Ch4 Identity,Image,and Reputation

Every organization should have its own corporate identity and image.This will include not only its name and logo but also how the organization appears in public- whether though its stationery, uniforms,vehicles, shape and color of buildings, or even the way its website and emails appear. Even advertisements in the press and on television will be instantly recognizable if the organization has a strong corporate identity.

The name is an important part of the corporate identity and may be crucial to the organization's success and become a valuable asset bringing with it an image,reputation and customers. One of UK's booksellers and stationers, WH Smith, reckon that the real strength of their organization is their corporate identity and in particular, their name, which is recognized throughout the UK and promotes loyalty and a feeling of trust.

Organizations with many parts should present a single unique image to the world by having all their parts associated with a strong, central recognizable corporate identity. Even legally separate organizations may work under a common corporate identity ‘umbrella’ so that they can be recognized as one.

However, the individual units of a large group may be concerned that they become invisible and be forgotten, or starved of funds.Consequently, they may strive to be noticed within the overall structure and develop their own unique subset of the overall corporate identity.

A strong corporate identity can be more valuable to an organization than all its other assets put together!

References:
http://onthecommons.org/content.php?id=671
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_identity
http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/77036459.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reputation_management

Communication Thoery

Communication can be perceived as a two-way process in which there is an exchange and progression of thoughts, feelings or ideas towards a mutually accepted goal or direction. Communication is a process whereby information is encoded and imparted by a sender to a receiver via a channel/medium. The receiver then decodes the message and gives the sender a feedback. Communication requires that all parties have an area of communicative commonality. There are auditory means, such as speaking, singing and sometimes tone of voice, and nonverbal, physical means, such as body language, sign language, paralanguage, touch, eye contact, by using writing. Communication is the production and exchange of information and meaning by use of signs and symbols. It involves encoding and sending messages, receiving and decoding them, and synthesizing information and meaning. Communication permeates all levels of human experience and it is central to understanding human behavior and to nearly all public health efforts aimed at fostering health behavior change among individuals, populations, organizations, communities, and societies. 

Communication theories are given by model of so many theorists. The Shannon-Weaver model measures the efficiency and flexibility of a communication system. It is sometimes referred to as the S-M-C-R model (Sender-Message-Channel-Receiver).

• Sender (or Encoder): An information source; a person or device that originates a message.
  
• Receiver (or Decoder): The audience for a message.
  
• Message: The actual information or signal sent from a sender to a receiver.
  
• Medium (or Channel): The method used to transmit a message (e.g., print, speech, telephone, smoke signals, etc.).
  
• Noise: Technical or semantic obstacles; that is, anything that interferes with the clear transmission of a message (e.g., low visibility, poor ink quality, static electricity).
  
• Interpretation: All operations that a receiver performs in order to decode and understand a message.
  
• Feedback: Information about a message that a receiver sends back to the sender; the receiver's reaction or response to the sender.
  

These are several viewpoints to examine communication and communication theories:     

• Mechanistic: This view considers communication to be a perfect transaction of a message from the sender to the receiver.
•  Psychological: This view considers communication as the act of sending a message to a receiver, and the feelings and thoughts of the receiver upon interpreting the message.
  
• Social Constructionist: This view considers communication to be the product of the interacting, sharing and creating meaning.
  
• Systemic: This view considers communication to be the new messages created via “through-put”, or what happens as the message is being interpreted and re-interpreted as it travels through people.
  
• Critical: This view considers communication as a source of power and oppression of individuals and social groups.
  

   Communication is extremely important in today's world. A person lives in a society, as being social animal; it is necessity for the person to communicate. No one can live without communication. Communication theories are used by each and every person in the regular life. The theories slightly differ from model to model and time to time, but the basic idea of communication is to deliver a message from one person to another either verbally or non-verbally. 

References:

http://collaboratory.nunet.net/dsimpson/comtheory.html

http://www.answers.com/topic/communication-theory-1?cat=technology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication_theory#Communication_Theory_Framework

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication

http://www.southalabama.edu/htdocs/oll/chikatla/iddtheorywb/communication/from%20Suhana/diagramaticrepresentation.gif

http://www.cicsworld.org/blogs/vkrishnaswam/communication%201%20copy.jpg

Chapter 2: Communicating Strategically

Effective Communication Strategies
This chapter illustrated the proper method in developing corporate communication strategies. The author states that there are three characteristics in developing an effective organization strategy: set objectives, define resources to be utilized, and diagnose the organization’s reputation. While each of these areas have a caveat, the environment in which the organization exists, identifying these criteria will most definitely result in a more effective communication strategy.

Analyzing Constituencies
The book also discusses, in this chapter, the necessity of locating both primary and secondary constituents of a corporation in order to be able to use the proper communication medium. Primary and secondary constituents range from employees of the organization all the way down to media and government bodies. By formalizing organizational constituents, an organization is able to determine their image in the eyes of their constituents and, moreover, the constituents prior knowledge of the issues to be communicated. An important part about delivering a message is to make sure not to insult a constituent’s intelligence but also refrain from utilizing verbiage that they are unaware of as well.

Communication Channels
There is various communication channels that exist that will help deliver messages in a timely fashion but also in an appropriate manner as well. From the old channel of speaking all the way to the novel concept of blogs, communication channels must permit constituency response in order for the communication to be effective. The corporation must determine the message; find the resources and their reputation. Then the messages must be composed in a timely, orderly fashion communicated to their constituents, permit the constituent to respond.

Student’s Comments
The applicability of this chapter is what makes it so valuable. Although this is located in a corporate communications textbook, the theory and practices in this book can be applied to our normal lives. For example, when we communicate with our peers, we can often use abbreviated words and colloquial terms such as “lol” or “jk,” but when we are talking to our parents or elders we must communicate differently otherwise our message will not be effective.

Furthermore, when I communicate in my current job, I first consider the reputation I have with the person I am communicating with. Are they an upper level employee? Should they be referred to by first name? If I am communicating to my boss, we are on a first name basis and the message can be short and concise without worrying about offending him, where as, if I am communicating to another director or senior leader, it is often also a first name basis but the entire scope of the email is altered to reflect a more personal length email discussing all of the particulars of the message. Here we can see how my constituents play a major role in the amount of time and type of message that is created.

External Resources
Below are a few hyperlinks to other articles that further the discussion found in Chapter 2. One article discusses constituents in small and mid-sized organizations while the other looks more generally at the organizational communication strategy. Please feel free to scan them or provide articles of your own.
http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/databases/page7129.cfm
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/organizational-communication.html