This collective qualitative case study explores the ways American urban school districts engage in image management and reputation building activities to sustain their on-going organizational improvement efforts and maintain public support. The study catalogues the internal and external communication and media relations strategies utilized by three urban districts to manage their public image, identity, and reputation. District officers were found to be generally aware of their district's image in the community, their own role in projecting and improving that image, and the positive or negative identity of the employees in relation to the district's image. The concepts of organizational adaptive instability and mutability were found to be most important to urban district leaders as they all described their response to organizational challenges by sharing information with internal and external stakeholders and focusing on long-term improvement efforts. Accountability for effectiveness and efficiency was found to be the most dominant theme related to reputation. This study suggests that urban districts need to manage their public image through a well developed communications plan that focuses on projecting a district image of continuous improvement, clearly defines roles in district communication, and utilizes professional communications expertise.

The emergence of digital technology represents a paradigmatic historical shift. As a process transforming sociotechnical structures, digitalization has had pervasive effects on organizing structures and business logics, as well as contemporary society as a whole. In recent years, these effects have been particularly salient in the content-based (e.g. music and imaging), and most recently the print-media (e.g. newspapers and magazines) industries. Facing dramatically declining sales of print media products, publishers have sought to leverage digital technology for innovation. However, the digital revenues still do not yet typically compensate for the decline in print media sales. This thesis explores the organizational implications of digitalization in the media domain. Scholars have increasingly stressed that digital technology has some distinct characteristics that have fundamental implications for innovation. This thesis examines aspects of these implications that have been far from fully explored, including the roles of digital technologies as enablers of process innovation (new methods, procedures or responsibilities), product innovation outcomes (which shift or expand an organization's domain) and associated changes in organizational cognition and identity. The thesis is based on four empirical investigations, reported in appended papers, of the evolution of digital platforms, the new content creation practices they enable, and how traditional print media firms have sought to innovate and reorient themselves in relation to these novel phenomena. The composite analysis illustrates how the distinct characteristics of digital technologies are complicit in transitions from stable to fragile product categories, highlights the need for a dynamic approach to identity orientation, and discusses and proposes key concerns in scholarly studies of digital innovation in organizations based on insights generated by the underlying studies.

No description available.

It is commonly said that 11:00 A.M. Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America. The contact theory explains how interracial contact can help to ameliorate racism - and this type of interaction can easily be fostered in a church environment. Durkheim's idea of the "collective effervescence" felt in ritual experiences would be beneficial for crossing racial lines and improving race relations in the U.S. in multiracial churches. A great deal of recent sociological work has focused on the phenomenon of church segregation on a nationwide scale. This paper compares characteristics found in nationwide religious congregation surveys and case studies to the 2007 Kent County Congregations Survey to identify particularities in the Kent County region and scrutinize the previously identified characteristics and developing theories on multiracial congregations. In Kent County, the common characteristics of multiracial churches are being in an urban location (as opposed to a suburban or rural location), and having a higher percentage of theologically liberal members (for congregations less than 20 years old). Implications and suggestions for further research follow.

