evolving business landscape, shaped by the incessant waves of technological and economic change. Even though conventional assumptions about managing organizations – which shape actions – need to be replaced, the fundamental objectives of leadership remain nevertheless the same. First, it is important to maintain a high level of current performance, a task that always demands good coordination of all value adding activities. Second, leaders must enable a smooth organizational adaptation to emerging conditions, by engaging human resources to explore future possibilities and innovate new products and processes that will make the most of new opportunities. The achievement of both of these goals is possible only in proportion to the degree of trust among the interacting human agents that comprise the organization. Trust in this context measures the quality of relationships maintained within an organization and with all its key stakeholders.

ISO 14001 – experiences, effects and future challenges: a national study in Austria

AbstractMore than 60000 organizations worldwide have implemented environmental management systems (EMSs). About 800 of them are located in Austria. As Austria was one of the leading countries in promoting the EU scheme EMAS, and as there has been no specific study on Austrian experiences with ISO 14001, the purpose of this study is to describe the experiences with and effects of ISO 14001 in Austria. The results show that ISO 14001 often leads to reduced environmental impact, especially in the area of waste. A strong driving force behind implementation is the expected improvement of an organization's image. The average repayment time on an investment in an EMS is less than two years. Legal compliance tends to be difficult to implement, but on the other hand it works well in daily practice. To develop an EMS into a sustainability management system, the two most important challenges are to improve coordination between the EMS and the organization's strategies and to synchronize the EMS with central value chains. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Corporate Giving in Australia: An Analysis of Motives and Barriers

This study comprises data analysis of data collected by McNair Ingenuity Research as part of the 2005 Giving Australia study, which estimated the total value of corporate giving for the year 2003–04 at $3.3 billion. This was contributed by 67% of all Australian businesses. Business giving was found to comprise 68% monetary donations, 16% goods and 16% services. This article concentrates on the monetary donations of businesses, reporting on the motives and barriers businesses named for making donations. More than 80% of businesses are motivated to give, at least in part, by altruism, with larger businesses (by number of employees and turnover) more likely to claim benefits in terms of enhancements to employee morale, the organisation's image, supplier/customer relationships and the general level of publicity they were able to attract. The most significant barrier to giving named by both businesses who made a donation and those who did not was that business resources were committed elsewhere. Looking at how additional giving might be stimulated among those already giving to the sector revealed that the most generous businesses also cited more barriers to giving suggesting that they give greater consideration to their giving and the drawbacks thereof.

Corporate Giving in Australia: An Analysis of Motives and Barriers

This study comprises data analysis of data collected by McNair Ingenuity Research as part of the 2005 Giving Australia study, which estimated the total value of corporate giving for the year 2003‐04 at $3.3 billion. This was contributed by 67% of all Australian businesses. Business giving was found to comprise 68% monetary donations, 16% goods and 16% services. This article concentrates on the monetary donations of businesses, reporting on the motives and barriers businesses named for making donations. More than 80% of businesses are motivated to give, at least in part, by altruism, with larger businesses (by number of employees and turnover) more likely to claim benefits in terms of enhancements to employee morale, the organisation's image, supplier/customer relationships and the general level of publicity they were able to attract. The most significant barrier to giving named by both businesses who made a donation and those who did not was that business resources were committed elsewhere. Looking at how additional giving might be stimulated among those already giving to the sector revealed that the most generous businesses also cited more barriers to giving suggesting that they give greater consideration to their giving and the drawbacks thereof.

