Internal branding (IB) evolved from marketing to engage employees in a company's strategic planning. IB has been studied extensively in the hospitality industry, but not with human resource (HR) departments. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to assess the effectiveness of corporate training designs in instilling IB corporate values in global employees of a multinational hotel chain to determine whether European core values could be transferred across different cultural backgrounds. Structured interviews on IB were conducted with 22 HR practitioners of a luxury hotel chain to capture essential information through the lived experiences of the participants, all of whom were involved in how the design of such training programs can instill corporate core values in employees across national cultures. Transcribed interview responses were analyzed using the simplified Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method to generate textual and structured descriptions to capture IB from their perspectives. The analysis revealed (a) that the HR employees were sensitive to certain core values that did not readily translate to overall brand and employee loyalty, as well as good company-employee working relationships, and (b) the importance of designing effective yet standardized training materials that addressed cultural differences or could be adapted as needed. These findings can help to promote more effective global brand recognition and provide HR specialists with knowledge to educate trainers about better techniques to deliver training across different cultures and engage employees on core values. Employees will be happier performing their roles, have increased job satisfaction, and demonstrate improved levels of productivity.

<p>Örebro University</p><p>Department of Humanities</p><p>Media and Communication Studies</p><p>Bachelor Thesis, Spring 2007</p><p>Title: Organisational Communication in Dutch Branches in Swedish Companies - A study of Securitas Systems, Volvo Trucks and Electrolux in the Netherlands</p><p>By: Patrik Edvardsson</p><p>Supervisor: Inger Larsson</p><p>Purpose</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how top management in three Swedish companies view the communication within the company. Aspects that are investigated are organisational structure, how core values are used in this communication and what role different communication forms such as intranet, organisational newspaper and face-toface communication play in value creation.</p><p>Theories</p><p>Theories in communication theory, PR, Intercultural communication and organisational theory are used as theoretical framework for the study. Important concepts that are used are sensemaking in organisations, core values, mission and vision as well as organisational structure as well as different communication forms.</p><p>Method</p><p>The method used in this thesis is semi-structured qualitative interviews with five people in top management, working in the three companies in this study. The interviews were</p><p>conducted at each company and took between 30 min and one hour.</p><p>Results</p><p>The study shows that all companies have clear core values that are communicated within the companies. They are communicated though different channels such as intranet and</p><p>magazines but also though dialogue; Securitas even have a game that is used to promote understanding and discussion concerning core values.</p><p>The organisational structure, which encourages informal communication, is crucial in the process of sensemaking in all companies. The companies have weak hierarchical</p><p>structures, which promote empowerment. The management believe that it is important for them to be good examples and live up to the core values, as well as maintaining an</p><p>environment that encourage communication and sensemaking among the employees. face-to-face meeting are important to build lasting networks.</p><p>Keywords</p>

Örebro University Department of Humanities Media and Communication Studies Bachelor Thesis, Spring 2007 Title: Organisational Communication in Dutch Branches in Swedish Companies - A study of Securitas Systems, Volvo Trucks and Electrolux in the Netherlands By: Patrik Edvardsson Supervisor: Inger Larsson Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how top management in three Swedish companies view the communication within the company. Aspects that are investigated are organisational structure, how core values are used in this communication and what role different communication forms such as intranet, organisational newspaper and face-toface communication play in value creation. Theories Theories in communication theory, PR, Intercultural communication and organisational theory are used as theoretical framework for the study. Important concepts that are used are sensemaking in organisations, core values, mission and vision as well as organisational structure as well as different communication forms. Method The method used in this thesis is semi-structured qualitative interviews with five people in top management, working in the three companies in this study. The interviews were conducted at each company and took between 30 min and one hour. Results The study shows that all companies have clear core values that are communicated within the companies. They are communicated though different channels such as intranet and magazines but also though dialogue; Securitas even have a game that is used to promote understanding and discussion concerning core values. The organisational structure, which encourages informal communication, is crucial in the process of sensemaking in all companies. The companies have weak hierarchical structures, which promote empowerment. The management believe that it is important for them to be good examples and live up to the core values, as well as maintaining an environment that encourage communication and sensemaking among the employees. face-to-face meeting are important to build lasting networks. Keywords