abstract: More than a decade after the events of September 11, the kinetic conflict between U.S. forces and Islamist extremist groups continues, albeit in a more limited fashion. In the post 9/11 decade there has been increased recognition that factors such as globalization, economic insecurity, regional political unrest, and the rapid advancement and diffusion of communication technologies will continue to influence the nature of international warfare for the foreseeable future. Industrial, interstate wars between sanctioned armies (Kilcullen, 2007; Tatham, 2008) is giving way to asymmetric forms of conflict exemplified by the conflict between the U.S. and its allies, and al Qaeda and ideological affiliates like al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Kilcullen, 2004; Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, 2007). This shift has brought counterinsurgency (Petraeus, 2008) tactics to the forefront of policy discussion. A result of this focus on counterinsurgency efforts is increased interest in strategic communication (stratcom) (Nagl, Amos, Sewall, & Petraeus, 2008; Paul, 2009) and the function of narrative (Roberts, 2007) in kinetic conflict (Zalman, 2010). The U.S. has been said to be "losing the battle of narrative" to the extent that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has spoken of the need to "supplant the extremist narrative" (Mullen, 2009). Understanding how narrative functions in ideologically driven organizing (IDO) remains under developed, however. Little empirical research has examined how al Qaeda's use of narrative contributes to organizational success. Drawing on the tradition of narrative in organizational communication scholarship (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002; Ashcraft & Mumby, 2004) this project interrogates al Qaeda's use of narrative from an identity perspective, exploring the ways in which narrative is constitutive of identity at individual and organizational levels. The analysis focuses on public communication produced by al Qaeda, intended for various stakeholder audiences including potential recruits, the broader Muslim community, and adversaries such as the United States and its allies. This project makes practical contributions to U.S. public policy and countering violent extremism (CVE) efforts, offering rigorous empirical examination of the ways in which al Qaeda uses narrative to construct individual and organizational identity. Theoretical contributions are made by extending existing organizational scholarship into a currently under-developed area: ideologically driven conflict. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Communication 2017

Thesis advisor: Rebecca Schendel / Organizational culture was originally addressed in the management literature in the late 1970s (e.g. Pettigrew, 1979; Deal & Kennedy, 1982). Scholars have later on extended the discussion to include higher education institutions (e.g. Tierney, 2008). However, the majority of the literature on organizational culture in higher education is based on institutions that follow and are placed within the Western model. Despite the lack of direct evidence, it is fair to suspect that there is a relationship between the culture of an organization and its national/regional context. This study investigates the nature of that relationship and provide real world examples through an in-depth case study on the American University of Madaba (AUM). In evaluating AUM’s organizational culture, this study explores the institution’s organizational identity and its organizational design (the sum of the two, in this study, constitutes the culture of the organization). The data suggests that AUM’s organizational identity holographically (Albert & Whetten, 2004) brings together four different identity pieces: American, Catholic, Jordanian, and not-for-profit. The study concludes that the institution’s focus on its American identity and partial neglect in incorporating its other identity pieces into its organizational design with equal weight lead to a misalignment between its espoused, attributed, shared and aspirational organizational values (Broune & Jenkins, 2013), which ultimately leads to a misalignment between its organizational identity and its organizational design, resulting in what would be generally considered an unhealthy organizational culture (Gulua, 2018). In AUM’s case, this misalignment causes an amended combination of what the literature presents as an expectation gap and a dislocation gap in organizational values (Broune & Jenkins, 2013). However, context-relativity (a crucial concept in this study), with its historical, economic, political, socio-cultural and colonial components, is highly impactful in studying the relationship between AUM’s organizational culture and its national/regional context and impacts our understanding of the initial findings. This study reveals that there is a strong conception in the Middle East that American higher education = good quality (but good quality does not necessarily equal American). Therefore, in the light of context-relativity, AUM’s organizational gaps and the misalignment between its identity and design is not a matter of unauthenticity, but rather lack of options. Being an American institution in the Middle East comes with a market advantage; therefore, such an approach is a way for AUM to survive in a world where global power dynamics carry strong preconceptions about the quality of American higher education. By being American “enough” to maintain its market advantage and being Jordanian “enough” to keep the peace with their students and staff and the surrounding community, AUM, as a young higher education institution, is finding a way to survive and advance its quality in the process. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att studera och jämföra hur några företag i Halmstad upplever sig själva respektive hur allmänheten upplever dessa. Vidare är målet med denna jämförelse att kunna dra slutsatser utifrån de studerade företagen i Halmstad. Teoretisk referensram: Den yttre och den inre upplevelsen speglas bland annat i faktorer såsom: vad de anställda förmedlar, de egenskaper man kan förknippa företaget med, färger och symboler kring företaget, eventuella kundsamhörigheter kopplade till företaget samt reklamen och marknadsföringen som företaget förmedlar. Metod: Fyra företag i Halmstadsområdet fick genom två till tre anställda genom intervjuer besvara hur de upplevde det egna företaget. Även två fokusgrupper om fyra personer vardera sattes samman för att fånga det allmänna perspektivet av de medverkande företagen. Resultat: Den slutliga analysen visade att både det interna och det externa perspektivet av de fyra företagen generellt sett var mer lika än olika. Slutsats: Från resultatet drog vi slutsatsen att den interna företagsidentiteten upplevd bland anställda och det externa perspektivet som det uppfattades av allmänheten överlag var samstämmiga. Nyckelord: Organizational identity, Corporate image, Brand / Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study and compare how some companies in Halmstad experience themselves and how the general public experiences these. Furthermore, the goal of this comparison is to be able to draw conclusions based on these companies in Halmstad. Theoretical framework: The external and the internal perception is reflected in factors such as: what the employees mediates, characteristics you can associate the company with, colors and symbols around the company, brand communities linked to the company and the advertising and marketing that the company displays. Method: Four companies in the general region of Halmstad with two to three employees respectively attended simultaneous interviews, where they shared the company´s perceptions about themselves. Furthermore, two focus groups of four subjects each were formed to represent the public´s view of the attending companies. Results: Ultimately, via our study we found that both the internal and external perspective of the four companies were generally more similar than different. Conclusion: From the results we concluded that the internal organizational identity perceived by employees and the external corporate image perceived by the general public were for the attending companies in general in agreement. Keywords: Organizational identity, Corporate image, Brand

