Summary:

This master's thesis is about identity and reputation in a public organization, more precisely the Norwegian Armed Forces. We have noticed that the Norwegian Armed Forces has been very visible in the media in recent years. In addition, they have conducted many campaigns in social media. Society has changed a lot in recent years, in particular regarding gender equality and multiculturalism. How does this affect the communication of the organizational identity of the Norwegian Armed Forces? In this institution everyone has to work towards the same goals and in the same uniform. In this thesis we have discussed how the Norwegian Armed Forces presents themselves outwards and which organizational identity they are trying to communicate. In addition, we have tried to find out how the presented identity is perceived in the Norwegian society, through the Norwegian Armed Forces population survey. This is interesting to shed light on, in order to better understand and succeed in promoting such an organization. A good reputation in a public organization could create better recruitment and influence politicians to increase the allocation from the state budget. Some key questions then became:  How do they do it?  What are they trying to communicate?  How is it perceived by the population based on the Norwegian Armed Forces population survey? Our results show that the Norwegian Armed Forces is trying to communicate itself as an open organization where equality and respect for fellow human beings is central, regardless of gender, orientation or origin. In addition to promoting the military profession through action-packed photos and videos. They appeal to higher goals and work for the community. They do this in a structured an professional way through several channels such as the website, facebook, instagram, snapchat and more. From our study, we believe that they mainly succeed with this and work towards a healthy goal. Based on the population survey, the population has an overall good impression of the Norwegian Armed Forces. However, there are some weaknesses with some of the identity they are trying to convey, which seems not to reach the whole population.