Employees’ perceptions of symbolic corporate identity elements and employer-employee relationships at Lonmin Platinum

Abstract

Apart from historical and contextual factors complicating the mining industry, Lonmin Platinum’smanagement of employee relationships was further complicated by its diverse workforce ofapproximately 20 000 employees consisting of literates, semi-literates and illiterates. In addition,the company comprised five business units, each with their own corporate identity. Within thiscontext it was expected that Lonmin’s relationship with its employees would take some strain.While the relationship between corporate image and stakeholder management has been debated,the impact of symbolic corporate identity elements on specific relationship dimensions has not yetbeen investigated and is addressed in this article by means of the following research question:What is the relationship between employees’ perceptions of symbolic corporate identity elementsand employer-employee relationships at Lonmin Platinum? This study indicated a relationship between employees’ perceptions of how effectively the company reached it objectives, specifically a safe working environment, a healthy working environment,socio-economic empowerment and accountability, and the quality of its employee relationships.

The relationship between corporate identity-management constructs and relationship-management constructs

“…Company objectives relating to a safe and healthy working environment, socio-economic empowerment, accountability and being a company that unites its workforce and creates a family feeling among the employees had the most impact on employee relationships (c.f. Holtzhausen, 2008;Holtzhausen & Fourie, 2008a;2008b). In the case of the NWU the do-values of integrity and respect had the biggest impact on the quality of relationships (Holtzhausen & Fourie, 2009, 2010.…”

“…The authors of this article have debated these issues elsewhere (c.f. Holtzhausen, 2008;Holtzhausen & Fourie, 2007, 2008a, 2008b.…”

“…The unexpected result has been that the non-visual symbolic elements have a greater impact on employer-employee relationships than do the visual elements (c.f. Holtzhausen, 2008;Holtzhausen & Fourie, 2008a, 2008b. Holtzhausen (2008) has, for example, indicated a relationship between employees' perceptions of how effective the company had been in reaching its objectives and the quality of its employee relationships.…”

“…Holtzhausen, 2008;Holtzhausen & Fourie, 2008a, 2008b. Holtzhausen (2008) has, for example, indicated a relationship between employees' perceptions of how effective the company had been in reaching its objectives and the quality of its employee relationships. Company objectives relating to a safe and healthy working environment, socio-economic empowerment, accountability and being a company that unites its workforce and creates a family feeling among the employees had the most impact on employee relationships (c.f.…”

“…Although it is assumed that good corporate identity management leads to good relationships, relatively little research has been done on the direct link between the two concepts. Research by Holtzhausen (2008) and Holtzhausen andFourie (2008a, 2008b) found a relationship between employees' perceptions of how effectively the company upholds its values and the quality of its employee relationships. This article further proposes to investigate this phenomenon by focusing rather on the relationship between corporate identity-management constructs and the quality of employer-employee relationships so as to provide a framework for the management of corporate identity.…”