www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor

Business Horizons (2007) 50, 423–433

The employee brand: Is yours an all-star?

W. Glynn Mangold, Sandra Jeanquart Miles ⁎

College of Business and Public Affairs, Murray State University, Murray, KY 42071, USA

⁎ Corresponding author.E-mail addresses: glynn.mangold@m

(W.G. Mangold), sandy.miles@murrays

0007-6813/$ - see front matter © 200doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2007.06.001

Abstract In this article, a typology is presented which will help organizations betterreflect the brand image they desire. The assisting typology is based on the extent towhich employees know and understand the organization's mission, values, anddesired brand image, and the degree to which they perceive their psychologicalcontracts with the organization as being honored. Organizations can be classified asall-stars, rookies, injured reserves, or strike-out kings, based on the characteristics ofa preponderance of their employees. As categorized, rookie organizations cannotdeliver the desired brand image because most of their employees lack the knowledgeand understanding to do so. Injured reserve organizations, on the other hand, cannotachieve the same because firm employees perceive their psychological contracts withthe organization as having been violated, which renders the individuals unwilling andunmotivated. For their part, strike-out king organizations share rookie and injuredreserve organizations' worst characteristics. Finally, and conversely, all-starorganizations consistently deliver the desired brand image to others because theiremployees are both able and motivated to do so. To help firms attain this highlydesired status, specific guidelines are presented herein which may help organizationsbecome “all-stars” in their own right.© 2007 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. All rights reserved.

KEYWORDSEmployee branding;Employee brand;Service branding;Psychological contracts;Internal marketing;Relationship marketing

1. The employee brand

Highlighting a topic that has become increasinglyimportant in today's dynamic and ultra-competitivebusiness environment, the October 2006 cover ofHR Magazine offered business managers and ownersthe following sage advice: “Make sure employeessupport your brand.” Inside the issue, Fox (2006)discussed just how valuable a brand can be, notingas an example Starbucks, which was ranked 91st ona list of the 100 best brands. Despite investing verylittle in advertising, Starbucks has achieved success,

urraystate.edutate.edu (S.J. Miles).

7 Kelley School of Business, In

in part, by relying on its employees as primaryconveyors of the company brand.

Starbucks is not alone in this regard. In fact, it isevident that employees drive the brand image formany organizations, particularly those in the servicesector. JetBlue Airways, for instance, has developeda strong customer following that is largely based onhigh levels of customer service and friendly, caringemployees. Just as companies' staff members havethe power to positively influence brand image,however, they also now have more opportunitiesthan ever before to tarnish that image. One does nothave to look very hard to see how employees' actionsand communications can steamroll into a publicrelations and organizational nightmare. Consider,for example, the recent Hewlett–Packard spy

diana University. All rights reserved.

424 W.G. Mangold, S.J. Miles

scandal, which began when a staff member postedsensitive company information on Yahoo's messageboards. In order to find out who was behind the leak,Hewlett–Packard engaged in questionable tactics,ones that eventually resulted in charges being filedagainst the company by the state of California.

In less highly charged situations, employees areregularly posting on the Internet testimonies abouttheir experiences with the organizations for whichthey work. For instance, the website www.wakeup-walmart.com provides a forum for current andformer Wal-Mart employees to tell about theirdealings with the organization. HRM Guide recentlynoted that 16% of bloggers admit they have postednegative entries about their employer or workplace.When one considers that, according to the samepublication, one in twenty workers maintains ablog, the potential for significant corporate damagebecomes quite obvious (http://www.hrmguide.net/usa/commitment/negativity.htm).

By definition, the employee brand is the imagepresented to an organization's customers and otherstakeholders through its employees. It is tremendous-ly important to the well-being of most organizations,given employees' potential for creating either ex-tremely positive or extremely negative images.Heretofore, scholarly research in the field has focusedmainly on the process of employee branding and thepositive outcomes that are likely to be realized byorganizations that successfully manage the process.

Taking things a step further, this article presents atypology which will help leaders better direct theemployee branding process in their organizations.Specifically, our diagnostic framework identifies fouremployee brand types, based on a preponderance ofthe characteristics of the organization's employees.Further, guidelines are presented for developing astrong employee brand, which can help enhancebrand equity and cultivate a sustainable competitiveadvantage in the marketplace.

2. The employee brand typology

Two issues are critical in determining whether anemployee will reflect the organization's desiredbrand image, and thus favorably impact the percep-tions of customers and others. First, do employeesknow what image they are expected to project?Second, do they perceive their psychological con-tracts as having been upheld? These two factors are,in turn, driven by the extent to which the organiza-tion's messages are consistent with one another andwith the firm's mission, values, and desired brandimage. Together, they underpin the employee brandtypology, and are expanded upon in the sections thatfollow.

