Importance of Integrity

Integrity is the number one quality of leadership. Integrity in leadership is expressed in terms of constancy and consistency. It is manifested in an absolute devotion to keeping one’s word. The glue that holds all relationships together-including the relationship between the leader and the led—is trust, and trust is based on integrity. Integrity is so important that functioning in our society would be impossible without it. We could not make even a simple purchase without a high level of confidence that the price was honest and that the change was correct. The most successful individuals and companies in America are those with reputations of high integrity among everyone they deal with. This level of integrity builds the confidence that others have in them and enables them to do more business than their competitors whose ethics may be a little shaky. Earl Nightingale once wrote, â€Å"If honesty did not exist, it would have to be invented, as it is the surest way of getting rich. † A study at Harvard University concluded that the most valuable asset that a company has is how it is known to its customers, its reputation. By the same token, your greatest personal asset is the way that you are known to your customers. It is your personal reputation for keeping your word and fulfilling your commitments. Your integrity precedes you and affects all of your interactions with other people. There are several things you can do to move you more rapidly toward becoming the kind of person that you know you are capable of becoming. The first is to decide upon my five most important values in life. Organize them in order of priority. Then I write a brief paragraph defining what each of those values means to me. A value combined with a definition becomes an organizing principle, a statement that I can use to help me make better decisions. It is a measure and standard which enables me to know how closely I am adhering to my innermost beliefs and convictions. Five of my most important values are: helping those who are less fortunate, working hard to reach my goals, being honest and truthful, working with others to get things done, and being the nicest person anyone could meet. I have always been regarded as a leader and that does not come with ease: backlash of the bullies and those who want to bring me down to get where I am will always encounter me, but because of my high integrity and honesty to do what is â€Å"right† I will not retaliate against them. I must go into others shoes, which enables me to help others in more ways than one, because their situations make me emotionally motivated to get them in a better place to be successful. Integrity is hard work, but that work is nothing but rewarding. I’m a leader and I will continue to develop to be the best leader I am to become, by living with integrity every day.

Internal Corporate Communication on Strategy

Internal corporate communication on strategy and employee commitment International Business Communication Master's thesis Michele Fenech 2013 Department of Communication Aalto University School of Business Powered by TCPDF (www. tcpdf. org) Internal corporate communication on strategy A CRITICAL COMPARISON OF and employee commitment EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCES IN THE CONTEXT OF INTRA-COMMUNITY SUPPLIES Master? s Thesis Master’s thesis Katharina ele Fenech ? MichWeber 26. 09. 2012 2013 Spring International Business International Business CommunicationApproved by the head of the Department of Management and International Business __. __. 20__ and awarded the grade ___________________ Approved in the Department of Communication / / 20 and awarded the grade AALTO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS International Business Communication Mater’s Thesis Mich? le Fenech e ABSTRACT 02-02-2013 Internal corporate communication on strategy and employee commitment Objectives of the stud y This Master’s thesis had three objectives. The ? rst objective was to examine the employees’ needs and preferences of the case company’s internal communication channels, speci? ally internal corporate communication channels that convey the company’s corporate strategy. The second was to investigate success of the internal strategy (corporate) communication by analysing the employees’ perception of their strategy knowledge. The third was to research the relation between internal strategy (corporate) communication (ISCC) and employee commitment. Methodology and theoretical framework The research method was a single-case study and the data was collected using a background study, semi-structured interviews and a survey. The qualitative data was analysed and emerging patterns were identi? d, whereas the quantitative data was statistically analysed using the R programming environment. The theoretical framework presents how internal corporate communicat ion conveys corporate strategy messages via rich and lean media, how the channel attributes affect employee preference and choice, and how the communication and interpretation of the strategy eventually result in commitment. Findings and conclusions of the study In the case company, top-down and primarily one-way internal corporate communication conveying strategy (ISCC) met the employees’ needs better than lateral and two-way internal strategy communication.The needs were recognised to include gaining strategy knowledge, gaining ability to use the knowledge, and reducing equivocality and uncertainty. Apart from the needs, the employees’ communication channel preferences and satisfaction seemed to be affected more with the channel accessibility and information quality attributes than with the richness of the channel. Internal strategy (corporate) communication (ISCC) was successful because the employees perceived to have corporate strategy knowledge. This strategy know ledge had a strong relationship with employee commitment, especially affective commitment.The main implication of this study was the recommendation that companies invest resources in internal strategy corporate communication (ISCC), because it was preferred by the employees at the case company, it corresponded to their needs and it contributed to their affective commitment. Key words: international business communication, internal communication, internal corporate communication, strategy communication, communication channels, communication channel attributes, media richness, corporate strategy, employee commitment I AALTO-YLIOPISTON KAUPPAKORKEAKOULU Kansainv? lisen yritysviestinn? pro gradu -tutkielma a a Mich? le Fenech e Sis? inen strategiaviestint? ja ty? ntekij? iden sitoutuminen a a o o ? TIIVISTELMA 02. 02. 2013 Tutkimuksen tavoitteet T? ll? pro gradu -tutkielmalla oli kolme tavoitetta. Ensimm? inen tavoite oli tutkia ty? ntekij? iden a a a o o tarpeita ja n? kemyksi? sis? is en viestinn? n v? lineist? eritoten sellaisista sis? isen yritysviestinn? n a a a a a a a a v? lineist? , jotka v? litt? v? t yrityksen strategiaa. Toinen tavoite oli selvitt? a sis? isen strategiaa a a a a a? a viestinn? n (ISCC) onnistuminen analysoimalla ty? ntekij? iden n? kemys heid? n strategiatiedosa o o a a taan.Kolmas tavoite oli tutkia sis? isen strategiaviestinn? n (ISCC) ja ty? ntekij? iden sitoutumia a o o sen v? list? suhdetta. a a Tutkimusmenetelm? t ja teoreettinen viitekehys a Tutkimusmetodi on tapaustutkimus, ja aineisto ker? ttiin taustaselvityksell? , haastatteluilla ja a a kyselyll? . Kvalitatiivinen aineisto analysoitiin ja kategorisoitiin, kun taas kvantitatiivinen aia neisto analysoitiin tilastollisesti R-ohjelmistoymp? rist? ll? . Tutkielman teoreettinen viitekehys a o a n? ytt? a kuinka sis? inen yritysviestint? viestii strategiaa joko rikkaan tai niukan median kauta a? a a ta ty? ntekij? lle, kuinka v? lineiden ominaisuudet vaikuttavat ty? ntekij? iden mie ltymyksiin ja o o a o o valintaan, ja kuinka viestint? ja strategian tulkitseminen lopulta johtavat ty? ntekij? iden sitoutua o o miseen. Tutkimuksen tulokset ja johtop? at? kset a? o Tapausyrityksen ty? ntekij? t pitiv? t parhaana vertikaalista ja enimm? kseen yksi-suuntaista sis? ist? o a a a a a yritysviestint? a, joka v? litti strategiaa (ISCC). Se t? ytti heid? n tarpeensa paremmin kuin hoa? a a a risontaalinen ja kaksi-suuntainen sis? inen strategiaviestint? . Tarpeiksi tunnistettiin strategiatiea a don saaminen, strategiatiedon k? tt? minen, ja moniselitteisyyden ja ep? varmuuden v? hent? minen. a a a a a Ty? ntekij? iden viestint? v? lineiden preferenssiin ja tyytyv? isyyteen n? ytti vaikuttavan enemm? n o o a a a a a v? lineiden k? ytett? vyys ja tiedon laatu kuin v? lineiden rikkaus. Sis? inen strategiaviestint? (ISCC) a a a a a a on onnistunut siin? ett? ty? ntekij? t kokevat, ett? he tiet? v? t yrityksen strategian. T? ll? stratea a o a a a a a a giatiedolla on vahva suh de ty? ntekij? iden sitoutumiseen, eritoten affektiiviseen sitoutumiseen. o o T? m? n tutkimuksen johtop? at? ksiin kuuluu, ett? yritysten pit? si investoida resursseja sis? iseen a a a? o a a a strategiaviestint? an (ISCC), sill? se on ty? ntekij? iden suosima, se vastaa heid? n tarpeisiinsa ja a? a o o a se vaikuttaa heid? n affektiiviseen sitoutumiseensa. a Avainsanat: kansainv? linen yritysviestint? , sis? inen viestint? , sis? inen yritysviestint? , stratea a a a a a giaviestint? , viestinn? n v? lineet, viestinn? n v? lineiden ominaisuudet, media rikkaus, yritys straa a a a a tegia, ty? ntekij? n sitoutuminen o a II Contents 1 Introduction 1. 1 Research objectives and questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. Terminology of this study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. 3 Structure of the thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Review of Literature 2. 1 Internal communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 1. 1 Internal co mmunication matrix . . . . . . 2. 1. 2 Internal corporate communication . . . . 2. 2 Corporate strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 2. 1 Strategy formation . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 2. 2 Strategy implementation . . . . . . . . . 2. 3 Communication channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 3. 1 Media richness theory . . . . . . . . . . 2. . 2 Channel attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 4 Commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. 4. 1 Organisational Commitment . . . . . . . 2. 4. 2 Three-Component Model of Commitment 2. 5 Theoretical framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 6 8 9 9 13 15 18 19 23 30 32 41 43 46 50 55 61 61 62 63 64 66 66 72 80 83 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Methodology 3. 1 Research design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 1. 1 Exploratory and descriptive research purpose . . . 3. 1. 2 Quantitative and qualitative research strategy . . . 3. 1. 3 Case study method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 2 Data collection and analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 2. 1 Background study, interview and survey techniques 3. 2. 2 Statistical data analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. 3 Reliability and validity of this study . . . . . . . . . . . . Findings and Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 III 4. 1 4. 2 4. 3 4. 4 Description of the case company’s strategy and the internal communication channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 1. 1 Description of the company’s generic corporate strategy . . . . . 4. 1. 2 Description of the company’s internal com munication channels . Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 2. 1 Strategy knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 2. Employees’ ability to apply corporate strategy . . . . . . . . . . 4. 2. 