Organizational Communication Imperatives and Corporate Blogging, by Kennie Swanson

Context for this post

Corporate blogging has sprouted from organizational communication as a fascinating way to connect internally and externally to individuals interested in the happenings of a particular organization. Blogs have made the impact of a tidal wave over the past decade and while corporate blogging is still relatively new, it has already changed the way many people conduct and view business. Many organizational imperatives inform the practice of corporate blogging and for this reason it was very difficult to try and zero in on only one to describe. However, after some careful thought, I think that the level of organizational identification members have towards their corporation has the strongest effect on corporate blogging.

Organizational identification is accomplished within a company when members of that company take the characteristics of the organization including its values, beliefs, rites and culture and make them their own. In order for a blog to even be thought of, one must be vested in the factors for which a company stands for. Furthermore, when running a corporate blog, this sense of identifying with an organization heavily shines through as the backbone for which posts, comments, and even templates are created. From the corporate blogs that we have been exposed to in class discussions, our interviews, and the research of fellow bloggers, I have found that all carry a high intensity of organizational identification.

A great real life example of organizational identification and corporate blogging is evident through John Cass of Backbone Media. John is the director of corporate blogging strategies and he is a true believer of the power which corporate blogging beholds. He is the main contributor to the Blog Survey Blog and is clearly in high identification with Backbone’s values, beliefs, rites, and culture. His association with Backbone is evident from the content that he produces as well as his feelings towards the company in relation to blogging as he has been much appreciated to share with our class. I also found that organizational identification had a tremendous impact on the way in which one of my interviewees, Tim Jackson blogs on behalf of Masi Bicycles.

Tim has been a die hard bicycle enthusiast since he was just a child. I’m serious; he has a picture of himself on his blog, Masi Guy when he got his first bike for Christmas. Now, Tim says that he is living the dream as a brand manager / corporate blogger for Masi bikes and I can’t think of another corporate blogger on earth who identifies more with their company than he does. While reading Tim’s blog, it is quickly apparent that Tim has taken the heart and soul of Masi bikes and made them into fun interesting blog posts. If Tim did not identify with Masi as an organization to the level that he does, it’s questionable whether the blog would even exist and it’s certain that it would not be written with the same persona that has made it so successful.

Through blogging as a class we have talked about some very interesting issues in regards to corporate blogging. And, in dealing with organizational identification, I definitely feel that our own blogs progressed more and more once individuals within the class took in the values, beliefs, rites, and culture that Dr. Carl established for advanced organizational communication. All in all, I’d say it’s been a pretty majestic experience and one that I will take with me in pursuit of my own career. To all my fellow bloggers out there, it’s been real and I’ll catch you in the blogosphere!

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Organizational Communication Imperatives and Corporate Blogging, by Krystle Randall

Context for this post

When I first learned that we would be learning about blogging in our Organizational Communication class I thought I misunderstood. Before this class I thought blogs were just an on-line journal that internet junkies would add to each night before bed. After our class discussions, readings, and contributions by Mr. John Cass of Backbone Media, I have a whole new understanding of and appreciation for blogging.

As I reflect back on our corporate blogging interviews as well as our own experiences blogging, it’s only natural to apply the organizational communication imperatives. The first one I would like to discuss is organizational identification. This is when an employee highly identifies themselves with a company’s values, rituals, and ultimate mission. A highly identified individual will truly feel as though they are an important and influential part of the organization. Having organizationally identified employees can be good for a company. If an employee writes a post they need to believe in what they are writing. This is especially true for commenting because the employees need to be able to respond to constructive as well as destructive criticism. If they are not identified with the organizations values, this may reflect in their posts and comments which would only be detrimental to the company’s credibility.

When employees are identified with an organization they often take on automatic responsibility. This is when an employee will take responsibility for anything and everything that they have the expertise to. If they do not know how to do something, they will instead, automatically direct the information or task to someone who knows how.

This is also beneficial for corporate blogs. If an employee is surfing the blogosphere and finds some negative sentiments posted about their company and/or their products, what are they going to do? Some employees will just read in the information, maybe pass the link on to some colleagues. However, an employee that practices automatic responsibility will comment on the post, say they are from the company, and provide the appropriate facts to defend their argument. That employee took the initiative to stand up and defend their company name because they had the facts. Automatic responsibility is also great for a corporate blog that is maintained by multiple people. One person may normally write the posts and another may research, however, if other aspects of one person’s job become too overwhelming, other employees may take over the blog to ensure consistency as well as credibility. If nobody maintained the blog and responded to comments it could hurt the company image all around.

