Organisational identities, identification and positioning: learning from political fields

This paper uses critical discourse analysis to analyse and theorise the discursive strategies and tactics of public relations professionals in the political field in creating political identities during election campaigns. The lessons learned through the analysis and the theories built from those lessons are then discussed for their application to identity creation in the commercial organisational marketplace. This paper makes a key contribution to organisational identity theory for public relations practitioners by dealing with issues of identity creation in the face of competition for those same positions, and with issues of compatibility of identity positions with organisational values as well as social values.