3 The quantity of strategy information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 1 Media richness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 2 Preference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 3 Information quality and channel accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 4 Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 5 Channel comparisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 6 ICC versus non-ICC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 3. 7 ICC channels ful? l the employee needs to varying extent . . . . . Commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 4. 1 Affective, normative and continuance commitment . . . . . . . . 4. 4. 2 Strategy knowledge against commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. 4. 3 ICC channels and commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 84 86 89 90 93 94 96 97 102 106 107 109 112 113 116 117 119 122 125 125 127 128 129 130 5 Conclusions 5. 1 Research summary . . . . . . . 5. 2 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 3 Practical implications . . . . . . 5. 4 Limitations of the study . . . . . 5. 5 Suggestions for further research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IV List of Tables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Important terminology of this study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Internal Communication Matrix (Welch & Jackson, 2007) . . . . . . . . Adjective-Pairs Used In Evaluating Communication Ch annels . . . . . Background material from case company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Interview data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The stages of channel choice for the survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Case study tactics for Four Design Tests (Adapted from Yin (2009, p. 41)) 7 14 42 67 68 70 81 Selected channels and their dimension of internal communication . . . . . 89 The employee channel preference comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 The top three employee channel preferences in terms of media richness and internal communication dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 The employees’ ranking of channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 V List of Figures 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 The Shannon-Weaver model of communication (Shannon & Weaver, 1949) Internal Corporate Communication (Welch & Jackson, 2007) . . . . . . . Types of Strategies (Mintzberg, 197 8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Strategy Implementation, a link between planned and realizing strategy . Media Richness Hierarchy (Lengel & Daft, 1988) . . . . . . . . . . . . . Media Selection Framework (Lengel & Daft, 1988) . . . . . . . . . . . A Three-component Model of Organizational Commitment . . . . . . . . The Theoretical Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A box plot with annotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A box plot with outlier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scatter plot without and with jitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scatter chart with Trend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scatter plot without and without outlier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Removal of outliers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The correlation between Affective, Normative and Continuance Commitment Scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Theoretical Framework (Content) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The employees’ perception of their strategy knowledge . . . . . . . . Ability to apply strategy against knowledge of the strategy . . . . . . Having enough strategy information against knowledge of the strategy The Theoretical Framework (Media) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Media richness attribute scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Richness and Richness Adjusted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Channel preference ranking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Information quality and channel accessibility scores . . . . . . . . . . The employees’ channel satisfaction scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ICC and non-ICC channel attribute comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . The Theoretical Framework (Commitment) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Overall ACS, NCS and CCS results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Commitment scales against Strategy Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . Knowledge affect commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 16 20 25 34 38 51 56 74 75 76 77 79 80 82 90 91 93 95 96 97 99 102 106 108 112 116 117 120 121 31 32 ACS, Strategy Knowledge and Employees’ perspective . . . . . . . . . . 122 The employees’ ? rst channel preference type with respect to strategy knowledge and ACS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 VII Chapter 1 Introduction In recent years, there has been a growing interest in internal communication in corporate communication research (Vercic, Vercic & Sriramesh, 2012).Internal communication can be described as any â€Å"communication with employees internally within the organization† (Cornelissen, 2011, p. 164). Not only does internal communication enable companies to have information and knowledge sharing between employees (D. Tourish & Hargie, 2004a) but it also satis? es and commits them (D. Tourish & Hargie, 2000), and gives them a voice to speak up (Morrison & Milliken, 2000). Internal communication is important, because it affects the bottom line of a company (Yates, 2006) and, quite simply, is a contributing factor to success (Argenti & Forman, 2002; D. Tourish & Hargie, 2004d).According to Welch and Jackson (2007), one of the recent internal communication theories is based on a stakeholder approach, where internal communication is divided into four interrelated dimensions according to identi? ed stakeholder groups: internal line manager communication, internal team peer communication, internal project peer communication and internal corporate communication. In their new approach to internal communication, Welch and Jackson (2007) concentrate on the fourth dimension, namely internal corporate communication. It is de? ned as â€Å"communication between an organisation’s strategic managers and its in1 ernal stakeholders, designed to promote commitment to the organisation, a sense of belonging to it, awareness of its changing environment and understanding of its evolving aims. † (Welch & Jackson, 2007, p. 193) The role of internal corporate communication is to convey corporate issues such as goals and objectives (Welch & Jackson, 2007). The internal corporate communication channels are mainly one-way channels, such as newsletters and the intranet. The aim of internal corporate communication is to reach four goals, which are belonging, commitment, awareness and understanding of the business environment.Welch and Jackson (2007) address speci? cally the formal and managed internal communication as opposed to the informal internal communication. Informal internal communication, also known as â€Å"grapevine†, includes the constant chat between people at work. The formal internal communication includes the managed company/work related communication. The new stakeholder approach to internal communication is important, beca use according to Welch and Jackson (2007), it broadens the previous approaches, which only looked at the employees as a single audience.The four internal communication dimensions give managers a tool to strategically communicate to different stakeholder groups within the company as well as to all employees at once. One of the corporate issues that internal communication conveys is strategy. Strategy has a multitude of de? nitions. Chandler (1962) created the basics for today’s typical strategy de? nition (Mintzberg, 1978; Mustonen, 2009), which is: â€Å"the determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals† (Chandler, 1962, p. 3) Corporate strategy is important, because it aids the company to reach its long-term object2 ives and, therefore, affects the company’s long-term wealth (Al-Ghamdi, Roy & Ahmed, 2007). After the corporat e strategy has been formulated, it needs to be implemented, hence communicated, to the employees. The better the employees understand, accept and embrace the corporate strategy, the more successful the strategy communication is (Aaltonen & Ik? valko, 2002). Understanding the strategy objectives and the signi? cance a of everyone’s contribution has an effect on the commitment and work motivation of the employees (H? ? l? inen & Maula, 2004). a aa In spite of the wealth of research into strategy and strategy communication, there has been a call for more research on internal communication for more than a decade. For example, Argenti (1996, p. 94) points out that â€Å"no other corporate communication subfunction offers more of an opportunity for genuinely sought after research than employee [= internal] communication†. Even today, internal communication still calls for more research (Vercic et al. , 2012; Welch & Jackson, 2007). Welch and Jackson (2007, p. 94) call for fu rther research on â€Å"internal stakeholders’ [employees] needs and preferences for communication content and media† to improve internal corporate communication. Since the internal corporate communication concept is new, there has been little if any research in a corporate strategy context. Furthermore, internal corporate communication and its ability to contribute to the four goals, namely belonging, commitment, awareness and understanding of the business environment, hasn’t been studied much either. 1. 1 Research objectives and questions This Master’s thesis has three purposes. The ? st purpose is to examine the employees’ needs and preferences of the company’s internal communication (IC) channels, speci? cally internal corporate communication (ICC) channels that convey the company’s corporate strategy. The second is to investigate the successfulness of the internal strategy communication (ISC), speci? cally internal strategy corpo rate communication (ISCC), regarding the employees’ perception of their strategy knowledge. The third is to research the relation between internal strategy communication (ISC), focusing on internal strategy corporate communication (ISCC), and the employee’s commitment.The terminology 3 used in this study is described in Section 1. 2. Even though this study focuses primarily on the internal corporate communication (ICC) dimension, the other three internal communication dimensions, namely internal line manager communication, internal team peer communication and internal project peer communication, as well as the informal communication (non-ICC), are also taken into account in this study. This is because the other three dimensions are interrelated with the ICC dimension (Welch & Jackson, 2007); and, because informal communication adds an often used channel.This study looks both at the general internal strategy communication (ISC), which includes all four formal internal c ommunication dimensions and informal internal communication, and at Welch and Jackson’s (2007) more speci? c internal corporate communication conveying strategy (ISCC). Hereinafter, the general internal strategy communication (ISC) with the focus on internal strategy corporate communication (ISCC) is referred to as ‘internal strategy (corporate) communication’.Since, this study requires in-depth knowledge about a company’s internal strategy communication (ISC), it was deemed best to focus only on one company instead of looking at multiple companies. Also, since internal strategy communication (ISC) is con? dential, the case company prefers to stay anonymous. The chosen case company for this study is a Finnish daughter company of an international corporation. The daughter company is spread around Finland and has circa 350 employees. More information on the case company and the single case study method is presented in Section 3. . 