Both organizational identification and automatic responsibility are a result of a corporate culture. I would also say that a company’s culture can be reflected through their blog. Redding’s ideal SCOPE model can be used to analyze company blogging as well as blogging policies. Supportiveness is evident in the amount of help or input that is put into the blog, researching for blogging topics, as well as responding to comments. Even starting up a blog for a corporation needs a lot of support because it is seen as risky. Credibility is displayed when a company posts and responds to both constructive and destructive comments. A company can give the impression of being more credible more easily through a blog than other marketing tools because blogs are not only a dialogue between consumers and producers but they are also extremely human in tone. Blogs reflect a company’s openness as well. If a company chooses to allow comments, and posts positive and negative information they are seen as more open. Some company’s even post their blogging policies as well. Some companies choose to monitor comments and some do not. Participatory decision making is seen in blogs by
identifying who does the posting, who is allowed to post, and who is not allowed to post. Blogging can actually facilitate participatory decision making because it can connect many employees in one forum. An emphasis on high performance goals is seen in blogging through automatic responsibility as well as maintenance of the blog.

The overall corporate culture of the company can be shaped and changed by the introduction of corporate blogging. A blog can connect employees and build the morale of the internal culture. If employees feel as though they can learn more about each other and collaborate on ideas in a more convenient way, they will do it and blogging does just that. Some companies even use blogs as a kind of internal newsletter. They may post pictures and small comments on the company picnic or holiday party. This can lighten the mood of the corporate culture and bring employees together. External audiences, or consumers, can also gain a new perspective of a company. For example, some companies which may normally be seen as high-tech or inhumane can gain human appeal by using certain language or humor. This can make consumers who would normally be intimidated by the brand gain a whole new outlook on the company, just from their blog.

The future of blogs is unknown however, I have a prediction. I have already started to see that many companies have begun jumping on the corporate blogging bandwagon. If companies do not realize why blogging is important, they most likely will not benefit. Blogging is not just some additional marketing tactic that everyone should do. If this happens we will definitely see more synthetic transparency taking place. Companies will want to seem like they are transparent and credible by blogging, but really they just began blogging because everyone else is doing it. In conclusion, I have learned that, under the right conditions and for the right reasons, blogging can benefit a corporation both culturally as well as financially.


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Organizational Communication Imperatives and Corporate Blogging, by Leah Hyland

Context for this post

Organizational identification is one of the greatest organizational imperatives that informs the practice of corporate blogging. Identification is "an attitude or incipient action," and identification means that a person tries to select a decision that matches or fits with the interest of the organization (Tompkins, 2005). When the employee identity is aligned so much with the organization that they begin to speak about the organization as "we" instead of "they," s/he has a high level of organizational identification (Feather and Rauter, 2004). This concept is essential when a company decides to blog for many reasons. The organization must make sure to choose the right people to blog because it will affect the readership, the success, and the outreach capabilities of the blog on the blogosphere. This ripple effect will not occur if companies do not consider organizational identification when deciding to blog.

If a person were going to be the face of a company, typically the company would want the person to be a good representation of their organization. When blogging, the employee who actually blogs is the first point of contact to readers, and this makes deciding who is going to blog very important. One should choose someone who identifies with the company and its goals and visions, in order to have the appropriate appearance to the public. If the blogger does not care about the company, how can s/he be expected to care about the blog, and its content? Most likely, the blogger will not post relevant or meaningful information, which will eventually affect the company and how the public perceives it. The face of the organization must emulate the ideals of the company and choosing someone strongly connected will ultimately be in the organization's best interest.

The blogger that identifies with the company will care and contribute to that organization and thus the blog. Therefore posts will be more pertinent, and generate richer content. Since the content will be relevant, the readers will appreciate the blog more. If they see a caring and consistent blogger who posts thoughtful things about the organization (or whatever pertains to the purpose of the blog) readers will visit often and probably add comments to the organization's blog, or their own blog. In turn, this will create a sort of community around the blogger and his/her audience, which will benefit the company.

Since the blogger has strong organizational identification, and has now created an active public through posting, and commenting, and outreach, the public itself may begin to show signs of identification with the organization. Due to the personable nature of a blog, the readers will develop a sort of relationship with the blogger and therefore the company. This is one of the greatest strengths of a blog: it creates ambassadors for the organization. These people will typically promote and buy products of the company because they believe in the blog!

A ripple effect has now occurred, beginning with company's choosing a blogger that is strongly identified with the organization. This blogger has created a blog that is interesting and relevant to the company and the public/consumers. The public will then continue to monitor and comment on the blog, which creates a community around the organization. This community will inevitably become identified with the company as well, creating ambassadors and goodwill for the organization. All these effects would not be possible if the corporate blogger was not identified with the organization s/he worked for.

*On an aside, I would be curious to know if CEO blogs are any more successful than "lower-level" employee blogs—is being higher up in the organization chart correlated with how strongly identified you are??

