Week 3 Lecture:

Organisational Culture &

Identity
• Organisational Communications
• MDIA 5022
• Week 3 T3-2023
• Dr Dan Andrew
This week’s lecture
• Organisational Culture
& Identity

• Organisational Narrative

• Emergent Storytelling
Organisational Elements of Organisational Culture:
§ Values
Culture § Norms
§ Artifacts
§ Assumptions

Why a defined culture is important for

an Organisation:
§ Guide Behaviour
§ Shapes Strategy
§ Affects Performance
§ Attracts Talent
§ Change Management
§ Innovative Examples of
§ Team-oriented Organisational
§ People-oriented
Cultures
§ Stable

§ Detail-oriented

§ Outcome-oriented
Organisational The culture of an organisation affects
how members of the organisation
Culture and communicate:

Communication § High-Context Culture

§ Low-Context Culture

As discussed last week,

communications creates an
organisation’s culture
“Organizational identity is defined as Organisational
an enduring, distinctive and central
statement perceived by an Identity
organization’s members to answer
questions such as:
“Who are we?”
“What are we doing?”
“What do we want to be in the future?””

(Lin, 2004, p. 803)

Key Takeaways § There is not a single narrative or
story that captures an
organisation's identity.

§ Rather it is dynamic and changing,

constituted through the formal
(e.g. corporate narrative) and
informal (e.g. commentary and
story fragments) communication.
CORPORATE IDENTITY The 'collective
How organisations present
themselves i.e. external presentation identity' of an
ORGANISATIONAL IDENTITY
organisation
How employees, for example, incorporates both ...
understand and present the
organisation

(Johansen 2012; Johansen, 2014)

Organisational
Narratives
Often used interchangeably: Story vs. Narrative
§ Narrative - beginning, middle, end
§ Chronology
§ Characters
§ Point (business context)

§ Story - fragmented
§ Incomplete
§ Contradictory
§ In flux / dynamic
§ Co-creating / speculative
(Johansen, 2014)
 Not discussed today:
Many types of § Indigenous storytelling
storytelling § Transmedia storytelling
(multiplatform storytelling)
§ Brand storytelling
§ Journalism
Narrative with selective choices Organisational
§ Stories an organisation tells about Identity
itself
§ Founding story
§ Strategy
 Identity building
Example: Google - § Mission Statement
§ About Us
Formal § Founding Story
In 2014: Example: Google -
§ We've always been reluctant to Formal
publish numbers about the diversity
of our workforce at Google. We now
realize we were wrong, and that it's
time to be candid about the issues.
 Google's identity is constructed and
Example: Google - challenged in the voices and stories of
others.
Informal § 2017 - it started with a memo which was
leaked
The memo went viral Example: Google -
§ 1000s of news articles mention informal
'James Damore’

Alternative tellings are circulating

through commentary

§ Google's diversity narrative was

challenged as was its
organisational narrative (i.e. story
about itself)
Emergent
Storytelling
Not interacting with the multiple Single 'narrator' and
stories and voices
§ Static sense of self static corporate
§ Barrier to dialogue
§ Alternative versions
identity
Value in the interaction:
§ Listening
§ Self-reflection on critical
stakeholder perspectives (co-create
identity i.e. other interpretations)
§ Understanding of risk, benefits

(Johansen & Anderson, 2012)

 Interacting with multiple stories and
Many 'narrators' voices:
§ Societal and cultural contexts
and dynamic § Historical and current context of the
organisation e.g. Rio Tinto
corporate identity Communicative and narrative
strategies, practices and resources
available

Rigid views on identity add to, rather

than avoid, 'communication clutter'
§ Self-storying is rejected
§ Little dialogue is taking place
§ Too narrow
(Johansen & Anderson, 2012)
Story fragments are the most common Emergent
form of story in organisations yet
overlooked. Storytelling
§ May reveal a deeper understanding
of organisational life

§ Informal channels

§ Future focused

(Boje, 2001)
Storytelling Accessing storytelling behaviour
§ Oral storytelling (transcripts)
Episodes & § Online content e.g. blogs
§ News media reporting
Research § Corporate reports and other
organisational materials e.g.
speeches, training programs
§ Archives
§ Commentary
Google's diversity narrative Example: Google
§ Listening to the alternative
storytelling episodes revealed
§ Limits of the corporate
storyline
§ What counts as a storytelling
episode / organisational
storytelling has expanded
§ Not contained within
organisations i.e. spills out
§ Digital technology

(Sandham & Fuller 2020)

 "An emerging alternative to
integrated communication is
polyphonic communication,
which focuses on multivocality
rather than univocality.”

- Johansen & Andersen, 2012