2.1. Knowledge and understanding of thedesired brand image

Employee knowledge and understanding of thedesired brand image is pivotal to the employeebranding process. That is, employees must becognizant of and comprehend the image that theorganization wants its customers and other stake-holders to experience. Understanding what thedesired brand image is and how it is directly linkedto the organization's mission and values will helpstaff make better decisions under conditions thatare not explicitly covered in the policy andprocedure manual. For example, most serviceorganizations tell employees that customer serviceis crucial to success; however, the tenets ofcustomer service are not always communicated orreinforced to workers. Consequently, they mustinterpret for themselves what constitutes goodservice and how it should be delivered.

Employees' knowledge and understanding of thedesired brand image can be developed through avariety of information sources. For example, it canbe heavily influenced by messages that emanatefrom the organization's advertising and publicrelations efforts. While staff members are some-times the intended recipients of these messages(particularly those stemming from public relationsefforts), they are also exposed to many that areaimed specifically at customers and other externalaudiences. Such messages can also be used toproactively influence employees' knowledge andunderstanding of the desired brand image. Consider,as reported by Anders (2003), a Hewlett–Packardadvertising campaign that focused on the garage inwhich the company's first products were developed.Although the promotion was targeted primarily atcustomers, it had a substantial impact on the firm'semployees, as well. Its imagery, along with thetheme claiming “the original start-up will act likeone again,” unleashed a considerable amount ofemotional energy throughout the company. Bymaking it clear that the desired Hewlett–Packardbrand image was one of innovation, focus, andbottom-line results, the campaign, among otherthings, managed to increase employee knowledgeand understanding. In sum, staff members candevelop an awareness of what the organizationdeems important and what customers expect whenmessages intended for external audiences are alsodesigned with employees in mind.

Companies' employee branding efforts are morelikely to be successful when they are staffed withindividuals who have the capacity to internalize thedesired brand image and, then, reflect it to others.Organizations such as Southwest Airlines, Starbucks,

Figure 1 Knowledge and understanding continuum.

425The employee brand: Is yours an all-star?

and Outback Steakhouse are known for their abilityto hire the right employees and then train them to dojust that. For example, as indicated on its website,Starbucks values excellence among its employees(called partners), respectful treatment of fellowworkers (as well as customers), and a dedication tosocial responsibility (www.starbucks.com/aboutus/jobcenter.asp). It is believed that people who sharethese values, when properly trained and developed,will deliver the desired brand image to Starbucks'customers.

Once organizations are adequately staffed, thosethat are successful in their employee brandinginitiatives form strong employee brands by contouringtraining and development around delivery of thedesired brand image. For instance, employees areoften taught what behaviors are desired by beinggiven explicit details regarding how tohandle difficultcustomers orwork through complicated situations in amanner that ismost consistent with the organization'sdesired brand image.

Performance management and compensationsystems may also be used to help employees know,understand, and internalize the desired brandimage. Hwang (2004) described “Your SpecialBlend,” the so-named identity-providing compensa-tion system employed by Starbucks. This structureallows company staff members to satisfy theirparticular needs by selecting from a cafeteria-stylearray of benefits. Starbucks' effort toward supplyingthe wants and desires of individual employeescommunicates the company's values, and subtlysuggests that it is important to fulfill the needs ofa diverse array of persons. Most staff membersunderstand this same importance applies to custo-mers as well as to themselves, a concept that isunderscored by the term bean stock, which helpsretail salespeople gain a sense of ownership in theorganization and feel personally responsible forsatisfying its customers.

The role of formal messages is certainly importantin building knowledge and understanding of thedesired brand. The role of informal messagesemanating from organizational systems, which iswell-documented in the corporate culture literature,also needs to be considered. Often, informal mes-sages come through word-of-mouth, and can stemfrom co-workers, managers, and customers. Theseinteractions can either reinforce the organization'svalues and desired brand image, or negate it. Asopposed to formal communication such as advertis-ing, public relations, and messages originating withinthe human resources department, informal commu-nication is more difficult for organizations to control.Companies that are successful in employee branding,however, are able tomanage these informalmessages

to some extent by managing the organizationalculture and the behavior of their leaders.

