Internal Brand Management

Internal Brand Management

Internal branding is the set of strategic processes that align and empower employees to deliver the appropriate customer experience in a consistent fashion. These processes include, but are not limited to, internal communications, training support, leadership practices, reward & recognition programs, recruitment practices and sustainability factors.

Personnel Differentiation: Singapore Airlines

Knowledge and Understanding of the Desired Brand Image

Can be developed through:

Advertising and public relations efforts

Training and development around the development

of the desired brand image (e.g. training on how to

handle difficult customers).

Performance management and compensation

systems (e.g. Starbucks names its

compensation system as “Your Special Blend”)

Organizational Message Systems

Organizational message systems

Word-of-Mouth

Advertising directed to external constituents

Public relations directed to external constituents

Customer feedback

Co-worker influence

Organizational culture

Organizational leadership & management

Human resource management systems:

• Recruitment & staffing• Training &

development• Compensation• Performance

management

Public relations directed toward employees

Advertising directed toward employees

ExternalAudiences

InternalAudiences

InformalSources

FormalSources

Upholding Psychological Contracts

A psychological contract represents an employee’s perceptual agreement about the exchange relationship he/she has with the organization.

Employee motivation, trust, performance, organizational commitment, and satisfaction are contingent upon the extent to which employees perceive their psychological contracts as being upheld.

Psychological contracts are formed based on formal and informal messages received from organizations and their representatives.

Organizations can manage the psychological contracts they have with workers by achieving message consistency.

Becoming an All-Star Organization

1. Consistently communicate and reinforce the organization’s mission, values, and desired brand image.

2. Help staff members establish healthy psychological contracts with the organization by clearly stating both what they can anticipate from the company and what they are expected to give in return.

e.g. CIGNA uses the employee value proposition to establish and reinforce the psychological contracts it maintains with its workers”: “CIGNA is a leading employee-benefits provider to employers and employees in the U.S. and selected international markets. We succeed through our commitment to serving our customers, the strength of our people and our drive for superior financial results. We recognize the value of a passionately committed, energized and diverse workforce. We reward excellence, promote development, expect high standards and encourage work/life balance.” (www.cigna.com)

3. Empower employees to always deliver the desired brand image, even when doing so is not totally consistent with the policy and procedure manual.

e.g. Outback Steakhouse emphasizes the importance of using good judgment in a manner that is consonant with the company’s principles and beliefs (www.outback.com/career opportunities/management.asp.).

4. Use the performance management and compensation systems to help employees know, understand, internalize, and deliver the desired brand image. e.g. Walt Disney regularly hands out “Applause-o-gram” cards . . to anyone

caught doing a good deed.

5. Make delivery of the desired brand image the central focus of training an development efforts. e.g. Pensacola Florida’s Baptist Hospital provides its workers with scripts that

are to be used in certain circumstances. “Any employee who sees a visitor who appears lost will ask, may I take you to where you are going?”

6. Weave the desired brand image into all internal and external message systems. e.g. Southwest Airlines uses its in-house publication LUV Lines, to clarify and

reinforce the behavior that is expected and rewarded, as well as the mission and values that drive those expectations.

7. Carefully integrate the messages that are intended for external audiences with those aimed at internal audiences. Employees are exposed to both.

8. Lead by example. Leader behavior is a key element in fostering a corporate culture that is consistent with the organization’s mission, values, and desired brand image.

9. Make tough decisions when necessary. e.g. Fire an employee after many poor customer service incidents.

This reinforces the firm’s commitment to customer service.

10. Conduct a message audit to assess the consistency of the messages emanating from the organization.

A Typology of Employee Branding

High Knowledge& Understanding

All-Stars

Psychological Psychological

Contract Violated Contract

Upheld

Rookies

Low Knowledge& Understanding

Injured Reserves

Strike-Out Kings

A Conceptualization of the Employee Branding Process

Organization’s Mission &

Values

DesiredBrandImage

Sources/ModesOf Messages

InternalFormal• Human

Resource Management System• Public

Relations SystemsInformal•

Culture/Coworker

• Influence•

Leaders/Managers

External• Formal• Advertising &

PRInformal• Customer

Feedback

Employee’s Psyche

EmployeeBrandImage

Outcomes

• Position of Organization and its Offerings in Customers’ Minds

• Turnover

• Employee Satisfaction

• Customer Satisfaction

• Customer Loyalty

• Favorable Reputation

Psychological

Contract

KnowledgeOf Desired

Brand Image

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