Topic: Organisations in the media
A summary of the lectures from week 1 - week 7
+ all the required readings
+ study questions
1
,Lecture 1: Organisations and corporate reputation
How to look at organisations & communication?
● Critically towards organisations: what is wrong?
○ e.g.: why are big organisations (such as Shell) doing things that are wrong for the
planet, that are unethical?
● Maybe a bit too critical: the glass can be half full as well.
Organisational challenges
Organisation:
● “A group of people who work together in an organised way for a shared purpose”
● Studied by business administration (for profit) and public administration (not for profit), not so
much by communication science.
Models to understand organisations: a simple representation of reality.
● ‘All models are wrong’: reality is too complex or we simply don’t know
● A model: 1) is a caricature, 2) saves mental labour and 3) is a framework for communication.
Challenges:
Any organisation is facing challenges on these 7 aspects:
1. Sustainability
2. Innovation & entrepreneurship
3. Positioning & strategy
4. Culture & diversity
5. Customers
6. HRM
7. Benchmarking (measures of success)
This describes what an organisation is all about. This is what an organisation is facing, so this is how
organisations look at the world.
Why communicate strategy?
2
, ● If an organisation is not clear about their strategy, you should not invest in it.
● The boardroom gets a lot of questions of several stakeholders
○ Requested transparency
● Protection against abuse:
○ Give info that: 1) is legally required, 2) improves reputation
○ Do not give: sensitive stuff (nuclear codes, cola recipe, etc.)
● Effect on:
1. Awareness (recognition)
2. Attitude (interest/desire/engagement/reputation/image/trust/legitimacy)
3. Action (positive/neutral/negative)
Stakeholder theory influences how organisations deal with the media.
Agency theory: the more organisations are open (or seem to be open), the better: 1) the liquidity of
stock improves, 2) their reputation.
● The key thing is: openness helps.
Strategy is about where you want to go as an organisation:
● Strategic management: strategy (sources, messages) (who are we and where are we going as
an organisation?)
○ Vision
○ Mission/purpose
○ Strategy
○ Implementation
● Communication management: communication (channels, receivers) (which of my
vision/mission/etc. do we put in advertising?)
○ From media: paid (ads), earned (public relations), social, owned
○ to stakeholders
3
, Defining & communicating strategy:
Reward: Reputation (trust, image)
What is reputation?
● ‘Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow’
● Reputation = likeability
○ E.g.: measured on a scale from 0 (very negative) to 10 (very positive)
Related/lookalike: trust. Government and media aren’t trusted anymore, some businesses are.
Reputation: + and -
+ Magnet for talent - Subjective
+ Magnet for credit (financial) - Hard to get
+ Buffer in crisis - Easily lost
Does reputation reflect identity? Does identity evolve?
Identity - the ship of Theseus (by Plutarchus)
Identity & image: how can an organisation optimise the relationship between its identity and its image?
4
A summary of the lectures from week 1 - week 7
+ all the required readings
+ study questions
1
,Lecture 1: Organisations and corporate reputation
How to look at organisations & communication?
● Critically towards organisations: what is wrong?
○ e.g.: why are big organisations (such as Shell) doing things that are wrong for the
planet, that are unethical?
● Maybe a bit too critical: the glass can be half full as well.
Organisational challenges
Organisation:
● “A group of people who work together in an organised way for a shared purpose”
● Studied by business administration (for profit) and public administration (not for profit), not so
much by communication science.
Models to understand organisations: a simple representation of reality.
● ‘All models are wrong’: reality is too complex or we simply don’t know
● A model: 1) is a caricature, 2) saves mental labour and 3) is a framework for communication.
Challenges:
Any organisation is facing challenges on these 7 aspects:
1. Sustainability
2. Innovation & entrepreneurship
3. Positioning & strategy
4. Culture & diversity
5. Customers
6. HRM
7. Benchmarking (measures of success)
This describes what an organisation is all about. This is what an organisation is facing, so this is how
organisations look at the world.
Why communicate strategy?
2
, ● If an organisation is not clear about their strategy, you should not invest in it.
● The boardroom gets a lot of questions of several stakeholders
○ Requested transparency
● Protection against abuse:
○ Give info that: 1) is legally required, 2) improves reputation
○ Do not give: sensitive stuff (nuclear codes, cola recipe, etc.)
● Effect on:
1. Awareness (recognition)
2. Attitude (interest/desire/engagement/reputation/image/trust/legitimacy)
3. Action (positive/neutral/negative)
Stakeholder theory influences how organisations deal with the media.
Agency theory: the more organisations are open (or seem to be open), the better: 1) the liquidity of
stock improves, 2) their reputation.
● The key thing is: openness helps.
Strategy is about where you want to go as an organisation:
● Strategic management: strategy (sources, messages) (who are we and where are we going as
an organisation?)
○ Vision
○ Mission/purpose
○ Strategy
○ Implementation
● Communication management: communication (channels, receivers) (which of my
vision/mission/etc. do we put in advertising?)
○ From media: paid (ads), earned (public relations), social, owned
○ to stakeholders
3
, Defining & communicating strategy:
Reward: Reputation (trust, image)
What is reputation?
● ‘Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow’
● Reputation = likeability
○ E.g.: measured on a scale from 0 (very negative) to 10 (very positive)
Related/lookalike: trust. Government and media aren’t trusted anymore, some businesses are.
Reputation: + and -
+ Magnet for talent - Subjective
+ Magnet for credit (financial) - Hard to get
+ Buffer in crisis - Easily lost
Does reputation reflect identity? Does identity evolve?
Identity - the ship of Theseus (by Plutarchus)
Identity & image: how can an organisation optimise the relationship between its identity and its image?
4
