Organizational ethos in a multicultural society - a case study
(2013) NordMedia 2013- Abstract
- This paper describes and analyzes the strategies and efforts of a public organization in order to establish organizational credibility in multicultural areas. The trust-building efforts by the organization, a local rescue services in the south of Sweden, are a response to several years of social unrest, communicative clashes and hostile treatment between operative firemen and residents in areas of the city. In this paper a rhetorical perspective is introduced to analyze the relationship-building activities launched by the rescue services in order to change the organizational image and to create a more hospitable relationship between operative firemen and residents. It is argued that the rhetorical concept of ethos (credibility, trust) is... (More)
- This paper describes and analyzes the strategies and efforts of a public organization in order to establish organizational credibility in multicultural areas. The trust-building efforts by the organization, a local rescue services in the south of Sweden, are a response to several years of social unrest, communicative clashes and hostile treatment between operative firemen and residents in areas of the city. In this paper a rhetorical perspective is introduced to analyze the relationship-building activities launched by the rescue services in order to change the organizational image and to create a more hospitable relationship between operative firemen and residents. It is argued that the rhetorical concept of ethos (credibility, trust) is appropriate to discern different dimensions (competence, character and good-will) in the process of establishing organizational credibility. The study, mainly based on 33 qualitative interviews, shows that there has been a clear shift in the organizational ethos towards the dimension of good-will. Investing in the community and in social issues, thus clearly demonstrating good-will, are important parts of the ethos-building activities. Key-actors in this change are a group of link-workers with immigrant background who facilitate of the residents identifying with the organization. While the efforts seem to contribute to a changing organizational ethos, there are some difficulties on the way. The main challenge seems to be the internal opposition towards the strategic shift of the organization. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4194090
- author
- Magnusson, Susanna LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2013
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- unpublished
- subject
- keywords
- Keywords: rhetoric, organizational ethos, phronesis, arête, eunoia, community relations
- conference name
- NordMedia 2013
- conference location
- Oslo
- conference dates
- 2013-08-08 - 2013-08-11
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 8455c3e1-2275-4e6f-854d-d18d485f15d0 (old id 4194090)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 14:28:15
- date last changed
- 2018-11-21 21:20:30
@misc{8455c3e1-2275-4e6f-854d-d18d485f15d0,
abstract = {{This paper describes and analyzes the strategies and efforts of a public organization in order to establish organizational credibility in multicultural areas. The trust-building efforts by the organization, a local rescue services in the south of Sweden, are a response to several years of social unrest, communicative clashes and hostile treatment between operative firemen and residents in areas of the city. In this paper a rhetorical perspective is introduced to analyze the relationship-building activities launched by the rescue services in order to change the organizational image and to create a more hospitable relationship between operative firemen and residents. It is argued that the rhetorical concept of ethos (credibility, trust) is appropriate to discern different dimensions (competence, character and good-will) in the process of establishing organizational credibility. The study, mainly based on 33 qualitative interviews, shows that there has been a clear shift in the organizational ethos towards the dimension of good-will. Investing in the community and in social issues, thus clearly demonstrating good-will, are important parts of the ethos-building activities. Key-actors in this change are a group of link-workers with immigrant background who facilitate of the residents identifying with the organization. While the efforts seem to contribute to a changing organizational ethos, there are some difficulties on the way. The main challenge seems to be the internal opposition towards the strategic shift of the organization.}},
author = {{Magnusson, Susanna}},
keywords = {{Keywords: rhetoric; organizational ethos; phronesis; arête; eunoia; community relations}},
language = {{eng}},
title = {{Organizational ethos in a multicultural society - a case study}},
year = {{2013}},
}