Charities struggle with scarce marketing and branding resources, as do many non-profits, but nevertheless they need to communicate a trustworthy external brand. A strong internal brand is suggested to enhance the external brand and storytelling is addressed as an established tool for internal branding. As charities seem to have a natural asset of corporate stories, we believe storytelling in terms of internal branding is of great use for the charity sector in order to create strong and competitive brands. The aim of this paper is hence to investigate what role storytelling could have on internal branding in the context of the charity industry. To do this, a qualitative case study with four different charities is conducted. A theoretical framework on internal branding and storytelling guides the data collection consisting of several interviews with managers, employees and volunteers. The findings indicate that both founder stories and recent stories play an important role for organizational culture, core values and internal communication. We conclude that storytelling can be strategically implemented in charities’ internal branding as stories have the possibility to embrace and include the entire organization, which is crucial for trustworthy and competitive brands.

Executive Summary A company needs guidelines for the organization and its employees to act in the same direction. Core values constitute a fundamental part of a company but they have to be “lived” by the members of the organization in order to be valid. When a company undergoes many changes, there is a risk of losing the core values as focus is put on the survival of the company. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to reach a solution for the maintenance of the core values at Atea Logistics, a company which has faced turbulent periods. However, in order to do so, a first requirement was to get in touch with Atea Logistics’ culture in order to later correctly apprehend the organization’s core values. Hence, this research was guided by the following research question: “How to maintain core values at Atea Logistics?” The conducted study consists of a case study made at Atea Logistics in Växjö, which is a part of the Atea Holding AB. The currently successful group, Atea, was created in 1985 under the name of Owell. Atea is a company which helps organizations and companies increase the benefits of Information Technologies (IT) by providing products and services that simplify the management, operation and development of IT infrastructure. As an IT product supplier, Atea covers the entire cycle from the supply of new IT products to the recycling of old ones. Since we aimed at providing the company with a research that it could benefit from, this thesis has its base in discussions with managers of Atea Logistics. Empirical data were mostly gathered through interviews with several employees and finally interplay between empirical data and theoretical findings occurred. The findings of this complex study comprise that core values have been neglected within the company for several years because of repetitive changes. However, employees have been aware of this situation but still have not focused on this aspect. Several core values have been discovered which have remained since the Owell-time: respect, participation, openness, trust, responsibility and family-friendly. In order for Atea Logistics to maintain these values, several aspects need to be developed such as their clear statement, their communication via different tools (i.e. printed documents, corporate events, an integration process for newcomers, etc.) as well as the alignment of employees with them.

The purpose of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of how visions could be applied in subsidiaries and similar sub organisations of global enterprises. With increasing globalisation it becomes more difficult to work in accordance to same standards and towards a common and unifying interest. The study has a qualitative and deductive approach and is based on interviews with three global subsidiaries with some hundred people employed each. Conclusions are that the subsidiaries visions have to be based on a guiding philosophy issued by their mother entities and it is the responsibility of the sub organisation to develop a tangible image with a local vision, mission and strategy with targets requiring feedback. Sustainable strategies cannot be issued without a vision describing where the organisation want be in the future. Otherwise they will not come very far until they have to make a restart with a new strategy and they will never be a market leader.

