Prime Point's Image Audit

Key to unlock the locked minds

Friday, November 8, 2013

Image Audit - A master perception check up for Corporates


Image Audit is a research tool to study the 'hidden perception' of stakeholders, including employees. It helps the Corporates to understand the perceptions and formulate strategies to enhance their brand, marketing and bottomline.

Please watch this brief video on Image Audit.  (Video was made in 2007).



This video podcast can be watched also from

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Image Audit - Frequently asked questions

What is image audit? 

Image audit is a research tool to measure the hidden perception of internal and external stakeholders.  Internal stakeholders are employees and external stakeholders are customers, media, regulatory authorities, general public, etc.  In other words, Image audit is a barometer to measure the internal and external image.

Generally the employees are highly closed and do not reveal their perceptions about the functions of the management.  Is it possible to measure the hidden perception of the employees?

Yes. It is possible to extract the hidden perceptions of internal stakeholders.  It  depends on the manner in which the Image Audit is administered on the employees.  The administrator of the audit should create a confidence amongst the employees that the individual datasheet so collected would not be handed over to the management and only the consolidated opinion would be passed on to the management. Further the audit is to be conducted anonymously, so that the respondent is not identified.

What is the basic difference between market research conducted by different organisations and the image audit?

Generally market research is being done for consumer products. In this case, target audience  are not having any fear or reservation about their views on the product.  In the Image Audit, we conduct an audit of the perception of the employees, who are really afraid of giving out their views to others for their personal reasons.  In the market research, identity of the respondent is not an issue.  In the image audit, identity is kept anonymous.  Image Audit  deals with a  highly sensitive issue and it is mind oriented.  If not administered carefully, the target audience will not come out with basic perceptions.

Is there any difference between the image audit conducted during the emotional situations and during calm situations?

yes definitely.  Normally image audit is to capture the basic perception of the target audience.  Normally basic perception is likely to oscillate due to emotions.  This oscillation is only temporary and will come back in due course.  When image audit is conducted during this situation, when there is an oscillation of basic perception, the output may not reveal the realistic situation.  We need to wait for the time, when the target audience is not affected by emotions.  For an example, if an employee gets a cash reward from the management, on that day, he would perceive the management better due to emotions.  Another person, who is not getting the reward may rate poorly.  These phenomena are only temporary and they will be back to normalcy after a week or so.

For any additional information, send a mail to prpoint@gmail.com.

The experience of beneficiaries

Dr U Srinivasa Raghavan, Chairman, Indian Postal Department (since retired)

Image Audit brings the Management closest to the customers and interpret the customers' point of view, so that the best services can be given to them.

Mr B Suresh Kamath, Managing Director,  Laser Soft Infosystems Ltd., Chennai

Image Audit helps to manage external and internal expectations, extremely well.  It  can also help to boost the performance of IT and Service Sector companies. 

Dr S P Kirubanithi, President, Bharatiya Janata Party, Tamilnadu

Image Audit is the most successful way to determine different facts about existing combination of parties and it will give an explicit and clear idea about who should be relied upon for the success in the electoral battle

Officers' Voice - January 2003 

It is also relevant to note that virtually no other trade union has undertaken an image audit.  The exercise, apart from providing feedback and suggestions, becomes a unique event in Corporation Bank Officers Organisation history and possibly in the trade union movement of our country

Shanthi Thiruchelvam Kula Lumpur, Communication Consultant, Malaysia
E-Mail: shanthi_tc@yahoo.com
Image Audit(IA)is brilliant for an organisation to embark on before drawing the PR proposal. It would ease narrow the Perception Gap. An alternative terminology to IA is stakeholders audit- internal & external.

An audit of this nature and its findings would assist the PR counsultancy to draw a realistic PR calendar for the client- thus,the recommendation of the PR objectives and proposed tools can be developed strategically to position the organisation positively.

TN Ashok, Former Economic Editor of PTI and Corporate Consultant, Delhi
E-Mail: ashoktnex@gmail.com
Image audit is an excellent tool to gauge ones image or public perception to know the good and bad about an organisaton and move forward in a positive manner.

Image Audit on the employees of Tamilnadu Government employees

On behalf of Public Services International, a Federation of Public Sector Trade Unions globally headquartered at France, Prime Point conducted an Image Audit of the Tamilnadu Government employees during the last week of September 2004.

Image Audit on the employees of Tamilnadu Government employees
Government employees giving their views Government of Tamilnadu has got around 1.2 million employees. During 2003, when the employees went on strike demanding wage revision, the Government dismissed enmasse around two lakh employees. Besides thousands of employees were arrested and imprisoned.

When the employees went to Judiciary, Hon'ble Supreme Court of India upheld the orders of the Government and declared that there was no right for the Government employees to strike work. The Government subsequently reinstated all the dismissed employees withdrew all the police cases. Though the Government cancelled all its earlier orders, an inexplicable tension prevails between the Government and the employees. 

