Describe how corporate reputations are defined by how an organization communicates to its
stakeholders
Liberty University
AVIA 245 Aviation Leadership
Professor: Jim Molloy
2022
Describe how corporate reputations are defined by how an organization communicates to its
stakeholders
Management communication is a central discipline in the study of communication and corporate
reputation. An understanding of language and its inherent powers, combined with the skill to speak,
write, listen, and form interpersonal relationships, will determine whether companies succeed or fail
and whether they are rewarded or penalized for their reputations.
At the midpoint of the twentieth century, Peter Drucker wrote, “Managers have to learn to know
language, to understand what words are and what they mean. Perhaps most important, they have to
acquire respect for language as [our] most precious gift and heritage. The manager must understand the
meaning of the old definition of rhetoric as ‘the art which draws men’s hearts to the love of true
knowledge.’”
Later, Eccles and Nohria reframed Drucker’s view to offer a perspective of management that few
others have seen: “To see management in its proper light, managers need first to take language
seriously.” In particular, they argue, a coherent view of management must focus on three issues: the
use of rhetoric to achieve a manager’s goals, the shaping of a managerial identity, and taking action to
achieve the goals of the organizations that employ us. Above all, they say, “the essence of what
management is all about [is] the effective use of language to get things done.” One of the things
managers get done is the creation, management, and monitoring of corporate reputation.
The job of becoming a competent, effective manager thus becomes one of understanding language
and action. It also involves finding ways to shape how others see and think of you in your role as a
manager. Many noted researchers have examined the important relationship between communication
and action within large and complex organizations and conclude that the two are inseparable. Without
the right words, used in the right way, it is unlikely that the right reputations develop. “Words do
matter,” write Eccles and Nohria. “They matter very much. Without words we have no way of expressing
strategic concepts, structural forms, or designs for performance measurement systems.” Language, they
conclude, “is too important to managers to be taken for granted or, even worse, abused.”
So, if language is a manager’s key to corporate reputation management, the next question is
obvious: How good are managers at using language? Managers’ ability to act to hire a talented
workforce, to change an organization’s reputation, to launch a new product line—depends entirely on
how effectively they use management communication, both as a speaker and as a listener. Managers’
effectiveness as a speaker and writer will determine how well they are able to manage the firm’s
reputation. And their effectiveness as listeners will determine how well they understand and respond to
others and can change the organization in response to their feedback.
We will now examine the role management communication plays in corporate reputation
formation, management, and change and the position occupied by rhetoric in the life of business
organizations. Though, this chapter will focus on the skills, abilities, and competencies for using
language, attempting to influence others, and responding to the requirements of peers, superiors,
stakeholders, and the organization in which managers and employees work.
Management communication is about the movement of information and the skills that facilitate it
speaking, writing, listening, and processes of critical thinking. It’s also about understanding who your
organization is (identity), who others think your organization is (reputation), and the contributions
individuals can make to the success of their business considering their organization’s existing reputation.
It is also about confidence the knowledge that one can speak and write well, listen with great skill as
others speak, and both seek out and provide the feedback essential to creating, managing, or changing
their organization’s reputation.
At the heart of this chapter, though, is the notion that communication, in many ways, is the work of
managers. We will now examine the roles of writing and speaking in the role of management, as well as
other specific applications and challenges managers face as they play their role in the creation,
maintenance, and change of corporate reputation.