Thus, this component of employee brandingfocuses on comprehending the desired brandimage, as well as understanding the underlyingvalue system. Knowledge and understanding isdriven by the extent to which the desired brandimage and values are frequently communicated andreinforced through organizational messages; themore recurrent and constant the messages, thegreater employee knowledge and understanding islikely to be. Conversely, when messages are lessfrequently and less consistently reinforced, employ-ees' levels of knowledge and understanding are likelyto be lower. In this light, the knowledge andunderstanding dimension can be viewed as acontinuum, with high knowledge on one end andlow knowledge on the other (see Fig. 1).

In organizations with high levels of knowledgeand understanding, the desired brand image isclearly defined in light of the mission and values.Then, the image is consistently and frequentlycommunicated through the organization's formaland informal mechanisms. The employees of high-knowledge organizations know what their employ-ers are trying to accomplish. They also know andunderstand the behaviors that are needed todeliver the desired brand image to organizationalconstituents. This perspective is consistent withBoswell, Bingham, and Colvin's (2006) article,which uses the term line of sight to underscorethe importance of aligning employees with theorganization's goals and strategies.

In low-knowledge organizations, employees arenot certain of the desired brand image or of theorganization's mission and values. This confusion isoften due to the sending of different, and some-times conflicting, messages to various constituents.Customers may receive one set of messages,employees another, and stockholders still yetanother. Employees who hear the messages thatare intended for other audiences may becomeconfused about the organization's true priorities.They may even call the organization's integrity intoquestion when they perceive that duplicity exists. Insuch situations, employees are likely to work to

426 W.G. Mangold, S.J. Miles

achieve their own ends rather than reflect thedesired brand image.

Low levels of knowledge and understanding mayalso come about when organizations do not success-fully tie their desired brand image back to theirmission and values. For example, an organizationmayemphasize that high levels of customer service arecritical to its success, but provide no guidance for themanner in which that service is to be delivered. Insuch situations, employees are left to choose forthemselves the demeanor that is to be used whendelivering the service. Some staff members mightchoose a perky, upbeat demeanor that conveys asense of humor,much like the demeanor of SouthwestAirlines' employees. This approach is not appropriatefor all companies and industries, though. Considerthe banking industry, for example. Depending on thespecific transaction, the use of too much humor inthis setting could be interpreted as insincerity. In aworst case scenario, customers might label the bankas unprofessional, and might thus take their businessto a more “sincere” competitor.

To analyze where your company is in terms ofemployee knowledge of the desired brand image,refer back to Fig. 1 andmark an“X” in the appropriatespot on the continuum. Again, employees of high-knowledge organizations receive frequent and con-sistentmessages that define and reinforce the desiredbrand image, along with the values that support thatimage. Employees of low-knowledge organizations donot receive or experience internal messages articu-lating appropriate brand images. In this case, employ-ees are unclear about the desired brand image, themanner in which the desired brand image is to bedelivered, or both.

In conclusion, employees' knowledge and under-standing of the desired brand image is developed andenhanced when the organization's various messagesystems frequently and consistently communicateand reinforce the desired brand image. Their mes-sages should be constant and unswerving, both inrelation to each other and with the organization'smission and values, so that staff members develop asense of the organizational purpose that underlies thedesired brand image. This can be further enhancedwhen the messages that are intended for internalaudiences are consistent with those aimed at custo-mers and other external audiences. The humanresource management system's role is pivotal to thiseffort. The desired brand image must be fullyintegrated into its processes and the messages thatare embedded inside thoseprocesses.When this is notdone, employees may be unclear about what beha-viors are expected of them. They are also likely to usetheir own judgment or their personal disposition inchoosing the behaviors they display.

2.2. Upholding psychological contracts

A psychological contract represents an employee'sperceptual agreement about the exchange relation-ship he/she has with the organization. Among others,extensive research by Robinson (1996); Robinson,Kraatz, and Rousseau (1994); Rousseau (1989, 1995);and Robinson and Morrison (1995) has indicated thatemployee motivation, trust, performance, organiza-tional commitment, and satisfaction are contingentupon the extent to which employees perceive theirpsychological contracts as being upheld. It is impor-tant to note that psychological contracts exist only inemployees' minds and that management is oftenunaware of the terms of the contracts, or even oftheir existence. Psychological contracts are formedbased on formal and informalmessages received fromorganizations and their representatives. For exam-ple, during the pre-employment phase of the hiringprocess, formal documentation and personal inter-actions with employees typically form the basis ofemployee perceptions as to what life will be likeworking for the organization. Prospective staffmembers make assessments based on thesemessagesas to what the organization deems important, as wellas the benefits of working for the company.