3. The purpose of this stud y is transformed into one main and ? ve sub research questions. All of these research questions relate to the case company. The questions are as follows: Main research question: How does internal strategy communication, speci? cally internal strategy corporate communication, meet the employees’ needs and relate to employee commitment? Sub research questions: 4 1. What are the employees’ internal strategy (corporate) communication channel preferences? 2. How do the channels meet the employees’ needs? 3.How much knowledge do the employees perceive to have regarding the corporate strategy gained through internal strategy (corporate) communication? 4. How committed are the employees? 5. What is the relation between their commitment and strategy knowledge gained through internal strategy (corporate) communication? The main research question studies how internal (corporate) communication conveying the corporate strategy meets the needs of the employees. Also, it studi es whether the communication relates to the employees’ commitment towards the company. The ? e sub research questions are studying this main research problem more thoroughly. The ? rst and second sub research questions aim to identify what the employees’ internal strategy (corporate) communication channel preferences are and how the channels meet the employees’ needs. Internal communication media include different kinds of communication channels. On the one hand, it includes two-way internal communication channels such as performance appraisals, and on the other hand, it includes one-way internal corporate communication channels, such as newsletters and the intranet. The channel related needs will be identi? d from the literature. The emphasis in the ? rst and second sub questions is on the employees’ viewpoint on the channels and their characteristics. The third sub research question studies how much knowledge the employees perceive to have regarding the corporate strategy. It is assumed that strategy knowledge is gained and understood via several different ways, one of them being internal strategy (corporate) communication. The needs of the employees for internal strategy (corporate) communication are to receive the message, understand it, and gain the required strategy knowledge.The employees’ level of strategy knowledge and their ability to use this knowledge in their everyday work will help to determine whether the internal strategy (corporate) communication is effective and successful. The fourth and ? fth sub research questions investigate the commitment level of the case 5 company employees, and the relation between their commitment and their strategy knowledge. As has been discussed earlier, ICC leads to four goals, which are commitment, belonging, awareness and understanding of the business environment. Due to the scope restrictions in this study, only the ommitment goal is researched. The organisational commitment theory will be used to analyse how committed the employees are to the company. The gained strategy knowledge will be seen as a result of internal strategy (corporate) communication. Therefore, the employees’ strategy knowledge acts as a middleman in determining the relation between internal strategy corporate communication and the employees’ commitment. This Master’s thesis is well positioned in the research ? eld of International Business Communication, because this study is set in an international business setting researching communication.The Finnish case company is a subsidiary of a multinational company, with subsidiaries all over the world. There is close co-operation between the parent and subsidiary companies, providing an international setting for the business. This study explores internal strategy (corporate) communication in the ? eld of business. The speci? c interest is in the case company’s corporate strategy, how this company communicates t he strategy to its employees, how the employees perceive the communication and whether the communication relates to their organisational commitment. 1. 2Terminology of this study Since the ‘internal communication’, ‘internal corporate communication’ and ‘internal strategy corporate communication’ related concepts and terminology used in this study are very similar to each other, there is the potential for misunderstandings. In order to increase clarity of this study, a summary of the key terminology is provided. The terminology, the abbreviations and their descriptions are presented in Table 1. As can be seen in Table 1, the key terminology used in this study consists of variations about ‘internal communication’ and ‘strategy’.In each chapter, the ? rst time a term is mentioned, it is spelled out entirely with the abbreviation in brackets as a reminder. After 6 Table 1: Important terminology of this study Abbr. IC Desc ription Terminology Internal communication Internal corporate communication ICC Formal non-ICC Internal line manager communication Internal project peer communication Internal team peer communication Informal Small talk, corridor chats ISC Overall internal communication happening in a company. Could be both one-way or two-way communication.Includes all four formal internal communication dimensions and informal communication Predominantly one-way communication between an organisation’s strategic managers and its employees on corporate issues Other internal communication that is not ICC. It includes most two-way communication, formal and informal, on work related issues between all the employees (line manager to subordinate, employee to employee, project peer to project peer, team peer to team peer) of the company 7 ISCC Internal strategy communication Internal strategy corporate communicationFormal Internal communication conveying strategy information in a company. Could be bo th one-way or two-way communication. Includes all four formal internal communication dimensions and informal communication Predominantly one-way communication on precisely the corporate strategy conveyed from the strategic managers to all the employees more or less simultaneously Internal strategy line manager communication Internal strategy project peer communication Internal strategy team peer communication Informal Strategy small talk, corridor chatsOther internal communication on strategy that is not ISCC. It includes non-ISCC most two-way communication, formal or informal, on strategy between all the employees of the company that the abbreviation is usually used. However, in selected places, like Section 2. 1 on internal communication, the term ‘internal communication’ is spelled out instead of using the abbreviation IC in order to make the difference towards ICC more prominent. 1. 3 Structure of the thesis The four main sections in this Master’s thesis are the literature review, the methodology, the ? dings and discussion, and the conclusions. The literature review presents the most relevant literature for this study, including literature on internal communication, strategy, internal communication channels and commitment. The ? nal section of the literature review explains the theoretical framework of this study. The methodology chapter presents the research design, methods and data, and reliability of the study. The ? ndings and discussion chapter explains ? ndings on the internal strategy (corporate) communication channels, employee preferences and need ful? ment, employees’ perception of their strategy knowledge, and employees’ overall organisational commitment and its relation to the gained strategy knowledge. All of the ? ndings are discussed throughout this chapter. Finally, the conclusion chapter reviews the research summary, explains the practical implications of this research, presents the limitations of the stu dy, and proposes suggestions for further research. 8 Chapter 2 Review of Literature This chapter will review literature that is relevant to this Master’s thesis. All of the sections in this chapter ? st review more general literature on the topic at hand and then dive into the more speci? c theory or model that is of relevance to this study. The ? rst section presents research related to internal communication in general and, more speci? cally, to the internal communication matrix and the internal corporate communication (ICC) concept. The second section addresses the formulation and implementation of strategy. The third section highlights communication channels, in general, and then more speci? cally focuses on the media richness theory and communication channel attributes.The fourth section elaborates on commitment, organisational commitment and the threecomponent model of commitment. The last section presents the theoretical framework of this study. 2. 1 Internal communica tion The word communication is based on the Latin words â€Å"communis† and â€Å"communicare† (Wiio, 1977). â€Å"Communis† means sharing in common and â€Å"communicare† means to make common, hence communication is something that is being done together (Wiio, 9 1977). Wiio (1970) de? nes communication simply as the exchange of information between the sender and the receiver.One of the earliest ways to describe communication is the Shannon-Weaver model of communication, which includes more elements than just the sender and the receiver (Shannon & Weaver, 1949). This model is presented in Figure 1. Transmitter Information message (Encoder) Source signal Channel Noise Source received signal Receiver (Decoder) message Destination Figure 1: The Shannon-Weaver model of communication (Shannon & Weaver, 1949) In Figure 1 the sender encodes a message, transmits it via a channel to the receiver who decodes the message.Along the way there is noise, which refers to any disturbance that could affect the reception of the message (Shannon & Weaver, 1949). What makes this communication successful, according to Al-Ghamdi et al. (2007), is that the information transferred from the sender to the receiver is understood by the receiver. For a long time now, it has been recognised that the Shannon-Weaver model of communication is outdated because it cannot fully grasp the complex process of human communication, nevertheless, it is one of the best known models (Bowman & Targowski, 1987).It is important to note that communication can be both internal and external (Cornelissen, 2011). Traditionally it was easy to distinguish between the internal communication between the employees in a company and the external communication to, for instance, customers. Nowadays, however, with the arrival of technology and new communication tools (e-mail, intranet, videos, online newsletters) the borders between internal and external communication have become fuzzy (Cornel issen, 2011). For the purpose of this study, it is assumed that internal communication can exist as its own concept separate from external communication.This study will only focus on the internal aspects of communication. Internal communication is important because it helps to share information and know10 ledge with everyone at the company (D. Tourish & Hargie, 2004a). It informs (Smith, 2008), satis? es and commits the employees (D. Tourish & Hargie, 2000), as well as, engages them (Kress, 2005) and gives them a voice to speak up (Morrison & Milliken, 2000). Especially in today’s rapidly changing business world, with all the downsizing, outsourcing and restructuring, internal communication is important (Vercic et al. 2012). It has emerged as a critical function, because organisational leaders need better management skills in regards to employees (Vercic et al. , 2012). Welch and Jackson (2007) argue that internal communication, speci? cally ICC, explained in Subsection 2. 1. 