No description available.

No description available.

Quelle différence faisons-nous entre Leroy Merlin, Castorama ou encore Bricorama ? Ces organisations se distinguent par un ensemble d’attributs qui façonnent le caractère unique, leur identité. Ce travail de recherche propose de mieux comprendre comment se forme l’identité d’une organisation. Il appréhende la question identitaire sous le prisme du courant de la stratégie comme pratique et la théorie de l’identité organisationnelle. Afin de répondre à la problématique de recherche, la thèse questionne le rôle des parties prenantes, des pratiques et de la matérialité sur le processus de formation de l’identité organisationnelle. L’originalité de ce travail réside dans l’étude de la formation identitaire dès la création d’un intermédiaire de l’innovation dans le secteur de la construction. La recherche repose sur un cas unique longitudinal à dimension ethnographique. Elle inclut une enquête sur la perception des parties prenantes externes de l’identité de l’organisation.Les résultats mettent en évidence le rôle prépondérant des fondateurs mais aussi des salariés dans la formation identitaire. Le cas d’un intermédiaire de l’innovation fait émerger une stratégie de formation de l’identité organisationnelle, le jeu identitaire. Il correspond à l’exploration de plusieurs futurs possibles. De plus, trois pratiques pour « former, réparer, maintenir, renforcer ou réviser » sont mises en évidence. Enfin, les résultats soulignent les effets de l’absence d’un artéfact (une plateforme physique) qui contribue à exacerber le conflit sur l’identité entre les membres.Ce travail de recherche présente aussi des implications managériales visant à comprendre comment former et gérer l’identité au cours du temps. / What difference do we make between Leroy Merlin, Castorama or Bricorama? These organizations are distinguished by a set of attributes that shape their uniqueness, their identity. This research proposes to better understand how organizational identity is formed. The identity question is addressed by taking a strategy as a practice lens and is grounded in organizational identity theory. In order to answer the research question, the thesis is interested in the role of the stakeholders, practices and materiality on the organizational identity formation process. The originality of this work lies in the study of identity formation from inception of an innovative intermediary in the construction sector. The research is based on a unique longitudinal case with an ethnographic dimension. It includes a survey of the perception of external stakeholders about the organization’s identity.The results highlight the preponderant role of founders but also of employees in identity formation. The case of an innovation intermediary reveals a strategy to form organizational identity: organizational identity play. It corresponds to the exploration of several possible futures. In addition, three practices for "forming, repairing, maintaining, strengthening, or revising" identity are highlighted. Finally, the results highlight the effects of the absence of an artifact (a physical platform) that contributes to exacerbate conflict over identity among members.