Potential employees also make assessments aboutwhat they will have to give to the organization inexchange for the benefits they expect to receive.Once hired, their psychological contracts are formedon the bases provided by these early messages, andare upheld if the messages remain consistent afteremployment. Consider, for example, a prospectiveworker who is told prior to employment that promo-tions are based exclusively on high levels of perfor-mance. This individual's psychological contract will beupheld if she/he perceives this to be true afterobserving the organization's real-life promotion prac-tices. In essence, the consistency of the communica-tion flowing through the firm'smessage systems allowsprospective employees to form realistic psychologicalcontracts and enables organizations to effectivelymanage the psychological contracts that are formed.

If inconsistencies arise and are interpreted asnumerous and severe enough, however, employeesmay perceive their psychological contracts as beingviolated. It is imperative to note that, as Rousseau(1995) points out, failure to uphold psychologicalcontracts does not have a negative impact on theemployee. If the psychological contract is not upheld,the employee makes an assessment about theemployer's willingness and ability to honor thecontract. Inadvertent and unavoidable failure touphold a contract does not typically result in negativeconsequences. When a staff member judges the firmable but unwilling to fulfill the perceived obligations,

427The employee brand: Is yours an all-star?

though, a breach can be expected to occur. Thisbreached contract results in negative perceptions andbehaviors that can seriously undermine the relation-ship. Morrison and Robinson (1997) point out thatpsychological contract violations are the affectivestates that may come about as a result of perceivedbreaches.

Inconsistent messages and violations of psycholog-ical contracts can be expected to result in employees'perception that fewer obligations are owed to theorganization, as well as lower levels of organizationalcitizenship behavior,motivation, organizational com-mitment, and satisfaction. Diminished trust is anoth-er significant outcome associated with psychologicalcontract violation. Rousseau (1989) stated that:

“reaction [to violation] is directly attributable notonly to unmet expectations of specific rewards orbenefits, but also to more general beliefs aboutrespect of persons, codes of conduct, and otherpatterns of behavior associated with relationshipsinvolving trust.” (p. 129)

These negative employee outcomes also directlyaffect customer experiences and, hence, customersatisfaction and loyalty.

In summary, organizations can manage the psy-chological contracts they have with workers byachieving message consistency. That is, messagesemanating from organizational systems, such as thehuman resource management system, must beharmonious with one another and with the organiza-

Figure 2 Organization

tion's mission, values, and desired brand image.Success toward this end can be expected to enhanceemployees' willingness to deliver the desired brandimage and to reflect organizational values to others.

While critical, issuing consistent organizationalmessages is harder to achieve than conceptualize; inother words, easier said than done. To perform anassessment of the message consistency level withinyour own organization, first list the values that arecentral to your desired brand image. Next, look ateach of the organizational systems identified in Fig. 2and determine the messages being sent.

For instance, suppose working as a team isnecessary to achieve your organizational objectives.Therefore, you want your employees to exhibit teambehaviors. Start with the internal message systems inyour organization such as recruitment, selection,training, performance management, and compensa-tion. Do you emphasize the importance of teamworkin your recruitment efforts? Does your selectionprocess delineate team players from non-teamplayers? Are your performance checks based onteam or individual behavior? Do you reward forindividual accomplishments or team accomplish-ments? Do your corporate legends portray individualor team players? Are your employees provided withthe necessary tools to engage in team behaviors?

After testing the internal systems for continuity,turn your consideration to the messages that reachexternal constituents. The greater the variation, themore confused and the less trusting your employeesare likely to be. If confusion and lack of trust are

al message systems.

Figure 3 Upholding employees' psychological contractswith the organization.

428 W.G. Mangold, S.J. Miles

common, you can be assured that employees'psychological contracts with the organization havebeen broken. In such cases, staff members are goingto be inclined to put forth the minimum amount ofeffort that is required for the job. In essence, theywill be compliant, but not committed.

To assess the consistency of the communication(both verbal and behavioral) that emanates fromyour organization's message systems, refer to thecontinuum depicted in Fig. 3 and mark an “X”whereappropriate. Staff members whose psychologicalcontracts have been upheld will perceive thatmessage and behavioral consistency exists withinthe organization. They will also be willing to projectthe desired brand image to those with whom theycome into contact. Conversely, employees whosepsychological contracts have not been upheld willperceive that duplicity exists within the organiza-tion; that is, they will feel that contradictorymessages are being sent. Their trust in the organi-zation will have broken down and their psychologicalcontracts will have eroded. While they may becompliant, theywill not be committed andmanywillpursue their own agendas, rather than strive for thegood of the firm. Thus, these individuals will not bewilling to consistently deliver the desired brand

Figure 4 A typology of

image in a manner that is consonant with theorganization's values.