2, leads to commitment, and commitment leads to better performance (Meyer & Allen, 1991) and, therefore, internal communication is crucial for business success. It is the key to good management (Jay, 2005) and it produces better results (Smith, 2008).Internal communication affects the bottom line of a company, by decreasing employee turnover and increasing market premiums, shareholder returns and employee engagement (Yates, 2006), therefore, leading to success (Argenti & Forman, 2002; D. Tourish & Hargie, 2004d). The growing importance of internal communication is visible in many initiatives, for instance, the setting up of the Institute of internal communication in the UK, with the aim of understanding and studying the ? eld (Vercic et al. , 2012). Already in the 6th century St.Benedict said: â€Å"Smaller organisational decisions should be taken by senior individuals, but large ones should be decided as a group. Everyone’s voice must be heard to avoid murmurs and back-bit ing† (Smith, 2008, p. 10), which indicates that internal communication has existed for a long time and it is not only a phenomenon of today’s business world (Smith, 2008). Although the actual practice of internal communication has probably existed for quite some time, the concept itself is relatively new, having started in the US and spread from there to Europe (Vercic et al. , 2012) in the 20th century (Clutterbuck, 1997; Smith, 2008).Even though internal communication has been studied directly or indirectly by many researchers such as Argenti (1996); J. Grunig and Hunt (1984); Jefkins (1988); Kalla (2005); Quirke (2000); Smith (2008); Stone (1995); D. Tourish and Hargie (2004b); Wiio (1970); Wright (1995); Yates (2006), there has been a considerable gap in the academic research and understanding of internal communication (Welch & Jackson, 2007). This is highlighted with the following quote. â€Å"no other corporate communication subfunction offers more of an opportun ity for genuinely sought after research than employee [= internal] communic11 ation† (Argenti, 1996, p. 4) It is dif? cult to de? ne internal communication because it has several, often interchangeably used, synonyms such as change management (Smith, 2008), employee communication (Argenti, 1996; Smidts, Pruyn & Van Riel, 2001), employee relations (Argenti, 1996; J. Grunig & Hunt, 1984; Quirke, 2000), integrated internal communications (Kalla, 2005), internal public relations (Jefkins, 1988; Wright, 1995), internal relations (J. Grunig & Hunt, 1984), industrial relations (Smith, 2008), reputation management (Smith, 2008), staff communication (Stone, 1995), staff communications (D. Tourish & Hargie, 2004b) and transformation (Smith, 2008).These synonyms add to the complexity of de? ning internal communication. The term internal communication has been chosen for this study due to the interest in Welch and Jackson’s (2007) ICC concept; for details see Subsection 2. 1. 2. In addition, the term internal communication is preferred by corporate communication theorists such as Van Riel (1995) and J. Foreman and Argenti (2005). There have been very few useful and appropriate de? nitions of internal communication. De? nitions have either been very simple, for example â€Å"communication with employees internally within the organization† (Cornelissen, 2011, p. 64), or describing something else entirely. For example, a very widely used de? nition of internal communication is that of Frank and Brownell (1989), which more accurately seems to be a de? nition of organisational communication instead of internal communication (Welch & Jackson, 2007). â€Å"the communications transactions between individuals and/or groups at various levels and in different areas of specialisation that are intended to design and redesign organisations, to implement designs, and to co-ordinate day-today activities† (Frank & Brownell, 1989, p. -6) Appropriately, Welch and Jackson (2007) addressed this gap in the academic research and understanding of internal communication and rede? ned internal communication. Welch and Jackson’s (2007) de? nition is adopted for this study, because of the interest in ICC 12 speci? cally. The de? nition is presented below. â€Å"the strategic management of interactions and relationships between stakeholders within organisations across a number of interrelated dimensions including, internal line manager communication, internal team peer communication, internal project peer communication and internal corporate communication† (Welch & Jackson, 2007, p. 84) This section continues by explaining Welch and Jackson’s (2007) internal communication matrix with its four formal internal communication dimensions in Subsection 2. 1. 1. Then, Subsection 2. 1. 2 de? nes the internal corporate communication concept and its four goals (Welch & Jackson, 2007). 2. 1. 1 Internal communication matrix The internal commu nication matrix created by Welch and Jackson (2007) consists of four formal internal communication dimensions, which are the earlier mentioned internal corporate communication (ICC), internal line manager communication, internal team peer communication and internal project peer communication.The internal communication matrix helps to separate the ICC dimension from the other internal communication dimensions. Welch and Jackson (2007) take a stakeholder approach to internal communication. This is done in order to address the criticism and recent calls for research. L’Etang (2005, p. 522) criticises that â€Å"employees are too often treated as a single public† with respect to internal communication in a company. In addition, Forman and Argenti (2005) call for more research on employees as the target audience of internal communication.Welch and Jackson (2007) address these issues by differentiating stakeholder groups at the company, while at the same time still focusing on communication that reaches all the employees. Hence, Welch and Jackson (2007) take a stakeholder approach to internal communication. 13 According to Freeman (1984, p. 25), a stakeholder is: â€Å"any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the ? rm’s objectives†. Stakeholder theory, together with internal communication, add to the identi? ation of participants that form stakeholder groups at different organisational levels: all employees, strategic management, day-to-day management, work teams and project teams (Welch & Jackson, 2007). This implies the earlier mentioned four interrelated dimensions of internal communication (Welch & Jackson, 2007). These four internal communication dimensions in a management context form the internal communication matrix, which is visible in Table 2. Table 2: Internal Communication Matrix (Welch & Jackson, 2007) Dimension 1. Internal line management communication 2.Internal team peer communication 3. Internal project peer communication 4. Internal corporate communication Level Line managers/ supervisors Team colleagues Project group colleagues Strategic managers/ top management Direction Predominantly two-way Two-way Two-way Predominantly one-way Participants Line managersemployees Employeeemployee Employeeemployee Strategic managers-all employees Content Employees’ roles Personal impact, e. g. appraisal discussions, team brie? ngs Team information, e. g. team task discussions Project information, e. g. project issues Organisational/ corporate issues, e. . goals, objectives, new developments, activities and achievements As Table 2 shows, the four dimensions of internal communication are followed by the organisational level, the direction, participants and content of the internal communication, respectively. The level, direction, participants and content of the internal communication differ according to the internal stakeholder group in question. The ? rst dimension, inter nal line manager communication, is between the line managers and the employees of a company at the line manager/supervisor level.This communication is mainly two-way, between superior and subordinate with the content being, for instance, about employee roles (Welch & Jackson, 2007). The second dimension, internal team peer communication, is two-way communication between team members, employee to employee, with the content being team information (Welch & Jackson, 2007). The third dimension, internal project peer communication, is two-way communication between project peers, employee to employee, with the content being project informa14 tion.The difference here between a team and a project is that teams are work teams in departments and divisions while projects have a wider scope with dispersed teams (Welch & Jackson, 2007). The fourth dimension, ICC, is strategic one way communication from the strategic managers/top management of the company to all employees. This communication deals with corporate issues such as goals, objectives and achievements (Welch & Jackson, 2007). Internal line, team peer and project peer communication have been considerably researched by J. Grunig et al. (1992).Therefore, the focus of this study will be on ICC, which has been largely ignored to date. 2. 1. 2 Internal corporate communication The internal corporate communication (ICC) concept developed by Welch and Jackson (2007) is communication between the strategic top of the company and the rest of the company. It focuses on all the employees and, therefore, ? lls an existing void in research (Forman & Argenti, 2005). Internal corporate communication is predominantly oneway and includes issues such as company goals and objectives. The concept of ICC is presented in Figure 2, with the de? ition of ICC being: â€Å"communication between an organisation’s strategic managers and its internal stakeholders, designed to promote commitment to the organisation, a sense of belonging to it, awareness of its changing environment and understanding of its evolving aims† (Welch & Jackson, 2007, p. 186) Figure 2 shows that the strategic managers, who are situated in the circle in the middle of Figure 2, send corporate messages, shown as arrows in Figure 2, to all the company employees, who are situated in the circle depicting internal environment.Figure 2 also points out that internal corporate communication, where the strategic managers are sending corporate messages to the employees, leads to four goals, which are visible in the thick one-way arrows: commitment, awareness, belonging and understanding. In addition, there are four smaller double headed arrows between the internal environment and the external micro environment. These arrows imply two-way communication, which ex15 External MacroEnvironment Employees Commitment External MicroEnvironment Corporate Messages Understanding Strategic managers Awareness Belonging EmployeesInternal Environment Figure 2: In ternal Corporate Communication (Welch & Jackson, 2007) ists in the other three internal communication dimensions: internal manager communication, internal team peer communication and internal project peer communication. Finally, there is also an external macro environment in Figure 2. The double headed arrows in Figure 2 show that even though the main messages are predominantly one way, the strategic managers are still getting feedback and information from their employees in other ways, for instance, through internal team peer communication (Welch & Jackson, 2007).Welch and Jackson (2007) note that the one-wayness of the internal corporate communication concept can be criticised; however, it would be unrealistic to assume that the company could have face-to-face discussion with every single employee on every issue at hand. Therefore, it is important that the messages sent from the top are consistent and this could be done with mediated means of communication (e. g. external news rel ease, corporate television advertisement, corporate web site, internal newsletter).Internal mediated communication can be considered symmetrical: â€Å"if 16 its content meets the employees’ need to know rather than the management’s need to tell† (L. Grunig, Grunig & Dozier, 2002, p. 487). The channels of ICC are a focus in this study, which is to answer the call for further research highlighted in the following quote. â€Å"Research into employee preferences for channel and content of internal corporate communication is required to ensure it meets employees’ needs† (Welch & Jackson, 2007, p. 87) The aforementioned goals of the ICC concept are to increase commitment of the employees to the organisation, develop their awareness of the environmental change, increase their belonging to the company and develop their understanding of the changing objectives. Out of these four goals the commitment goal is of speci? c interest to this study. Commitment is like a positive attitude among employees (De Ridder, 2004; Meyer & Allen, 1997; Mowday, Porter & Steers, 1982) and a degree of loyalty towards an organisation (Welch & Jackson, 2007).It is de? ned as â€Å"the relative strength of an individual’s identi? cation with, and involvement in, a particular organisation† (Mowday, Steers & Porter, 1979, p. 226). Meyer and Allen (1997) identify three types of workplace commitment, namely affective, continuance and normative. Since the concept of commitment and Meyer and Allen’s (1991) three types of commitment are relevant for this Master’s thesis, they will be further reviewed in Section 2. 