Organizational Identity and Branding

Technically the identity of a company is its brand and the marketing and communications departments in an organization just package that identity up into advertising, public relations, and marketing that represents this identity in a united way. The book calls it “one voice” which is funny because the corporate communications department at my work has just released a new internal marketing campaign called “One Voice” urging all communicators in the organization to communicate in a united way which reinforces the identity of the company both internally and externally. In branding and integrated marcom we are taught to find the essence of what a company is and what we want it to be known as and create a fully integrated campaign representing that. This is capturing the identity and communicating it consistently in all forms.

New Technology and Conflicting Identities

When I read this section I immediately thought about how new technologies such as My Space and Facebook have revealed the different identities that people have between work and life and how this can effect them in their work. Many companies these days will Google a potential employee and look at their MySpace and Facebook pages to see if what they present on their resume and what the represent in other parts of their life match and also if the identity that they present outside of the workplace matches that of the company. A person can go in for an interview, speak to how they are hard working and responsible and that they take pride in every aspect of their life but then their MySpace page has photos of them out with friends drinking and acting crazy or their “friends” have pictures of this and it reflects badly on both the potential employee and the potential company. Career Counselors are now suggesting to new graduates entering the workplace that they delete their social networking pages or at least ensure that they are cleaned up and “grown up” because potential employers will be looking for a conflict in work, personal, and corporate identities.

Organizational Identity = Personal Identity?

I agree with this statement one hundred percent. I have always equated my identity with the my place of work. My fiancé always asks me why I have no hobbies and I always say that my work is my hobby. My place of work has always been important to me and I think that is because I truly enjoy working (well not always but all of the things that I can learn from working and the places I can go because of my experiences in different workplaces I find great joy in). I find that I equate my level of personal success and satisfaction with not only my place of work but also the type of work that I do, my co-workers, and my opportunities to learn. My identity is my work and it has been since the moment I got my first job. I also am curious and alert to how others view my company because it helps me gauge my level of success as well. When I worked at my last job that I absolutely HATED my health suffered, my appetite suffered, and my level of happiness suffered. I am my company and I hope that I always represent that well.