3. What is your type?

Having plotted your employees' knowledge andunderstanding of the desired brand image, as wellas the extent to which psychological contracts in theorganization have been upheld, you may nowcategorize your organization's type by applyingthese assessments to the four quadrants depictedin Fig. 4. Do this by rotating the knowledge andunderstanding continuum into a vertical position.Then, convert your plots into the four quadrants. Ifyou indicated that your employees were below themidpoint on both knowledge/understanding and theextent to which their psychological contracts havebeen honored, they chart in the lower left quadrantof Fig. 4. We refer to the members of this quadrantas strike-out kings (for reasons we will discusslater). If your employees are above the midpoint onknowledge/understanding, but below the midpointon the extent to which their psychological contractshave been honored, they chart in the upper leftquadrant. We call this group injured reserves. If,however, your employees are below the midpoint onknowledge/understanding, but above the midpointas regards the upholding of their psychologicalcontracts, they chart in the lower right quadrant.This group constitutes the rookies.

Finally, if your firm is one of the fortunate fewwhose employees are above the midpoint on bothknowledge/understanding of the desired brandimage and the extent to which psychological con-tracts have been honored, yours qualifies as an all-star organization. Your employee branding process is

employee branding.

429The employee brand: Is yours an all-star?

working effectively and you are probably enjoyingthe sustainable competitive advantage that this hasengendered. Your challenge, then, is to maintain theall-star position during times of change. Next, thefour organizational types, along with their brandstrengths, are described in detail. Finally, the stra-tegic steps necessary for converting strike-out kings,injured reserves, and rookies into all-stars areaddressed.

3.1. Rookie organizations

Rookie organizations cannot deliver the desiredbrand image to their customers because a prepon-derance of their employees suffer from low levels ofknowledge and understanding. That is, they are notfamiliar with and/or do not comprehend the desiredbrand image, nor the organization's underlyingmission and values. This lack of understanding oftencomes about either because the mission, values, anddesired brand image are not well thought out, orbecause they have not been clearly communicatedthrough the organizational message systems.

Two types of organizations are particularly sub-ject to rookie status: entrepreneurial organizationsand those with a large number of new employees.Entrepreneurial organizations frequently have rook-ie status because their channels of communicationare not well developed. Although leaders commonlyknow the company's mission, values, and desiredbrand image, they often fail to effectively sharethem with staff. The latter weakness is sometimesattributable to the informality that characterizesmany small organizations.

Rapid growth can also play a role in manyentrepreneurial organizations' rookie status. Thatis, a busy entrepreneur consumed with developmentmay overlook his/her organization's internal mes-sage systems to focus on short-term revenuegeneration and organizational expansion. The infor-mal nature of smaller firms results in few formaldocuments and processes. While this paucity ofinformation can be expected to contribute to lowlevels of knowledge and understanding, it does notnecessarily lead to violations of employees' psycho-logical contracts. Rather, these may be upheld by aclose-knit environment, a charismatic entrepre-neurial leader, or the exuberance that frequentlyaccompanies rapid growth.

Companies with a large number of new employeesare also likely to be rookie organizations. New staffmembers cannot be expected to fully understandtheir firm's mission, values, and desired brand imagebecause they have not yet been fully assimilated intothe organization. Unfortunately, training and orien-tation often focuses on specific job details rather

than these broader, but critical, issues. In othercases,managementmay feel that the people hired donot need much training. When this happens, indivi-duals are not informed about themission, values, anddesired brand image the organization wants them toreflect. Therefore, lack of tenure and lack ofknowledge and understanding often go hand-in-hand.

The majority of employees in rookie organiza-tions perceive that they have received consistentmessages from their employers, even though theymay not have a good handle on the desired brandimage or the underlying mission and values.Therefore, their psychological contracts are intactand they are intrinsically motivated to deliver thedesired brand image to customers, co-workers, andothers with whom they come into contact. Regret-tably, however, they are not clear about what theorganization expects. For instance, should customerservice be delivered with a sense of fun and humor?Or should a sense of seriousness pervade the serviceexperience? How should specific customer requestsand situations be handled?

Motivation is high and knowledge is low in rookieorganizations. These low levels of knowledge areproblematic when the employees of rookie organi-zations encounter myriad circumstances that arenot explicitly covered in the policy and proceduremanual. In such cases, inconsistent performance islikely to occur, as the individuals must interpret forthemselves what constitutes good performance andappropriate behavior. Unfortunately, their interpre-tation is not supported by a full comprehension ofthe desired brand image. Therefore, the employeebrand image that is ultimately reflected to othersmay not be the organization's desired brand image,and the employee brand may not be consistentlyexperienced by all customers.