4. Belonging is described by Cornelissen (2004, p. 8) as â€Å"a ‘we’ feeling [–] allowing people to identify with their organizations†. Internal communication has an effect on this degree of identi? cation (Smidts et al. , 2001, p. 1052). The need to belong is a strong motivator for people (Baumeist er & Leary, 1995). Therefore, it has to be remembered that organisations could use a persuasive strategy to in? uence the employees (Cheney, 1983) or even use internal communication as a tool to try to manipulate employees (Moloney, 2000). Due to this Welch and Jackson (2007) point out that ICC has an ethical aspect.It is important for the employees to be aware of the environmental change, and understand how it impacts the organisation (Welch & Jackson, 2007), because the organisational environment is dynamic. This dynamic environment has three levels, namely macro, micro 17 and internal (Palmer & Hartley, 2002), which are also shown in Figure 2. These environments are subject to change, and change in the business world has been substantial in the past years for instance due to technology (Cornelissen, 2004).Due to these environmental changes and the implications they could mean, it is vital for the employees to be aware and understand the change (Welch & Jackson, 2007). In addition , to just plainly communicating the current situation of the organisation to the employees, the organisation should even communicate about the external opportunities and threats of the company. Effective internal corporate communication should enable employees to understand the constant changes the company is going through (Welch & Jackson, 2007), thus reducing employees’ uncertainty. In sum, ICC is of speci? interest in this study, because it hasn’t yet been extensively researched. Internal communication is important for companies, because it contributes to their success (Argenti & Forman, 2002; D. Tourish & Hargie, 2004d). When a stakeholder approach is taken, internal communication can be divided into four interrelated dimensions (Welch & Jackson, 2007). These dimensions together form the internal communication matrix (Welch & Jackson, 2007). Out of these four dimensions ICC is the strategic top addressing all the employees simultaneously about the company goals and objectives (Welch & Jackson, 2007).The goals of the ICC include giving the employees a feeling of belonging and commitment, as well as raising the employees’ awareness and understanding of the company’s changing environment (Welch & Jackson, 2007). 2. 2 Corporate strategy Corporate strategy is important, because it aids the company to reach its long-term objectives and, therefore, affects the company’s long-term wealth (Al-Ghamdi et al. , 2007). Understanding these objectives and the signi? cance of everyone’s contribution has an effect on the commitment and work motivation of the employees (H? m? l? nen & Maula, 2004), a aa which is a contributing factor to an effective company (Koch, Radvansk? & Sklen? r, y a 2011). 18 The origin of the word strategy comes from the Greek word â€Å"strategos†, â€Å"a general† (Bracker, 1980, p. 219), referring to skills of warfare (Cummings, 1993; Lahti, 2008). Furthermore, the Greek verb â€Å"stratego † stands for †plan[ning] the destruction of one’s enemies through effective use of resources† (Bracker, 1980, p. 219). The word strategy was originally linked to war and politics, and only after World War II was there a need to link the word to business (Bracker, 1980).The ? rst ones to connect the strategy concept to business were Von Neumann and Morgenstern with their game theory (Bracker, 1980), where strategy is the set of rules that players follow (Mintzberg, 1978). Chandler (1962) created the basics for today’s typical strategy de? nition (Mintzberg, 1978; Mustonen, 2009): †the determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals† (Chandler, 1962, p. 13) Bracker (1980, p. 221) sums up many of the strategy de? itions to: â€Å"entails the analysis of internal and external environments of a ? rm to maximi ze the utilization of resources in relation to objectives†. Strategy quite simply put is a †plan† (Mintzberg, 1978, p. 935). This section continues by explaining the strategy formation with Mintzberg’s (1978) theory and a brief review on vision and mission related research in Subsection 2. 2. 1. Then, the strategy implementation is explained in Subsection 2. 2. 2. Issues covered include the importance of the implementation process, the de? nition, Aaltonen and Ik? alko’s (2002) a theory, the importance of managers in the process, some practical issues and the dif? culties of strategy implementation. Finally, the subtle difference between internal strategy communication (ISC) and internal strategy corporate communication (ISCC) is discussed. 2. 2. 1 Strategy formation The strategy process starts with the company’s corporate strategy formation. Mintzberg’s (1978) theory is one of the many theories that explains the theoretical strategy for mation. 19 A more practical view of strategy formation is found in research on vision and mission statements. Mintzberg’s (1978) theoryMintzberg (1978) developed a strategy formation theory, where there are two kinds of strategies, the intended and the realised. According to Mintzberg (1978), in the mainly theoretical strategy formation research, the majority of strategy de? nitions have one thing in common: they are a deliberate set of guidelines that determine future decisions. This type of a strategy is called an intended strategy, and it has the following three characteristics (Mintzberg, 1978). First, it is explicit. Second, it is created purposefully and consciously; and third, it is made in advance to help decision-making.Opposite to the intended strategy is the realised strategy, which is the actual strategy that is put into action. In order to expand the strategy formation research, Mintzberg (1978, p. 935) de? nes strategy as â€Å"a pattern in a stream of decision s†. He then claims that these two kinds of strategies, intended and realised, can be combined in three different ways, resulting in ? ve types of strategies, namely the intended, unrealised, deliberate, emergent and realised. These ? ve types of strategies and their relations are presented in Figure 3. Intended Strategy Unrealized StrategyDeliberate Strategy Realized Strategy Emergent Strategy Figure 3: Types of Strategies (Mintzberg, 1978) As can be seen in Figure 3, the intended strategy is to the left implying a starting point, and the realised strategy is to the right implying an end result. Mintzberg (1978) reasons that the intended and the realised strategy, at least theoretically, can be combined in the following three ways. First, intended strategies that get realised without anything left 20 out or added are called deliberate strategies. Second, intended strategies that do not get realised are called unrealised strategies.This could be caused by issues such as unreali stic expectations. Third, unintended strategies that get realised are called emergent strategies. These could develop over time, unintended, out of a pattern of continuous decisional behaviour. Mintzberg and Waters (1985) suggest that for a strategy to realise itself exactly as it was planned, three conditions need to be met. First, the strategy needs to be planned in detail, in a way that it can be communicated clearly. Second, everyone in the company needs to know it. Third, the strategy implementation is not in? uenced from outside of the company (Mintzberg & Waters, 1985).At least two out of these three conditions need communication, which emphasizes the role that communication plays in the strategy process, especially in the implementation, which is presented in Subsection 2. 2. 2. Vision and mission Vision and mission have been recognised as a part of the more practical view on the strategy formulation process for all types of organisations (Darbi, 2010; David, 1989). However, David (1989) argues that the strategy formulation process consists of not only the creation of the vision and mission statement, but also of the SWOT-analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) and the identi? ation of the long-term objectives, to name a few. H? m? l? inen and Maula (2004) point out that it is common practice that a aa companies de? ne at least vision, mission, strategy (a more limited concept, not to be confused with the main corporate strategy) and value statements during their strategy process. These four components could be seen as the most central operational guidelines of a company (H? m? l? inen & Maula, 2004). a aa Vision and mission statements are important, because they in? uence strategy and organisational performance (Darbi, 2010).Vision and mission statements give direction and clarity to the employees; and create a common sense of purpose (Campbell, 1997; Ireland & Hirc, 1992; Klemm, Sanderson & Luffman, 1991; Matejka, Kurke & Gregory, 1993; Mullane, 2002). In addition, these statements also motivate (Ireland & Hirc, 21 1992), shape behaviours (Collins & Porras, 1991), develop commitment (Klemm et al. , 1991) and ? nally in? uence employee performance positively (Mullane, 2002). Vision describes the desired future state of a company (Darbi, 2010; H? m? l? inen & a aa Maula, 2004).The content and length of this description may differ (Darbi, 2010). In addition, G. Johnson, Scholes and Whittington (2008) argue that the vision should show how the company produces value for its stakeholders. A vision gives strategic direction to a company and, furthermore, is the foundation for the mission and other related goals (Darbi, 2010). â€Å"Vision statements are supposed to be challenging and ambitious yet workable enough to evoke employees’ ingenuity as far as its realisation is concerned† (Darbi, 2010, p. 96) A mission is the company’s current purpose (Darbi, 2010; H? m? l? inen & Maula, 2004). aa It answers the question: â€Å"what is our business? † (David, 2009, p. 85), and expresses the corporate strategy in terms of scope and value creation (David, 2009). The mission should convey the company’s strategic direction to the stakeholders (Bartkus, Glassman & McAfee, 2004). Hence the company should identify the most important stakeholders in their mission statement and assure that their needs are met (Mullane, 2002). The mission should speci? cally correspond to the values and expectations of the stakeholders (Darbi, 2010). The last two corporate strategy components presented are values and strategy.Values refer to the company embraced principles (H? m? l? inen & Maula, 2004). Strategy shows a aa how the company is going to achieve its vision and mission (H? m? l? inen & Maula, 2004). a aa This type of strategy is a more limited concept in the whole big corporate strategy process, and its purpose seems to be to show a practical way to reach the goals. It seems to b e rather confusing to have two separate concepts named the same, which de? nitely can be seen as a problem in the strategy implementation phase. This could potentially be solved by renaming the more limited strategy concept as something