Under these circumstances, Public Services International (PSI) retained Prime Point Foundation to conduct an Image Audit of the Government employees to study their present mindset. The objective of the study was to bridge the gap between the Government and the employees.

Prime Point Team, developed a questionnaire which was administered to the Government employees in four districts Cuddalore, Vellore, Tiruchy and Chennai. The respondents were asked to fill in the questionnaire with their tick mark and drop in a box provided for.  They were asked not to reveal their identity.

There was lot of enthusiasm amongst the Government employees and they took an active participation in this process. The team collected sample from three thousand employees and analysed their mindset. PSI submitted this report to the then Chief Minister, who pro-actively initiated lot of measures to bridge the gap.  The reaction of the Government is also included in this report.

Subsequently, PSI released this report to the media for public information.

Please read the Indian Express Report on this survey.

Download the original report .

Paris NGO studies Ammas moody staff

Paris NGO studies Ammas moody staff  - Indian Express Report

Paris NGO studies Ammas moody staff 

Ahead of Diwali bonus, it seeks to know opinion of employees on strikes 

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE 

Posted online: Thursday, October 07, 2004 at 0207 hours IST

CHENNAI, OCTOBER 6: Just as Tamil Nadu Government Employees Unions are gearing up for another round of confrontation with the Jayalalithaa regime for the Diwali bonus, an international agency has launched the first-ever survey to assess the moods and levels of aggression among the state government staff.

The Paris-based Public Services International, to which over 600 unions across the world are affiliated, has chosen Tamil Nadu due to just one factor: The month-long strike by government employees that the state witnessed last year and the governments unprecedented move later, to sack over a lakh employees overnight.

Will you resort to a strike to get concessions from the government especially after the Supreme Court banned strikes, is one of the questions put to 3,000 employees spread across four districts.

The questions mostly revolve around the employees views on unions and strike: Are unions necessary to get concessions from the Government?

Should unions have political affiliations? Do unions take decisions in line with their political interests?

It was a comprehensive questionnaire maintaining strict anonymity of the respondents with just the details of their age, gender and the number of years they had put in government service obtained, according to K. Srinivasan, chairman of the Chennai-based Prime Point Public Relations (P) Ltd, which had been engaged by the PSI to do the Image Audit study.

The first phase of the survey covered four districts Cuddalore, Vellore, Tiruchi and Chennai.

Qualitative data has been collected on all contentious issues related to workers moods from a representative sample of 3,000 respondents, Srinivasan told reporters here today.

The questionnaires were handed over by the field staff to almost the entire range of government employees starting from the village administrative officers in the four districts.

IAS and police officers were kept out of the purview of the survey. Since most government employees usually do not get a chance to voice their true opinion on issues, even in close-door meetings, the idea of the image audit was to understand their mindset, Srinivasan said.

The findings should help bridge the gap between the employees and the government, and help both the trade unions and the powers-that-be to accurately shape their respective strategies in future in dealing with issues, he added.

The survey would also help the Tamil Nadu government feel the pulse of employees and workers in Tamil Nadu and find out if they are getting increasingly belligerent.

'More interaction with media will help enhance police image'

'More interaction with media will help enhance police image'
By Our Special Correspondent 

CHENNAI, DEC. 2. Non- interference, particularly by politicians, in police functioning, transparent working of the department, a professional approach and more interaction with the media would help enable the police to present a better image of themselves.

These suggestions came forth during a panel discussion on ``Tamil Nadu Police-an image audit'', organised by Prime Point Foundation, a public trust for promoting public relations and communication awareness, here on Saturday.

Besides the former Tamil Nadu Director-General of Police, Mr. V. R. Lakshminarayanan, Mr. S. Ganapathy, DGP (Training), Mr. J. K. Tripathy, Joint Commissioner of Police, South Chennai, Mr. R. Desikan of Consumers Association of India and Mr. G. C. Shekhar of Hindustan Times constituted the panelists for the programme, anchored by Mr. T. Kannan, former Joint Director (News), Doordarshan.

Presenting their views from their professional experience and lacing them with lively anecdotes, speakers felt that a vigilant Press, transparent functioning by police and greater interaction with the media to dispel rumours were necessary to enhance police image. The public perception of police should also be understood so that the police were able to discharge duties in a more effective manner. The Press could avoid highlighting trivial issues.

"The trouble in this country is that everything is getting politicised'', pointed out Mr. Lakshminarayanan quoting various incidents during his career. Politicisation of police and criminalisation of politics should be stopped. The media had to play its role and the judiciary should give up its lackadaisical attitude, he said.

The media presented the news only in a balanced way. If the police erred, the Press had the right to present it to the public, pointed out Mr. Shekhar.