3.2. Injured reserve organizations

The staff members of injured reserve organizationsknowwhat image to project, as their employers havesuccessfully communicated both the desired brandimage and the organizational mission and values.Thus, knowledge is present. Regrettably, however,their psychological contracts have been violated byinconsistent messages they have received from theorganization. For example, the employees of injuredreserve organizations may have been told during thehiring process that family values are important andthat the company takes extra measures to ensurefamily time is safely guarded. Despite this declara-tion, though, meetings may routinely be scheduledfor evenings and Saturdays, with negative sanctionsfor those who do not attend. In a real-life example,Schneider (1980) observed that some of the bank

430 W.G. Mangold, S.J. Miles

employees included in his study knew they weresupposed to be service oriented, but perceived thatsignals from the bank's management encouraged amore bureaucratic approach. Such inconsistent mes-sages break down employee trust in the organizationand violate psychological contracts, thereby render-ing workers dissatisfied and likely to leave. Employeedissatisfaction, in turn, often results in an unwilling-ness to project the desired brand image to others.When this occurs, the originally intended brandimage is unlikely to be reflected to customers.

The performance framework presented by Blum-berg and Pringle (1982) suggests that employeeperformance in injured reserve organizations is likelyto be low to moderate because willingness is low,even though opportunity is favorable. This is consis-tent with the point of view that violations ofemployees' psychological contracts are likely tobring about lack of trust, dissatisfaction, and greaterturnover. Taking this a step further, worker dissatis-faction can be expected to negatively impact theservice experience of customers. Therefore, custo-mers and other stakeholders may feel that the staffmembers of injured reserve organizations exhibit ahigh level of variation in the images they project,resulting in employee brands that are inconsistentwith the desired brand image. Such negative experi-ences are likely to influence customers' future de-cisions to do business with the organization,especially when substitutes abound.

3.3. Strike-out kings

Strike-out king organizations have some seriousproblems. Owing to low levels of knowledge andunderstanding, most employees in these firms areunfamiliar with what image they should reflect or, ifthey actually do possess this vital information, areunsure of how to project it. Even worse, theinconsistent messages they perceive violate theirpsychological contracts, as well as their trust in theorganization. Because their intrinsic motivation hasbeen damaged, strike-out king organizations' employ-ees would be unwilling to project the desired brandimage even if they had the necessary knowledge andunderstanding. This point of view is also supported byBlumberg and Pringle's (1982) performance frame-work, which substantiates that very low performanceis the result of less favorable opportunities and lowwillingness to perform.

Strike-out kings position their employees forfailure. Workers are often confused by the apparentconflicts between the niceties put forth by theorganization's advertising and public relations pro-grams, and the day-to-day realities of life in the firm.Productivity on the job is reduced, due to distrust for

the organization and fallout from violated psycholog-ical contracts. Employees subject to such conditionsare likely to engage in negative word-of-mouthcommunication, aimed at anyone and everyone whowill listen, including other employees, customers,and potential clients. Inside the organization, theymay display the ‘what's-in-it-for-me’ syndrome, sincethey have no real loyalty to the company. Indeed,these workers have even been known to engage invarious forms of organizational sabotage.

In strike-out king organizations, where insuffi-cient knowledge and feelings of psychologicalcontract violation abound, employees will beunmotivated, distrustful, dissatisfied, unproduc-tive, and looking for an opportunity to leave. Thenegative climate will adversely impact customerexperiences and, consequently, customer satisfac-tion and loyalty. This could spell disaster for theorganization, as brand equity is likely to bediminished. For example, one does not have toreflect too far back to remember the extremechallenges faced by Continental Airlines prior to1994. As highlighted by Brenneman (1998), custom-er satisfaction with the airline was so low that oneorganization went so far as to choose for its branchoffice location Dallas rather than Houston, so thatcompany employees could fly American instead ofContinental.

3.4. All-stars

Organizations that can be classified as all-stars havebeen successful in building their employee brands.Staff members of these firms have a high level ofknowledge and understanding regarding the desiredbrand image, as well as the underlying organizationalmission and values. Importantly, they also interpretmessages received from the organization as beingconsonant with one another, and with the company'smission and values. This perceived consistency honorsthe employee psychological contract and creates asense of trust in the firm. Thus, all-star organizations'employees are both able and motivated to projectthe desired brand image to others.