else.However, the word strategy has also many other meanings (Jones, 2008), and it has become a synonym for 22 different words. For instance, strategy could refer to a plan, a position, a purpose or a long term view (Jones, 2008) and in the adjective form of â€Å"strategic† even important or signi? cant (Alvesson, 2002). There is some criticism in regards to the usefulness and bene? ts of these vision and mission statements (Simpson, 1994). In terms of the content, for instance Simpson (1994) and Goett (1997) note that the majority of these vision and mission statements sound very general and are â€Å"rarely useful† (Goett, 1997, p. ). Hussey (1998) notes that there are semantic problems with vision and mission, therefore what someone thinks of as a vision, another one would say is a mission. Jones (2008) points out that the terms vision and mission have as many de? nitions as people want to give them and they are very overused. Collins and Porras (1999) go a step further and indicate that vision is one of the most overused words in the English language; it is also the least understood. In addition to the criticism against the content, there is also criticism against the process of formulating the vision and mission.Mullane (2002) noted that it is not really the content itself but rather the process of formulating the vision and mission, and how they are then implemented. These statements are seen as top management’s compulsory work that will inevitably end in the employees’ desk drawers or walls, forgotten. So, are the vision and mission statements useful after all? Well, the literature that supports the usefulness and relevance does outweigh the opposite literature (Darbi, 2010), implying that th e vision and mission statements are useful.However, the problem of not everyone knowing and understanding the vision and mission statements remains, and should be addressed with a well thought-out strategy implementation, which takes this into consideration. 2. 2. 2 Strategy implementation It is not enough if only the top management knows about the corporate strategy; it also needs the employees embracing the parts of the strategy that affect their work (H? m? l? inen a aa & Maula, 2004). Therefore, a successful strategy implementation is vital for any com23 pany (Aaltonen & Ik? alko, 2002). Strategy communication, being a major part of a strategy implementation, is important, because it is essential to operational ef? ciency of a company (Kagan, 2004; Roy, 2001). The more successful the strategy communication (Aaltonen & Ik? valko, 2002), the better the employees understand, accept and a embrace the corporate strategy and, hence, the more successful the strategy implementation. H? m? l? inen and Maula (2004) concluded from Juholin’s (1999) work that strategy a aa communication also increases work satisfaction.Strategy communication does not only affect culture, general well-being and performance, but when it is missing, there might be moral problems and weaker performance (Kazoleas & Wright, 2001). In H? m? l? inen and Maula’s (2004) viewpoint strategy implementation means those cona aa crete choices and decisions that employees do everyday at work. Noble (1999, p. 120) de? nes strategy implementation â€Å"as the communication, interpretation, adoption, and enactment of strategic plans†. Communicating strategy to the employees is a central part of strategy implementation (Alexander, 1985; Noble, 1999; Roy, 2001).Strategy communication, as part of the strategy implementation process, is both written and oral communication about the corporate strategy. It is usually communicated in a top-down direction (Aaltonen & Ik? valko, 2002). The com munication is about the responsibilita ies and tasks the employees need to know so that they can ful? l the corporate strategy (Alexander, 1991). Naturally, a strategy might need to be communicated to other stakeholder groups as well, such as customers, suppliers, partners, analysts, media, authorities, local community, NGO’s and competitors (H? m? l? inen & Maula, 2004).Steckel (2000) even points out a aa that companies commonly communicate the strategy to partners and customers and forget the employees. However, in this study the emphasis is put on internal strategy corporate communication (ISCC) and, therefore, the only receivers considered are the employees of a company. Aaltonen and Ik? valko (2002) developed a strategy implementation theory based on earlier a research (Mintzberg, 1978; Noble, 1999; Pettigrew, 1987). They adopted the strategy formation theory from Mintzberg (1978) and the strategy implementation components from Noble (1999).Aaltonen and Ik? valko’ s (2002) strategy implementation theory is a presented in Figure 4. 24 vision planned strategy Strategy implementation: communication interpretation and adoption actions realizing strategy Figure 4: Strategy Implementation as a link between

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Another important use of DNA sequencing is identifying restriction sites in plasmids which are useful in cloning a foreign gene into the plasmid. Prior to the development of DNA sequencing, molecular biologists had to sequence proteins directly but now amino acid sequences can be determined more easily by sequencing a piece of DNA and finding an open reading frame. Furthermore, a molecular biologist can utilize sequencing to identify the site of a point mutation. DNA Sequencing Basic methods In the 1970s, theShow MoreRelatedGenetic Analysis : Genomics And Genome Sequencing Branched Out From The Modern Genetics Field Of Biology933 Words   |  4 Pagesand genome sequencing branched out from the modern genetics field of biology. In 1865, Gregor Mendel became the father of modern genetics. He was the first person to cross breed plants to see how physical traits were passed on from generation to generation. In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the double helix structure of DNA (Timeline). Frederick Sanger developed a method for rapidly decrypting DNA to determine the order of bases in a strand in 1977. In 1990, the Human Genome ProjectRead MoreNext Generation Sequencing Is The Method Of Determining The Order Of Nucleotides1362 Words   |  6 PagesNEXT GENERATION SEQUENCING Introduction DNA sequencing is the method of determining the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes the method that is used to determine the order of four bases -adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine in DNA. DNA sequencing has greatly accelerated research and discovery in biological and medical field. The first DNA sequence was obtained using two-dimensional chromatography, in the early 1970s by academic researchers which was laborious. Now DNA sequencing has become easierRead MoreThe Human Genome Project1460 Words   |  6 PagesGene Essay Assignment: The Human Genome Project A genome is the complete DNA set of an organism. These DNA molecules are made up of two strands. Every strand is composed of four nucleotide bases: adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine. Complementary strands are paired in certain ways. Cytosine always pairs with guanine and adenine always pairs with thymine. The human genome holds about 3 billion base pairs, found in the chromosomes. Each of the 46 chromosomes are composed of thousands of genesRead MoreBiotechnology And Global Health : Genome Sequencing1518 Words   |  7 PagesChristine Kim (B00991454) BIOL1070 Biotechnology and Global Health Genome Sequencing Statement of issue or thesis: The rise of new scientific technology generally meets extensive amounts of skepticism. Scientific introduction and background: The human genome is essentially a set of instructions that consists of various DNA molecules that are unique to each individual human being. This huge collection of genes inside each and every one human’s cells dictate trait that are inherited from ther parentsRead MoreEssay On Next Generation Sequencing818 Words   |  4 PagesCHAPTER-2 NEXT GENERATION SEQUENCING Next generation sequencing refers to non-sanger based high throughput DNA sequencing technologies.Millions or billions of DNA strands can be sequenced in parallel, yielding substantially more throughput and minimizing the need for fragment cloning methods.NGS allows you to do:- †¢ Rapidly sequence whole genomes †¢ Zoom in to deeply sequence target regions †¢ Utilize RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) to discover novel RNA variants and splice sites, or precisely quantify mRNAsRead MoreEssay On Human Genome Sequencing1585 Words   |  7 Pages1. Current challenges in human genome sequencing Technologies in sequencing are highly accurate but have limitations in read-depth and read length. Read-depth refers to sequencing the highly repetitive regions of DNA with few to no errors. Illumina HiSeq and PacBio have allowed geneticists to fill in the gaps of the human genome saving time and money. In the scope of the read depth issue, researchers are still having issues with undetectable structural variants (SV) including copy number variantsRead MoreGene Sequencing : Genes And Genes1596 Words   |  7 Pagesrose’s genome. â€Å"Simply put, it [a genome] is the order in which the letters of the genetic alphabet are arranged along the chromosomal DNA strands. . . .† (Richards and Hawley, 279). Genomes are responsible for the structure, organization, and mechanics of organisms. Due to the precedence DNA has over life, scientists have, for decades, worked to uncover the mysteries found within our genomes. The process of organizing and identifying different genes is referred to as Genome (or Gene) Sequencing. Read MoreThe Human Genome Sequencing Project And Was It Worth Doing?1275 Words   |  6 Pages What was the human genome sequencing project and was it worth doing? The HGP was a 13-year long project started in 1990 with the objective of determining the entire human euchromatic genome sequence. It was a public funded project and the goal was to complete the project within 15 years. Since its inception, the project had been met with scepticism from scientists and commoners alike. One significant doubt was whether the astounding expenditure of the project would outweigh the potential benefitsRead MoreThe Human Genome Project : An American Geneticist1244 Words   |  5 Pages THE HUMAN GENOME PROJECT â€Æ' The human genome project has its origins in the mid-1980s, but its intellectual roots stretch back further. Alfred Sturtevant an American geneticist created the first Drosophila gene map in 1911. In 1953, Francis Crick and James Watson discovered the double helical structure of the DNA molecule. This discovery was the first crucial step in molecular genome analysis, and in much of the molecular biological research of the last half-century. In the mid-1970s, FrederickRead MoreThe Human Genome Project : A Research Project1097 Words   |  5 PagesThe human genome project is a research project which had a purpose of being able to map and understand all the genes of human beings and organisms (National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health 2014a) and to determine the DNA sequence of the complete genome (National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health 2014b). The Human genome project enabled researchers to obtain the instructions they need ed to gain an understanding of how to build an individual

Management Of Medical Conditions At The Public Administration