According to Mr. K. Srinivasan, founder-managing trustee of the trust, a police image audit was conducted among randomly selected 175 respondents. The exercise revealed that the police investigation skills seemed to be uppermost in the minds of the people. A large number of respondents felt that the police should avoid political interference and there were also suggestions that the force be autonomous.

A study on the perception of students about their future

A study on the perception of students about their future
1.0 Introduction:

1.1    This study is conducted by the students of M.Sc (Electronic Media), Anna University as a project work, under the guidance of Prime Point Foundation.  The students who have done this study are S. Sakthi prasanna, Nachu. Nagappan, K.M.Jothi Sree, S. Karthik, R.Hari prakash, S.Sudharshan.
1.2    The objective of this study is to find the perception of the students about their future course of action, after completing the present course. This study also aimed to find the perception of the students on the job potentiality, their preferences for job or entrepreneurship, etc.
2.0 Methodology
2.1     A questionnaire was developed with the above objectives and a test - survey was conducted on few students to identify the possible errors in understanding.   
2.2     After satisfying the correctness of the questionnaire, the questionnaire was administered on the students of various colleges in the Chennai City covering all the departments of study.  The questionnaire was administered to the students of various colleges on 16th, 17th and 18thJune 2003 at Chennai.  
2.3     To get the free and frank perceptions, the respondents were asked not to write their identity.   
2.4     The Questionnaire is given in Annexure I.
3.0   Sample Size  
3.1     Every care was taken that cross sections of the students were administered with the questionnaire to find out the general perception. The male / female respondents are given in Table 1.
   TABLE 1

Gender

No

%age

Male
266
53
Female
234
47
Total
500
100
  3.2     The course wise representation of the respondents is given in Table2
TABLE 2  

Course


Male

Female

Total

%age
Arts/ Science
111
94
205
41
Engineering
108
42
150
30
Medicine
38
95
133
26
Law
4
-
4
1
Others
5
3
8
2
 Total
266
 234
 500
 100
 3.3  Status of the graduation is given in Table 3  
TABLE 3  
   
 No
 %age
Undergraduate *
442
88
Postgraduate
53
11
Others
5
1
 Total
 500
 100
* Graduates include the students studying in Engineering / medicine  
3.3     Year wise classification of the respondents are given in Table 4  
TABLE 4  
 Year Of Study

Number
 %age
First
26
5
Second
189
38
Third
88
18
Fourth
160
32
Fifth
37
7
 Total
 500

100
  3.4     From the Tables 1 to 4, it may be observed that sample of respondents cover the wide range of students and it is sufficient to understand the common perception of the students.
  4.0    Reasons for joining the course  
4.1    The respondents were asked to specify the reason for choosing the course which they are studying presently.  Table 5 indicates the feedback.  
TABLE 5  

Reason


Number

%age
I wanted this course and        I got this and joined

336

67

I wanted some other course, but I got only this course and joined

132

26
I wanted to study some other course but my parents compelled me to join this course

32

7
 Total
 500

 100
 4.1 Nearly two-third of the respondents got their course as per their desire.  (67% of Arts/Science, 65% of Engineering students and 70% of Medical students)  
4.2 Interestingly 67% of male respondents and 66% of female respondents got the courses of their choice.  
5.0    Job opportunity for the course  
5.1 The respondents were asked to rate the job opportunity for the course that they are pursuing.  Table 6 indicates the responses:  
TABLE 6  


Number
%age
Excellent
105
21
Very Good
86
17
Good
194
39
Average
102
20
Worst
13
3
Total
500
100
5.1    Nearly 38 percent of the respondents consider the job potentiality for their courses as either Excellent or Very Good.  
5.2    Amongst those who have rated either as Excellent or Very good, 38% of Arts/Science students, 25% of Engineering students and 54% of Medical students are optimistic.  Medical students seem to be more optimistic than Engineering students.  
5.3    Nearly 30% of male and 46% of female students have rated either as very good or excellent.   
5.4    It can be observed that nearly 62% of the total respondents are moderate in their optimism.
  6.0    Future plans after completing the course  
6.1    The students were asked to specify their future plans after completing the present course.  Table 7 indicates their preferences:
TABLE 7  


No
Percentage
Seeking Job
211
42
Entrepreneur
49
10
Further Studies
226
45
Others
14
3
Total
500
100