The employee brand is a source of sustainablecompetitive advantage in all-star organizations.The requirements for employee workplace perfor-mance are present according to the classic con-struct presented by Blumberg and Pringle (1982).Because they possess such high knowledge levels,staff members of all-star organizations are likely tofeel confident regarding their ability to makedecisions that are consistent with organizationalpriorities, thereby adding to job satisfaction. Inaddition, these individuals may be less likely toseparate from the organization, resulting in a more

431The employee brand: Is yours an all-star?

stable workforce featuring highly experiencedemployees. All-star team members' affirmativefeelings can also be expected to result in morepositive, and less negative, word-of-mouth commu-nication about the organization. In turn, the in-creased flow of interpersonal communication willmost likely have a favorable impact on customers,as well as the firm's other employees.

All-star status can be achieved when the organiza-tion'smessage systems act in a complimentarymannerto communicate clear and consistent messages thatcontinually reinforce one another. The staff of all-starorganizations can be relied upon to steadfastly reflectthe brand image to others. This uniformity will enableall-star organizations to best position themselves andtheir offerings in the minds of customers and otherrelevant stakeholders. It is also likely to produceenhanced customer satisfaction and higher levels ofcustomer loyalty, thereby resulting in a sustainablecompetitive advantage for the organization.

4. Becoming an all-star

The key to attaining all-star status is consistentcommunication directed toward achieving twogoals: (1) ensuring that all the organization'smessage systems steadfastly reinforce the desiredbrand image, as well as the underlying mission andvalues; and (2) upholding employees' psychologicalcontracts with the organization. Specific guidelinesfor transforming your organization into an all-starinclude the following:

• Consistently communicate and reinforce theorganization's mission, values, and desiredbrand image. For example, O'Reilly, Perlstein,and Capur (2006) relate that the term LifeEngine is used at Yahoo! to unify the company'smission, values, and employee value propositioninto an internal brand concept that is easy tograsp and understand. The Life Engine messageunderpins many of the organization's contestsand events, and is supported by such internalmedia as posters, customized license plateframes, and visitor name tags.

• Help staff members establish healthy psycho-logical contracts with the organization byclearly stating both what they can anticipatefrom the company and what they are expectedto give in return. As indicated on its website, theemployee benefits company, CIGNA, uses theemployee value proposition to establish andreinforce the psychological contracts it main-tains with its workers:

“CIGNA is a leading employee-benefits provider toemployers and employees in the U.S. and selectedinternational markets. We succeed through ourcommitment to serving our customers, the strengthof our people and our drive for superior financialresults. We recognize the value of a passionatelycommitted, energized and diverse workforce. Wereward excellence, promote development, expecthigh standards and encourage work/life balance.”(www.cigna.com)

• Empower employees to always deliver thedesired brand image, even when doing so is nottotally consistent with the policy and proceduremanual. For instance, Outback Steakhouseemphasizes the importance of using good judg-ment in a manner that is consonant with thecompany's principles and beliefs (www.outback.com/careeropportunities/management.asp).This approach can be expected to contribute tothe development of employees' knowledge andunderstanding, rather than a propensity tostrictly adhere to the letter of the ‘rule book’.The internalization process may be furtheraugmented when staff members are engaged inthe organization's decision-making processesand, perhaps, in establishing the mission,values, and desired brand image.

• Use the performance management and compen-sation systems to help employees know, under-stand, internalize, and deliver the desired brandimage. Walt Disney Company is an organizationwhich employs many recognition and rewardprograms to ensure that its cast membersachieve this goal. Among others, Disney regu-larly hands out “‘Applause-o-Gram’ cards…toanyone caught doing a good deed, ‘Thumbs Up’certificates for landscaping staff, ‘Golden Hang-er’ gift certificates for costuming workers, andDepartment of the Month awards” (Rubis, 1998,p. 115).

• Make delivery of the desired brand image thecentral focus of training and development efforts.For example, customer service employees shouldbe taught what behaviors are desired by beingsupplied with explicit instructions regarding howto handle specific situations. These directivesshould also explain how the behaviors areconsistent with the organization's values and thedesired brand image. The 2003 Baldrige NationalQuality Program award recipient, Pensacola,Florida's Baptist Hospital Incorporated, evengoes so far as to provide its workers with scriptsthat are to be used in certain circumstances. As

432 W.G. Mangold, S.J. Miles

stated on page 18 of the winner's profile, “anyemployee who sees a visitor who appears lostwill ask, ‘May I take you to where you are going?’Upon leaving a patient's room, employees alwaysask, ‘Is there anything else that I may do for you?I have the time.’” (http://www.quality.nist.gov/PDF_files/Baptist_Hospital_Application_Summary.pdf).

