Organizational Identity

In the authenticity battle, who wins? Barbie vs Felicity

June 12, 2008

Tweet Does an organization’s authenticity protect it somehow, and make it stronger? S houldn’t it be harder to influence, harder to infiltrate, harder to damage an organization where identity, image and action support each other? Whenever I noticed an organization differ from its industry’s norm, or noticed a subsidiary doing something completely different from its […]

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Authentic or Not?: A Men’s Organization with a woman member

June 5, 2008

Tweet Recently, I told you about an organizational situation that raises some interesting questions about whether the organization is being authentic. The organization, a Men’s Chorus, has up to 249 male members and 1 woman member, my neighbor Joan Garry. I proposed that this organization is either very special or very inauthentic” how else could […]

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Authentic Food Organizations: Why I love my CSA

May 29, 2008

Tweet Spring is here, and I’m in love again… with my CSA. CSA as in “cyber-spouse avatar”? No, CSA as in Community Supported Agriculture. It’s a group of us — 55 families, Farmer John (that’s John, below), the five or so employees of John’s Starbrite Farm, and 20 weeks of organic produce. [Quick introduction: Community […]

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B Corp Identity: An Opportunity for Organizational Authenticity

May 1, 2008

Tweet What are for-profit organizations to do, if they want to pursue social purposes and be authentic? Until recently, organizations facing this authenticity dilemma had three options. They could: Attempt to manage the incongruence between their actions and their identity, and forgo authenticity, Resolve the inconsistency by giving up for-purpose actions and become an authentic […]

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Authentic Organizational Partnerships: Co-Branding and The Abercrombie & Fitch Trauma Center

March 27, 2008

Tweet (photo from TheConsumerist) In an earlier post we considered how the new name of the Abercrombie & Fitch Trauma Center might affect the Center’s employees. Here, let’s consider why a partnership between Abercrombie & Fitch and the Columbus Children’s Hospital is inauthentic. And, let’s consider what criteria should be used to evaluate whether a […]

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5 (More) Reasons Why Being Authentic Can Be Bad for Your Organization

March 13, 2008

Tweet Being authentic limits who your organization can attract as partners. Not every organization wants to do business with an organization that’s authentic, because authentic organizations can be demanding partners. Authentic organizations need partners who will support the organization’s dedication to authenticity, who will appreciate why the organization dedicates its resources to sustaining authenticity, and […]

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5 Reasons Why Being Authentic Can Be Bad For Your Organization

March 5, 2008

Tweet Being authentic requires constant vigilance. Authentic organizations need constantly to monitor the relationship between their identity, their image, and their actions. Ideally, the organization wants to catch (and fix) any misalignments before others notice, because these misalignments can easily be interpreted as signs that the organization isn’t authentic or isn’t intending to remain authentic. […]

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It’s not that hard to recognize an organization’s authenticity. Even a child can do it.

February 16, 2008

Tweet “Mom, this company really shows their believingness.” So said my nine-year-old daughter. She had just noticed that the tag hanging from the T-shirt I gave her for Valentine’s Day was made from “100% post-consumer waste”. She already knew that the T-shirt was from a company called PositiviTee, that the graphic image printed on the […]

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