The Expressive Organisation: Linking Identity, Reputation and the Corporate Brand

Citation

Schultz, M., Hatch, M.J. and Larsen, M.H. (2001), "The Expressive Organisation: Linking Identity, Reputation and the Corporate Brand", Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 107-109. https://doi.org/10.1108/ccij.2001.6.2.107.2

It was only a few years ago that British publishers were saying that collective works were not marketable and here we have another edited book of 16 chapters divided into six sections:

1. 1.

   (1) rethinking identity;

2. 2.

   (2) the symbolic marketplace;

3. 3.

   (3) reputation as strategy;

4. 4.

   (4) organisations as brands;

5. 5.

   (5) the value of storytelling; and

6. 6.

   (6) communication organisations.

Many of the authors of the book come from business studies disciplines such as marketing and accounting and not the traditional field of corporate communication and strategic public relations as one would expect for a book on corporate reputation. Thus, anybody experienced or interested in the linear development of the discipline itself or the profession will find this book frustrating. However, given that the roots of the discipline as taught in the US and UK university systems is empirically based, the issues and topics raised contribute undoubtedly to this interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary subject area. The editors justify their attempt at integrating the communication insights contained in the book by producing a holistic framework across different disciplines to suggest a development towards a holistic framework for reputation management. A number of familiar academics have contributed, including Charles Fombran writing on reputation management at Royal Dutch/Shell; Cees van Riel discussing the methods that can be applied to create and implement a sustainable corporate story (p. 179) and Paul Argenti with Janice Forman offering a constituency‐focussed approach to formulating and implementing a corporate communication strategy which incorporates the needs of a modern expressive organisation (p. 243).

This is a feisty readable text, likely to appeal to both academics and practitioners, It leaves a provocative desire to see the concepts and clues to theory building based on the concept of the expressive organisation brought into line with the field’s historic and classical roots, namely corporate communication and strategic public relations.