• Understand that messages are communicatedthrough decisions and actions, as well as throughwords. The characteristics of new hires, forexample, send powerful signals regarding thefirm's true priorities. Certain organizations, suchas Brinker International, are known for theirability to appoint the right employees and trainthem to reflect the desired brand image to others.As indicated on its website (www.brinkerjobs.com), Brinker aggressively seeks individuals whoshare the company's six values: growth, diversity,family, integrity, balance, and passion. Workerswhose values are aligned with those of thecompany, when properly trained and developed,will have a strong propensity to deliver the desiredbrand image to customers.

• Weave the desired brand image into all internaland external message systems. It is only when themission, values, and desired brand image areclearly defined and continuously reinforced thatemployees will be able to consistently reflect thedesired brand image to others. Internal news-letters and employee-oriented websites may beused toward this end. Consider Southwest Air-lines, which is noted for its use of the companyhouse publication, Luv Lines, to clarify andreinforce the behavior that is expected andrewarded, as well as the mission and values thatdrive those expectations.

• Carefully integrate the messages that are in-tended for external audiences with those aimedat internal audiences. As employees are exposedto both, it is particularly important that themessages be consistent with one another inorder to avoid a sense of organizational dupli-city. Libby Sartein, Chief People Officer atYahoo! uses the term internal branding to referto this alignment of internal and externalmessages (O'Reilly et al., 2006).

• Lead by example! Remember that leaderbehavior is a key element in fostering acorporate culture that is consistent with theorganization's mission, values, and desiredbrand image. The ability of employees to

internalize the desired brand image will beenhanced when organizational leaders, man-agers, and co-workers regularly reflect themission, values, and desired brand image intheir decision making, as well as interpersonalcommunications. Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, put this principle into practice bymaintaining very spartan office furnishings.Setting the firm's standard for frugality and acorporate emphasis on cost-cutting, Walton issaid to have constructed and used a deskmade of plywood set across two sawhorses inthe early years of the business (Trimble,1990).

• Make tough decisions when necessary. Considerthe manager of a retail organization who fired anemployee after a poor customer service incident.This type of behavior reinforces the firm'scommitment to customer service and clearlycommunicates the consequences of deliveringservice that is not consistent with the company'svalues and desired brand image.

• Conduct a message audit to assess the consis-tency of the messages emanating from theorganization. For example, a message auditconducted by S'Portable Scoreboards revealed aconsiderable amount of employee misunder-standing about the company's compensationsystem and decisions related to budget alloca-tions. The firm subsequently used its internalpublic relations system to clear up various pointsof confusion.

The message audit process begins with a reviewof the formal and informal messages coming fromthe organization. When inconsistencies are found,corrective action must be taken to ensure that theorganization's mission, values, and desired brandimage are being consistently and accuratelycommunicated. Assume, for instance, that team-work is an essential corporate value and part ofthe desired brand image. In this case, theperformance management system should beassessed in terms of the extent to which itsupports teamwork. Perhaps the performancemanagement system incorporates an employeeevaluation system that has a negative impact onteamwork because it requires that employees berated in relation to one another, rather than inrelation to a set standard. If such a system isfound to have a negative impact on teamwork bydiscouraging employees from sharing information,the system should be changed to reflect andreinforce the teamwork value.

433The employee brand: Is yours an all-star?

Next, advertising and public relations messagesshould be checked to ensure that the communicationdirected to staff members is consistent with thecommunication directed to customers and otherstakeholders. Steps must also be taken to ensurethat management's decisions are in synch with theorganization's mission, values, and desired brandimage, and are therefore aligned with the commu-nications emanating from the othermessage systems.Review processes may be established for this pur-pose. Perhaps message consonance is most likely tobe attained when reward systems are put into placeto encourage decision making that is consistent withthe mission, values, and desired brand image, and todiscourage decision making that does not meet thatstandard.

5. The employee brand: A final word

Organizations can achieve a sustainable competitiveadvantage by successfully developing their employeebrand. The typology we have presented is adiagnostic framework that is intended to help leadersaccomplish this goal. It enables them to understandwhere their organizations are and facilitates identi-fication of what needs to be done to get them wherethey want to be. The guidelines emphasized hereinare applicable to the broad range of companies inwhich success is largely driven by the point ofinterface between the employee and the customer.An organization that is able to effectively develop itsemployee brand should benefit from high levels ofservice quality, customer satisfaction, repeat pur-chase behavior, and lower employee turnover.

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