Improving Schools through Partnerships: Learning from Charter Schools

ON ANY WEEKDAY morning in the small town of Thomasville, Georgia, around 100 students walk past the moss-laden oak trees dotting the grounds of the Vashti Center, a nonprofit corporation connected to the Methodist Church. The students wave to a sea of friendly faces as they enter the majestic building that houses Bishop Hall Charter School. During the school day, students in grades 9-12 learn about art, philosophy, literature, and cultural studies as part of integrated thematic units. Bishop Hall's approach to learning stresses the acquisition of skills through hands-on application of computer technology, Internet research, work study, and community service. In the afternoons, students disperse around town to take advantage of the specialized training and courses offered through a range of partnerships. Some students head to the nonprofit Henny Penny Film and Production Company, where they work on the production of television advertisements and promotional videos as well as stage dramatic shows. Others go across town to Garrison Pilcher Elementary School, where they serve as instructional aides and mentors to the younger students. Another group of students can be found at Southwest Georgia Technical College, fulfilling a Bishop Hall graduation requirement of successfully completing college-level courses. Still others are on the athletic field with a former professional football player who now owns and runs Next Level, a for-profit fitness training center. The partners involved in Bishop Hall Charter School understand the benefits of collective action. The organizations were initially drawn together by their common mission --improving educational opportunities for students not making it in the town's traditional public schools. The partners quickly learned that by working together they could accomplish more than they could on their own. Furthermore, the school was able to leverage knowledge, expertise, and other resources from a variety of nonprofit, for-profit, and public organizations. BENEFITS OF PARTNERING Partnerships have been plentiful in fields outside of education as a mechanism for improving service delivery. (1) Findings from prior research suggest that partnerships can tap three areas of potential benefits that organizations working on their own lack. * Organizational benefits. Partnerships help organizations work more effectively toward accomplishing their strategic missions. A partner can offer expertise or knowledge to increase the productivity of organizations and to help them solve problems. (2) * Political benefits. Partnerships provide credibility and legitimacy in the eyes of the community and other stakeholders. Well-established partners can enhance a newly formed organization's image and reputation through name recognition or by providing members to sit on a board of directors. (3) * Financial benefits. Partnerships enable organizations to begin, to grow, or to significantly improve their programs. (4) A partner that can offer financial resources can also provide stability for an organization to pursue new ventures. Partnerships, as we use the term here, are purposeful arrangements with other organizations that are fundamental to the creation, survival, and growth of an individual organization. Such partnerships differ from the many donation programs of the past in that they are designed to address concerns that go beyond the capacity of any of the individual parties. (5) In the context of schools, this translates into partnerships focused on improving the core of schooling--teaching and learning. PARTNERSHIPS IN ACTION: THE CHARTER SCHOOL CONTEXT Because charter schools exist in a context that is highly amenable to partnering, the practice is particularly common in them. (6) Charter schools face operational challenges that often push them toward forming partnerships, (7) and the laws in many states encourage such outside involvement as well. …

Church Autonomy is not a Better Path to “Truth”

Kathleen Brady's article, Religious Group Autonomy: Further Reflections About What Is At Stake, is intended to shore up her position that religious organizations deserve extremely broad autonomy from the law. Her thesis is two-fold. First, she believes that the law should not interfere with the internal operations of religious organizations, which is the position she has taken before. Second, she backs off the position apparent in her earlier work that religious organizations do great good, and, therefore, deserve autonomy. Now she posits a new thesis that religious organizations need to be protected from regulation, because they are working out the truth, and society needs the truth. This latter principle rests on the empirical claim that no one can fully know the truth (or even relative harm and benefit), and, therefore, when the law limits religious organizations, it halts the development of truth.There was a time when I would have agreed with her, but I was then taught that my views were not based in reality. The problem posed by religious entities, even when they intend to seek the truth, is that they are run by humans, with the full spectrum of human fallibility. On this score, religious organizations really are no different than large corporations. The whole range of destructive behavior can be seen in both: fraud, extortion, misappropriation of funds, lying, deceit, covering up scandals like child abuse or doctoring financial records for the sake of the organization's image, and the list goes on. If religious actors are not deterred and punished for bad acts, they wreak great wrongs. This inescapable empirical reality plainly undermines Brady's earlier claims that seemed to imply that religious organizations deserve autonomy for the good they do.

Table of Contents

Abstract Make It ‘Skimmable’ — People Will Read It Free Online Survey Tool Professional Opinion Focus On Your Strengths, Not Others' Weaknesses Community Relations Efforts Maximize Publicity for Your Community Service Project Tips for Writing Effective E‐mail Subject Lines Bringing Attention to Your Mission, Services Take Advantage of National News Coverage Honing Your Writing Skills Overcoming Writer's Block Useful Resources Chase's Calendar of Events Helps With Story Ideas Creating a Shared Vision Identity Crisis? How to Define Your Organization's Mission Community Relations Actions Be a Catalyst For Community Service Among Employees Six Practical Ways to Garner Testimonials Public Speaking Tip Do You Have an Ambassador Program? Four Ways to Put Your Marketing Plan into Action Event Planning Five Rules for Selecting the Best Emcee for Your Event Advance Planning Is Key Outsourcing Considerations What to Expect From a Public Relations Firm Serving Your Members Get Your Member Listserv Jumping Writing Tip Respect By Association Best Practices Nonprofit Organizations Can Learn From New Spam Law What Are Technology Providers Doing to Stop Spam? Websites of Interest Support Affinity Group Development Marketing for Results Marketing Decisions Should Include a Mix of Key Factors Enhancing Your Organization's Image Face Your Organization's Weakest Perceptions Head‐On Effective Internal Communications Session Allows Employees To Provide Input About Internal Communication Your Publication's Frequency Matters Creative Centennials Results‐oriented Planning Link Your Corporate Marketing Plan to Strategic Plan Publications Budgets Help Your Development Shop Create a Publications Budget