Many of today’s schools are caught at the center of a perfect storm fueled by the pressures from a more demanding public, increased governmental accountability, warring political factions, shrinking resources, and new technologies and methodologies. Proponents of Quality Management/Continuous Improvement (QM/CI) have championed the philosophy for over two decades as a solution for addressing these kinds of pressures and systems problems. Unfortunately, QM/CI theory remains underdeveloped and subsequently often fails to align with or guide practice. Detert, Louis, and Schroeder propose that QM/CI theory is best explored through the organizational culture framework that borrows heavily from the work of Edgar Schein. According to Schein, organizational culture exists at the multiple levels of espoused values, material artifacts and creations, and underlying assumptions (deeply held organizational values that guide the norms of behavior). Detert and colleagues contend that there are “nine” core values that define the efficacy of QM/CI in school cultures. To assess the viability of these values, as lived out in the Leander ISD, Leander, Texas, the study employed both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, and was both confirmatory and exploratory in research intent. The Nine Core Values were examined through surveys, purposefully selected interviews, a review of the quality literature, on-site observations, and school documents, with the results triangulated to derive the findings and conclusions. Deeply and widely held values should be observable throughout the multiple levels of culture, expressed through espoused values, material artifacts and creations, and practices that reflect the norms of behavior. The findings and conclusions suggest that the first eight of the Nine Core Values are lived out in the Leander ISD as identifiable norms of behavior: shared vision, outside stakeholder involvement in educational decision-making, long term commitment, continuous improvement, employee involvement in improving the school, collaboration, fact-based decision-making, and focusing on processes rather than people. The ninth Core Value, “Quality can be improved within existing resources”, could not be corroborated across the methodological triangulations. The study also unearthed two additional Core Values, one associated with the organizational learning dimension of QM/CI, and a second incorporating the elimination of fear and blame.

<p>Executive Summary</p><p>A company needs guidelines for the organization and its employees to act in the same direction. Core values constitute a fundamental part of a company but they have to be “lived” by the members of the organization in order to be valid. When a company undergoes many</p><p>changes, there is a risk of losing the core values as focus is put on the survival of the company. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to reach a solution for the maintenance of the core values at Atea Logistics, a company which has faced turbulent periods. However, in order to do so, a first requirement was to get in touch with Atea</p><p>Logistics’ culture in order to later correctly apprehend the organization’s core values. Hence, this research was guided by the following research question:</p><p>“How to maintain core values at Atea Logistics?”</p><p>The conducted study consists of a case study made at Atea Logistics in Växjö, which is a part of the Atea Holding AB. The currently successful group, Atea, was created in 1985 under the name of Owell. Atea is a company which helps organizations and companies increase the</p><p>benefits of Information Technologies (IT) by providing products and services that simplify the management, operation and development of IT infrastructure. As an IT product supplier, Atea covers the entire cycle from the supply of new IT products to the recycling of old ones.</p><p>Since we aimed at providing the company with a research that it could benefit from, this thesis has its base in discussions with managers of Atea Logistics. Empirical data were mostly gathered through interviews with several employees and finally interplay between empirical</p><p>data and theoretical findings occurred. The findings of this complex study comprise that core values have been neglected within the company for several years because of repetitive changes. However, employees have been aware of this situation but still have not focused on this aspect.</p><p>Several core values have been discovered which have remained since the Owell-time: respect, participation, openness, trust, responsibility and family-friendly. In order for Atea Logistics to maintain these values, several aspects need to be developed such as their clear statement, their communication via different tools (i.e. printed documents, corporate events, an integration process for newcomers, etc.) as well as the alignment of employees with them.</p>

Varumärkesidentitet för traineeprogram Academy I denna studie redogörs för hur ett varumärke är direkt kopplad till sina värdegrunder. Rapporten besvarar hur värdegrunder i en organisation skapas av företagets personal i form av ord som kopplas till företagets varumärke. Metodiken i denna studie har pendlat mellan intervjuer och workshopar. Studiens resultat visar att företagets personal och praktikanter kom tillsammans till tre ord som processats till Academys värdegrunder. Dessa ord är: gemenskap, utveckling och skaparglädje. / Brand identity for Academy trainee-program This study explains how a brand is directly linked to its values. The report respond the question about how the core values of an organization are created by its employees. This is made throught the implementation of three words that links naturally to the company’s brand. The methodology in this study varied between interviews and workshops. The study’s result demostrate that the company’s staff and interns came together to three words that became Academys values. These words are: community, development and creativity.

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