Wednesday 14 April 2010

Managing reputations (or not)

Several organisations are trying to protect or enhance their reputations at the moment. Sadly their efforts seem to be back-firing.

Try matching the following descriptions to the organisations listed.
  • Organisation A. Far from convincing a concerned world of its traditionally positive values it is actually promoting an image of protectionism, denial and deceit.
  • Organisation B. When this group desperately needs to convince the public of its probity and capability many of its individual members demonstrate the morals of the cockpit.
  • Organisation C. While apologies have been reluctantly given, culpability is denied and behaviour is apparently unchanged.
  • Organisation D. Fearful that the public is incapable of understanding the true complexity of its workings it actually suppresses information and denies access to it.
  • Organisation E. Desperately needing public support in the face of rising levels of scepticism, this organisation continues to commit acts that directly contradict its stated aims.
The possible candidates?
  • UK Parliament
  • most international banks
  • NATO in Afghanistan
  • the environment lobby and related academic institutions
  • the Catholic Church
Difficult, isn't it?