6.2    Nearly 42% of the respondents prefer to seek job opportunities. Only 10 percent of the students prefer to become entrepreneurs.  
6.3    Amongst the respondents, 41% of Arts/Science students, 56% of Engineering students and 27% of Medical students preferred to seek job opportunity.  
6.4    Again, 49% of male students and 35% of female students preferred to seek job.   
6.5    Interestingly, more of Engineering students (56%) prefer  to seek job than the medical students (27%) - As per para 5.3 above, 25% of Engineering students and 54% of medical students considered the job opportunity in their field as very good and excellent.   
6.6    While only 10% of the students respondents preferred to become entrepreneurs,  9% of Arts/Science , 10% each of Engineering and medical students preferred to become entrepreneurs. - Male (11%) and female (8%) - There appears to be a consistency in the perception of the students  
7.0       Reasons for seeking Job  
7.1       The respondents were asked to specify the reason for seeking job, if they had preferred to seek job.
  7.2       While 211 respondents preferred to 'seek job' in the earlier question, 350 respondents gave their views here. (Table 8)
TABLE 8
If you had chosen to ‘seek the job’ what is the main reason

Number

Percentage
Steady Income
102
29
Job Security
58
17
Opportunity to grow
139
40
Others
51
14
Total *
350
100
  • Not responded – 150
7.3       40 percent of those responded considered 'the opportunity for growth' (Male 40% and female 39% of those responded under the category)
7.4       29 percent considered 'steady income' as their preference for seeking job. (Male 30 percent and female 28 percent of those responded)  
7.5       Interestingly, only 17 percent considered the 'job security' as their reason. Male 16 percent and female 17 percent of those responded). This indicates that unlike the elder generation, the present younger generation does not consider the 'job security' as their main preference.   
7.6       There is a consistency of the perception amongst the male and female students.  
8.0 Reasons for not becoming Entrepreneur  
8.1 The   respondents were asked to give their perception as to why they do not want to become entrepreneurs.  Table 9 indicates their perception  
TABLE 9

Reason for not willing to become an Entrepreneur


Number

%age
Not prepared to take Risk
97
23
Financial Constraint
117
28
Lack of Proper Guidance
77
19
Inability to manage business
38
9
Others
86
21
Total *
415
100
  • Not responded - 85 
  8.1      Amongst the students who preferred 'not prepared to take risk', 50 (23% of those responded) are male students and 47 (23% of those responded) are female students.  47 Arts/Science students (28%), 26 Engineering students (20%) and 21 Medical students (22%) have perceived this option.  
8.2      Amongst those who cited ' financial constraints' as their reason for not taking up entrepreneurship, 79 (36% of those responded) are male students and 38 (18%) are female students.  Nearly 54 Arts/Science students (33%), 37 Engineering students (29%) and 22 Medical students (20%) have cited this reason.  
8.3      There is a consistency in the perception.  Nearly 59 percent of the male students and 61 percent of Arts/Science students have fear for taking risk and for financial constraints.  
9.0  Summary of findings  
9.1          There is a consistency in the perception of the students gender wise, course wise, etc.  
9.2          Nearly two-third of the students get their course as they preferred.  
9.3          Nearly 38 percent of the students consider their course has high job potential.  Medical students rate very high (54%) compared to their Engineering students (25%)  
9.4          Only 10 percent of the students prefer to become 'entrepreneurs' and nearly 40 percent of them prefer to 'seek job'.  
9.5          Opportunity for growth (40%) and steady income (29%) seem to be the main factors guiding the students to seek job.  Job security takes only the least preference (17%)
9.6          Financial constraints (28%) and fear for taking risk  (23%) seem to discourage the students from preferring 'entrepreneurship'  
10.0     Our Observations  
10.1     Even though, the sample size is only 500, this can be taken as a general trend of perception of the students with minor variation.  
10.2     Generally the students are happy with the courses they pursue and they consider only moderately about the job potentiality of the courses they undergo.  
10.3     Inspite of the fact that they perceive the job potentiality moderately, they prefer to 'seek job', instead of preferring entrepreneurship.  They consider opportunity for growth and the steady income to be the main reasons for seeking job.  
10.4     Only 10 percent of the students prefer to become entrepreneurs.  This is mainly because they have a fear for taking risk and unable to meet the financial constraints.   
11.0     Recommendations  
11.1     There seems to be a confusion amongst the students.  Though they do not consider the job potentiality for the courses as very high, they prefer only employment and they do not want to become 'entrepreneurs'.  
11.2     There is an urgent requirement to motivate the youngsters to become entrepreneurs, so that more employment opportunity could be created.  Their fears need to be removed  
11.3     Series of workshops, seminars by various Educational Institutions, inviting successful entrepreneurs, bankers, etc. are to be organised, so that the students will have an opportunity to interact with right people.  
11.4     Media also be encouraged to put out articles / programmes on this aspect  
  12.0     Conclusion  
12.1     We gratefully acknowledge the support and guidance given by Sri K. Srinivasan, Founder Chairman, Prime Point Foundation and Chairman and Managing Director of Prime Point Public Relations P Limited, Chennai for the conduct of this Image Audit.  
12.2     We also acknowledge the cooperation extended by the various college authorities and the students during the survey.

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