Running head: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 9 Management of Medical Conditions Rashad Shepperson Fairleigh Dickinson University Management of Diabetes Introduction Humans are the most intelligent creature that occupies the earth and are, therefore, the only creatures able to actively control the use of resources in the land. Management as a tool is not limited to humans, but they enjoy a higher level of intellect that other creatures do not. They are therefore able to create new approaches and adapt new methods as situations demand. This abstract concept applies to all areas that are encapsulated in the human world which is why and dhow development is possible. The government element in society is†¦show more content†¦Background Many aspects of the human life require management to allow maximum efficiency of the subject. For instance, the labor market is governed by policies that dictate how an employee is to be treated by their employers and in some cases, the minimum wage is dictated. The above example is an illustration of how public administrators attempt to control situations that are manmade and that can be controlled. However, there are categories of elements that cannot be controlled or resolved by man s insistence, but can be managed to allow the maximum efficiency of the deficit resources. Natural elements like lightning, flooding or hurricanes are in this category which can only be managed. An occurrence of these elements is approximated and strategic programs set in motion to try and control their effect on human lives. For instance, setting up lightning arrestors to direct lightning energy into the ground and avoid damage to property or loss of human life. Diseases are other examples of the natural elements that man struggles to control since their occurrence is not entirely controllable. For this reason, man strives to control factors that facilitate their occurrence and persistence in the human body. In some cases, the disease might be incurable and, is therefore classified as a health condition

The Food Industry And Industrialization Of Agriculture

The corporate food industry and industrialization of agriculture today have revolutionized the growing and buying of food for farmers and consumers. To see how it has transformed the system, one can look at the effects industrial agriculture has caused. Economically, it creates million of jobs that keep people employed and keeps food affordable, but has regrettably created subsidies too. In terms of health, mass production of agriculture has created new health risks that endanger the lives of both producers and consumers, as well as encourage bad eating. As a result, the industrialization of agriculture has both good and bad effects because it feeds the population cost-efficiently while benefiting the economy, but risks people’s health. Economically, the corporate food industry and industrialization of agriculture has created millions of jobs that keep people employed. With such a rapidly growing population everyday, more jobs need to be created and more people are needed in agriculture than ever before to keep up with the demand for food. The development of industrialized agriculture solves both of these problems by providing the jobs people need, while meeting the demand for food. It also not only employs farmers but agriculture can employ people like truck drivers to deliver food or factory workers to clean or process food. Furthermore, the agricultural industry is able to beneficially hire unskilled or immigrant workers. Many agricultural jobs are considered menial, soShow MoreRelatedHow accurate is it to say that Mao Zedong’s agricultural policies from 1949 were the most important reason for the famine of 1959–62?1287 Words   |  6 Pagesinspired by the Soviet Union. This idea introduced a mode l, which prioritize industrialization known as the â€Å"Big Push Model†. China started prioritizing investments into the heavy industry, which would reshape the Chinese economy and create a Command economy. Mao’s economic policies seemed be working in the earlier years of its development, but Mao soon became obsessed with Industrialization (and putting less priority on agriculture) and competing with the western world that his own personal power and selfRead MoreThe Is Synonymous With The Concept Of Industrialization961 Words   |  4 PagesCorporatization is synonymous with the concept of industrialization. When one thinks of an ‘industrial’ park, the picture of a sprawling landscape of large businesses comes to mind. The image of a community of self-sustaining mom-and-pop shops certainly doesn’t fit the bill of what is commonly thought of to be industrial. We more commonly think of large corporations like Monsanto and Walmart as symbols of the a djective. In the case of the food industry, the advent of larger grocers, larger agriculturalRead MoreThe Industrialization Of The World Trade Markets Essay741 Words   |  3 Pagesby means of industrialization. In doing this they developing railroads, roads, and port facilities which increased trade and profits. Because of these advancements, they were able to participate in the world trade markets. Some larger countries such as Brazil and Argentina grew exponentially by trading there products (coffee and wheat). After the World Wars, trade declined in world markets and Latin American governments found it necessary to practice Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI). ISIRead MoreNigeria, The Most Populous African Country, With Enormous1518 Words   |  7 Pagesenormous potential in agriculture. If well managed, has the potential to become a global powerhouse through agro-industrialization. Agriculture, presently contributes less than 28% of the GDP of Nigeria, ironically holds the key for the accelerated growth and diversification and job creation for Nigerian economy. No country of the world has moved to industrialized economy status without passing through the transformation of the agricultural sector. The reason is simple. Agriculture provides the basicRead MoreIndustrialization And Poverty1445 Words   |  6 Pagesdeveloped countries. Industrialization is one of the effective ways to reduce poverty. Poverty can be reduced by economic growth and equality. Industrialization is a process where primary goods are used to produce manufacturing goods, sometimes human labor is replaces by machines and robots. Income per capita increases because of industrialization. The industrial revolution of 18th and 19th century has occurred because of major industrial shift in western economy. Industrialization is maximum use ofRead MoreGuns, Germs, And Steel By Jared Diamond1394 Words   |  6 Pagesto development. Food production, poverty, economic, and technological advancements are all related to how each society was civilized. This paper responds to the questions raised from the books â€Å"Guns, Germs, and Steel† by Jared Diamond; â€Å"The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and E cological Narrative from the Fifteenth to the 21st Century† by Robert Marks; â€Å"A History of the World in Six Glasses,† by Tom Standage; and the â€Å"Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System† by Raj PatelRead MoreHow Planned was the Soviet Economy Essay1302 Words   |  6 Pagesplanned and controlled. However, many facts would beg to differ and instead suggest the contrary. It is true that institutes of planning existed in Russia in the period concerned. As of July 1922, VSNKh operated its control over industry by methods of a production-planning character. The institution was responsible for the drafting of production and disposal plans amongst other things. Another institution in existence was Gosplan which was known as the state general-planningRead MoreStalin S Five Year Plan Speech2022 Words   |  6 Pagesthe U.S.S.R., for the construction of socialist society. The fundamental task of the Five-Year Plan was to create such an industry in our country as would be able to re-equip and reorganize, not only the whole of industry, but also transport and agriculture—on the basis of socialism. The fundamental task of the Five-Year Plan was to transfer small and scattered agriculture to the lines of large-scale collective farming, so as to ensure the economic base for socialism in the rural districts andRead MoreIndustrialization in India1493 Words   |  6 PagesNeed for Trend of Industrialization in India What is Industry? In its broadest sense, industry is any work that is undertaken for economic gain and that promotes employment. The word may be applied to a wide range of activities, from farming to manufacturing and tourism. It encompasses production at any scale, from the local—sometimes known as cottage industry—to the multinational or transnational. In a more restricted sense, industry refers to the production of goods, especially when that productionRead MoreGlobal Warming Is Caused By Human Beings1174 Words   |  5 PagesWarming Global warming appears to be caused by human beings. There is too much CO2 in the atmosphere for plants and trees to take in all of it. There is strong evidence that humans are to blame, not just due to cars and factories but also from agriculture. A majority of scientists and scientific organizations believe humans are causing global warming. Global Warming is controversial. It is a perplexing phenomenon. Some people think it is a normal occurrence, others are afraid of the consequences

Negative Expectations and the film While You Were Essay Example For Students

Negative Expectations and the film While You Were Essay SleepingNegative Expectations and the film While You Were SleepingEveryday people feel the effects of others and society imposed ways to act or perform in daily actives. These imposed way are called expectations. Expectations can help people live up to there potential, act politely, finish projects, spend more time with family, and many other things that yield a positive outcome. Unfortunately, expectations are not always positive. Often these imposed expectations lead individuals into unhealthy stereotypes, sexism, sudden career choices, nonproductive relationships, little self-esteem and many other adverse results. The film While You Were Sleeping displays how one self, traditions, societies and others expectations can all intertwine and become a maze of lies, false hope, self-fulfilling prophecies and confusion.The film takes place in Chicago during the early nineties. Lucy Eleanor Moderatz is a lonely, single, Thirty year old orphan who works at the el-train taking fares. Everyday she sits in a booth like a veal (While You Were Sleeping) and watches the commuters come and go. She soon falls in love with a commuter that she has never talked to. Peter Callaghan is a stereotypically arrogant businessman who everyone loves. On Christmas day, Lucy finds herself witnessing Peter being mugged, and then thrown onto the train tracks of a quickly approaching train. Lucy saves Peter from the train and he is taken to the hospital in a coma. When Lucy checks up on Peter in the hospital a nurse assumes Lucy is his fiance and introduces the family to her under that pretense. Peters family has heard of Peter s fiance, but has never talked to or been introduced to her, so they welcome her fully into the family unaware that the two have never met. Lucy is swept away by the idea and the acceptance of the family and does not reveal that she is not the real fiance, who happiness to be away in Paris on business. Soon Saul, Peters Godfather, finds out the truth but encourages Lucy to play along to keep the family moral up. This is all taking place while Jack Callaghan, Peters blue-collar brother and Lucy fall in love with each other. By the end of the movie, all is figured out and Jack and Lucy are married but not before some unhealthy expectations, awkward situations and conclusions are discovered. Negative self-expectations are when a person has an ideal or predetermined way imposed on them that is not rational or probably. (Bentley 257). Negative self-exceptions often occur when one does not think ahead, but acts suddenly, leading to generalizations and stereotyping. In addition, these expe ctations give the person an unreal image of themselves. People are lead to believe that they are inadequate in comparison to others because they do not measure up to a self-imposed standard. The standard is so stringent that no one can fully live up to it. Strict self-expectations cause anxiety, which can lead to panic attacks, and even hart attracts (Talbot 339). As well, these expectations are also unjust and thought of