Works Cited

Feather, N. T. & Rauter, K.A. (2004). Organizational citizenship behaviours in relation to job status, job insecurity, organizational commitment and identification, job satisfaction and work values [Electronic version]. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 77, 81-95.

Tompkins, P. (2005). Apollo, Challenger, Columbia--the decline of the space program: a study in organizational communication. Los Angeles: Roxbury.

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Final Blog Postings: Organizational Communication Imperatives and Corporate Blogging

It's that time of the semester again!

Our semester is now complete and I would like to announce that our final blog postings will come from three of our students reflecting on how organizational communication imperatives (what communication principles organizations need to enact in order to be successful) impact corporate blogging efforts.

Specifically, students were required to write an essay (500-750 words) that shows how an organizational communication imperative (organizational identification, automatic responsibility, empowerment, speaking truth to power, communication climate, etc.) informs the practice of corporate blogging.

In three separate posts to follow, we will hear from the top three responses to this question from the Spring 2006 class. I have received permission from each of the students to post their brief essays (in alphabetical order):

Leah Hyland
Krystle Randall
Kennie Swanson

And please note that for most of the students in the class this was their first exposure to corporate blogging. Feel free to comment!

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Update on Corporate Blogging Study

Just wanted to provide a quick update on our corporate blogging study. The students have conducted all 20 interviews (thanks to all the corporate bloggers who participated -- we'll be following up with a more personal thank you in the near future) and transcribed at least one of them.

We began our initial thematic analysis of the interviews as a class, and then John Cass and I will be going through in more detail.

Students also wrote a reflection essay critiquing their own interview skills and commenting on what they felt the three most important themes were. Now that classes have ended I am in the process of reading and grading their essays.

We'll post additional updates as we go along!

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Blog as branding tool

I was reading Janet Johnson's blog over at Marqui and she spoke about "You as a Brand". I was thinking about it and wouldn't that just fit perfectly into the blog? I want to take it a step further than Janet did and suggest that big corporations that rely heavily on branding must focus extensively on the language they use in their blogs. Extreme examples always demonstrate things easiest. When you think about it, we've spoken about this in class several times. Blogs for companies like Adobe and Microsoft most likely rely on complicated, technological language because this reflects their brand as a leading technology company. A company like Starbucks would use coffee related vocabulary integrated into the individual's blog. Companies like Nike and Reebok whose brand focuses on an athletic lifestyle would utilize fun, easy going vocabulary.


Maybe what we should have asked the corporate bloggers is how they utilize language to reflect the brand of their company. Because its easy to see in these examples I've suggested, it'd be much more interesting to see how it plays out in average companies. In my interview, Janet mentioned that corporate blogs inevitably become more personalized as the writer becomes more comfortable writing. We debated this in class, but perhaps what's not in such contention is whether the language eventually aligns with the company brand. What do you all think?

Getting the Word Out Through Blogger Outreach: "Marqui Post on Fear of the Blogosphere"

I received an e-mail recently from Janet Johnson over at Marqui's World about her post entitled "Fear of the Blogosphere". She had recently talked about blogging and social networks at a conference on Media Literacy & Teen Health. Some people who attended her talk (educators and social service people) experienced a lot of anger, fear, and frustration when they found out what Janet's perspective was about who is responsible, at least in part, for some of the horror stories involving social networking sites like MySpace and Live Journal.

Janet felt that parents bore some responsibility for these horror stories because they weren't knowledgeable enough about the dangers posed by their children posting too much personal, specific information online, and opening themselves up to predators. So she felt like she wanted to make amends by spreading the word about the seriousness of the situation. Specifically, she wants people to know:

- Kids are already out there. They're already engaging with their friends in the blogosphere.
- And Bobbie Eisenstock's rules of the road should be available to every parent wondering what to do about it.

Pass it on. Blogs and social networks are not going to go away. So let's figure out how to help each other deal with it. And let's show how the blogosphere can do some very good work.

I write about this on our class blog not only to help Janet spread the word but also to cite this as an instace of "blogger outreach" -- where one blogger reaches out to other bloggers in order to build a relationship and share ideas. How companies are using blogger outreach is one aspect we are interested in, among many other things, as part of our corporate blogging study.

How often and in what ways do you or your company use blogger outreach?

Student Questions About Corporate Blogging

For this past Tuesday's class students read the 95 Theses from the Cluetrain Manifesto and the Edelman/Intelliseek report "Talking from the Inside Out: The Rise of Employee Bloggers."

When students came to class I asked them to take out a blank sheet of paper and write down any questions they had about corporate blogging, either from the readings or anything else they wanted to know. We discussed a number of those questions in class, related to: the different types of corporate blogs, uses of corporate blogs, and how blogging might affect their career paths.

