Honors Thesis Archive
| Author | Katie Hiestand |
|---|---|
| Title | Reaching the Pinnacle of Success: A Content Analysis using Organizational Culture Theory and Sport Hall of Fame Organizations |
| Department | Communication |
| Advisor | Kelly Dillon |
| Year | 2022 |
| Honors | University Honors |
| Full Text | View Thesis (1995 KB) |
| Abstract | The purpose of this study was to determine how an organization’s public communication like a website helps visitors understand its culture. Sports organizations were chosen for analysis because of their inclusive nature of the past, present, and future aspects of the game as well as its importance and strong presence in society. The goal of this paper was to apply Organizational Culture Theory to four sports halls of fame’s websites to analyze how an organization’s public communication illustrates its culture. Based off the assumptions of OCT, three research questions were developed to dive deeper into the concepts of the theory. From there, a code book was developed, and the websites of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Hockey Hall of Fame, and National Baseball Hall of Fame were individually analyzed. Research Question 1 focused on how a public website communicates an organization’s values by specifically analyzing the mission statements, community involvement, visitor information, and official press and media reports found on the organizations’ websites. Research Question 2 was based on how a public website communicates an organization’s inclusive criteria of who is and who is not a member. The coding and analysis focused on organization information, employee information, and nominee and inductee criteria which are the factors as to how inclusive criteria determine who is a member. Research Question 3 questioned how a public website’s use and interpretation of symbols communicate and market an organization’s culture. Through the analysis of symbols and performances coded from the websites, the results express that organizations can communicate their culture and market it through the symbols of videos, photos, explanations of induction processes, and slogans, and the performances of explanations of election processes and use of metaphors. |
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