without proper justification (Bentley 260). Lucy Moderatz has negative self-expectations of herself, which lead her to be shy, and rarely out going. She seas Peter Callaghan everyday and watches his every move but she never approaches him. Lucy is a good example of the negative half of the success-begets-success idea. If an individual get off to a successful start in life, they will tend to continue to be successful; if they start off as a failure, they will tend to be one again and again (Stotland 66). Lucy feels that she has struck out with men before and she wil l again. This expectation of failure leads her not to attempt an encounter with Peter. Success and failure in one area often shows up in other areas. The success-begets-success idea articulates that soon Lucy will not reach out to any new people whether she wants to procure a romantic relationship with them or not due to her past rejections (66). We will write a custom essay on Negative Expectations and the film While You Were specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Hate Crimes EssayIn the film, Sam expects people to carry out a task for him so that things can run smoothly. Sam is closely attached to the Callaghan family so he does not want to see them hurt. When he finds out that Lucy is not really Peters fiance, he tells Lucy to play along. His reasoning is that the family would be hurt severely by the truth so Lucy must not tell anyone what really happened. By doing this he is asking Lucy to give up her life and be deceitful by pretending to be something she is not. All this so a family can feel better for a brief time before the truth is eventually found out. Sams expectation of Lucy is negative because he is only concerned with himself and his familys current wants, not for Lucys. Later in the film, once Peter wakes up form his coma, Sam talks to him about his expectation for him and Lucy. Sam tells Peter that she is the best thing for him and even calls him a putz if he does not marry her right away. After hearing this talk Peter propose s to Lucy and they plan a wedding even though neither of them truly want to. Sams expectations of others caused lies and hardship and could have yielded a marriage between to people that never knew or even loved each other. The expectations of the Callaghan family on Lucy also proved to be strenuous. Lucy is given a guilt trip to show up at family events. When she explains the situation to her boss. Her boss says You dont join them (a family) like you do the Marines (While You Were Sleeping). But this is what they wanted. They expected Lucy to become a part of their family and were intent on making this expectation a reality. The Callaghan family also rushes the marriage, they do not wait for Lucy and Peter to chose a date but they decide on having the wedding as soon as possible. Negative expectations enclose us everyday. They drive us to react and believe in things we would normally not. The film While You Were Sleeping displays these expectations in the story of Lucy Moderatz. Negative expectations are in our traditions, society, our peers and ourselves.Bibliography:Works CitedBently, Joseph C. The Counselors Role. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1968. Cameron, John. An American Tradition. Newsweek 21 Mar. 1992: 57-58. Cooper, Harris M. and Thomas L. Good. Pygmalion Grows Up: Studies in the Expectation Communication Process. New York: Longman, 1983. Merton, R. K. The Self-fulfilling Prophecy. Antioch Review. 8 (1948) 193-210. Stotland, Ezra. The Psychology of Hope. San Francisco, 1969. Talbot, Edward and Robert White. Some Aspects of Self-conception and Role Demand in a Therapeutic Community. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. 63.2 (1994) 338-345. While You Were Sleeping. Dir. Jon Turteltaub. With Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher and Peter Boyle. Caravan Pictures, 1995. 103 minutes. Youth Sourcebook on Sustainable Development. Winnipeg: IISD, 1995. Online. Internet. http://iisd.ca/youth/ysbk058.htm.

Kohut and Self Psychology and the Freudian Classical Model

Abstract This essay compares and contrasts Freud’s classical model of personality with the theory of self psychology devised by Heinz Kohut. Each theory proposes a different understanding of the nature of the human personality in regards to how it is formed and the extent to which it can adapt to its environment during the formative childhood years.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Kohut and Self Psychology and the Freudian Classical Model specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Freud’s classical theory of personality promoted a notion of human personality as static, predetermined, and unchanging entity which an individual remained powerless to affect whether positively or negatively. Kohut’s theory of self psychology by contrast returned human agency to the theory of personality and promoted a more dynamic interplay between the individual and his or her environment. This essay compares and cont rasts Freud’s classical model of personality with the theory of self psychology devised by Heinz Kohut. For the purposes of this comparison, personality will be defined as any and all significant and reasonably constant behavioral elements exhibited and repeated in an individual human being (Ewen 4). Each theory proposes a different understanding of the nature of the human personality in regards to how it is formed and the extent to which it can adapt to its environment during the formative childhood years. Freud posited that human personality formed within the first five years of life and could be divided into three strata: the Id, the Ego and the Superego (Ewen 2003). An individual is born with his or her Id, best characterized as an â€Å"entirely unconscious† entity possessing the sole motivation to have its physical needs met and avoid pain (Ewen 2003). The Ego arrives at approximately six months of age and represents the social face of the Id; Ego functions as a mediator between Id’s desires and â€Å"the reality principle, delaying pleasure until a suitable and safe object has been found† (Ewen 2003). The final member of the personality triumvirate the Superego forms between three and five years of age to moderate parental influence, conscious and unconscious desires, and â€Å"standards of right and wrong† (Ewen 2003). Kohut’s self psychology theory of personality denied the principal tenet of inherent sexual and aggressive forces (Kohut 1996). Self psychology launched the earliest psychoanalytic recognition of the importance of empathy in personality (Kohut 1996). Kohut (1996) focused attention on expanding the therapist’s role to practice relating empathically to the patient (Kohut 1996).Advertising Looking for term paper on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Healthy development of personality was fluid and changeable, Kohut (1996) asser ted, particularly in the realm of â€Å"selfobject experiences;† mutually beneficial experiences with other personalities nurtured the self and contributed to a positive view of the self, and greater self-esteem in the patient (Kohut 1996). â€Å"Healthy narcissism† refers to a robust, ambitious and integrated self that aspires toward full self actualization as well as the fulfillment of proficiencies and talents (Kohut 1996). â€Å"Narcissism† by contrast indicates the presence of a powerless self striving to preserve a false self unity and self worth through destructive channels (Kohut 1996). Teicholtz (1999) argued â€Å"from the viewpoint of†¦feminist and postmodern critics† that Freud’s theory was essentially a dinosaur of â€Å"male supremacy†¦heterosexist views, and†¦derivative emphasis on reproductive sexuality† (Teicholtz 1999). Teicholtz (1999) asserted that Freud’s theory of personality was best â€Å"unders tood as having been multiply determined by a mix of the intellectual/sociopolitical climate of his times, the limiting effects of his personal subjectivity, certain unanalyzed aspects of his childhood misperceptions, and defensive unconscious fantasy† (Teicholtz 1999). Kohut’s theory of self psychology, Teicholtz (1999) states, â€Å"can be seen as [an] important waystation†¦between classical and postmodern theories† (Teicholtz 1999). Kohut championed the value of the â€Å"belief in the possibility of psychic order and coherence on the basis of certain kinds of relationships available to the individual during childhood† while simultaneously letting go of Freud’s rigid interpretation of â€Å"biological determinism† (Teicholtz 1999). Kohut reformulated Freud’s concept of the instinctual aggressive drive and characterized it as more of a social construction than a predetermined unconscious response (Kohut 1996). Aggressive response s resemble â€Å"preformed action patterns† that are â€Å"learned with greater ease than other action patterns† (Kohut 1996). Said drives then were better described as a â€Å"biological and psychobiological readiness to express oneself aggressively† (Kohut 1996). Given that â€Å"certain patterns are more easily mobilized than others,† Kohut argued that the â€Å"drive in and of itself is neutral. You cannot say from the drive whether it is destructive in its social implications or constructive† (Kohut 1996).Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Kohut and Self Psychology and the Freudian Classical Model specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Kohut essentially asserted that the aggressive response drew meaning exclusively from its context, and not from an iron clad, consistently destructive biological instinct that gave no agency to its human host. Teicholtz (1999) characterizes Koh ut’s theory of self psychology as a bridging theory, and one that extended Frued’s theory into the 21st century Teicholtz (1999). â€Å"Kohut’s self psychology was an answer to what he felt were the limitations of Freud’s drive theory. Where Freud saw sexual and aggressive instincts as the driving force of development, Kohut saw the need for a coherent and continuous sense of the self† (Teicholtz 1999). Another area of contrast between the two theorists lay in their understanding of the higher emotions. Freud characterized the fruits of humanity – love for instance – as rewards for a healthy development of personality, yet in Freud’s mind these rewards only arrived once the individual had sublimated his true instincts, and so functioned as â€Å"derivatives of the instincts† (Teicholtz 1999). Kohut, by contrast, saw the capacity for and the realization of love as direct extensions of the â€Å"nondrive aspects of selfâ €  (Teicholtz 1999). Kohut preferred to characterize human personality as a potential, a perennial bloom that could be influenced positively by his or her environment. Teicholtz (1999) showed that Kohut’s self psychology focused more on the whole human than separate and distinct parts (Teicholtz 1999). In conclusion, Freud’s classical theory of personality promoted a notion of human personality as a static, predetermined, and unchanging entity which an individual remained powerless to affect, whether positively or negatively. Kohut’s theory of self psychology by contrast returned human agency to the theory of personality and promoted a more dynamic interplay between the individual and his or her environment. References Ewen, R.B. (2003). An introduction to theories of personality (6th ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Kohut, H. (1996). Heinz Kohut: The Chicago institute lectures. P. Tolpin M. Tolpin, (Eds.). Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press.Adv ertising Looking for term paper on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Teicholtz, J.G. (1999). Kohut, Loewald and the postmoderns: A comparative study of self and relationship. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press. This term paper on Kohut and Self Psychology and the Freudian Classical Model was written and submitted by user Corban Cooley to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.