They also had a number of questions that we didn't have time to discuss so I told them we would could discuss them on Friday when John Cass from Backbone Media guest lectures on his study "Corporate Blogging: Is It Worth the Hype?"

I would also invite anyone in the blogosphere to offer their perspective on these questions as well. In having such a dialogue I hope we can address some of the so-called "Blog Anemia in Academica" ;-)**

Here are the questions we didn't get a chance to discuss:

- Who reads corporate blogs? What do we know about the audience of a specific corporate blog? How can you find out this information?

- How do you market a corporate blog? Is there anything special a company should do?

- For companies who have fired corporate bloggers (like Google, Friendster, Delta, Waterstone's, etc.) how are they managing corporate blogging now? For example, what is the status of the legal cases? What are their new policies or guidelines?

- How do blogs by executives compare to blogs from employees at lower levels in the hierarchy? Are they similar or different in terms of content, style, etc.?

- What are the societal effects of corporate blogs? Specifically, what is the relationship between corporate blogging and the "digital divide," if any?

- How are some of the practical issues of blogs managed? For example, does the phenomenon of information overload that applies to e-mail also apply to corporate blogging?

- What were the effects of the Cluetrain Manifesto on corporate blogging?

** If people are interested in blogging and academia be sure to check out the 2003 Chronicle of Higher Education article on "Scholars who blog", the "scholar bloggers" at Crooked Timber, and the 2006 HigherEdBlogCon conference.


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A Few More Bloggers Needed For Corporate Blogging Study

So far we have 11 bloggers signed up for our corporate blogging study. Our goal is to reach 20 bloggers. If you are interested in participating in the project contact John Cass at Backbone Media (his email is john AT backbonemedia DOT com).

The purpose of the study is to better understand what makes a successful corporate blog, and in the process help a company to determine if they should blog and how they should blog. Students in the class will learn about corporate blogging, learn interviewing skills, and then interview two corporate bloggers with a view to determining how the blogger's company started blogging and what makes their blog successful.

Thanks to all the bloggers who have signed up so far and for the warm support from Toby Bloomberg (Diva Marketing) and others :-)

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How Do You Record Conversations With Skype?

I recently read a post on Steve Rubel's blog about how he recorded his Social Media Tour interviews using Skype.

Does anyone know how to do this?

I tried using Sound Recorder (the freebie that comes with Windows) but it only picks up my side of the conversation when I use headphones.

As our class is preparing for our Corporate Blogging Study I was thinking that students could use Skype for the interviews with the corporate bloggers (assuming the corporate bloggers also used Skype) rather than paying long distance phone charges and using the old-fashioned tape recorder.

Please comment with any suggestions or e-mail me at w.carl AT neu.edu

Thanks!

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Proven wrong!

For once in class I thought I knew it all. I saw in the description for Chapter 9 that Thompkins was going to try to correlate organizational communications and Spiderman. Now first, you're listening to one of the biggest comic book geeks around; I did stand in line for 8 hours to see Batman Begins, have been spotted at national comic book conventions, and could explain the works of Loeb, Miller, and Quesada much more than I could Shakespeare, Fitzgerald, or Twain. So I'm reading through Chapter 9 and it gets to the much anticipated portion dealing with Spiderman, the movie.


How surprised was I when the chapter cited the actions of one Norman Osborne! I'm not trying to belittle the knowledge garnered from this example. It is a simple and clear demonstration how government pressure can lead to a shift in organizational culture; from creation, invention, and most importantly safety to schedules, deadlines, and ultimately bureaucracy. Here we see the absence of such crucial organizational concepts such as automatic responsibility, penetration, and Monday notes. It drove its well-intentioned leader and CEO to take radical action and inject himself with a poisonous syrum just to please his employers. Just like with NASA, we see that organizational communications can have disasterous results as he transforms into the Green Goblin and reaks terror to New York City.


Now that whole anecdote may be all well and good, but how could Tompkin be so blind? He must not have watched the whole film nor seen its succesful sequel, because he clearly forgot to mention the film's most famous (and in this case extremely relevant) quote from good ol' Uncle Ben; "With great power comes great responsibility." We can see how this anecdote applies to organizational communications. With Tompkin's discussion of Enron, Wal-Mart, Tyco, and the McWane corporation, he revealed the importance of speaking truth to power and individual accountability. The question of if these corporations are just a few "bad apples" or if its becoming a cultural issue shows the need for these concepts in today's organizational leaders. If these people can recognize the power they yield and respect the responsibility that they have, perhaps we wouldn't bear witness to so many organizational transgressions and corporate scandals. I believe this anecdote by ol' Uncle Ben is much more relevant and forecasting to organizational communications than the events of Norman Osborne. Maybe it's me trying to prove I should have been right but I thought bringing this up with a current Spiderman-mindset may be helpful to you all. Hope this helps.