For those charged with the task of either corporate identity creation or explanation, it is more likely to be effective if it is used as a device to reflect aspirational objectives rather than proper lining. In this way the corporate identity is able to project the organisation's personality in the form of genuine values and ideologies to which it aspires. Organisations Organisations are judged by what they do rather than what they say they do. This, of course, only applied when the fictions are transparent. Frequently fictions and myths are deeply embedded within a corporate culture and are only problematic when they are revealed.
Some fictions are benign and others are malignant.
Organisations that hire researchers or consultants should accept that a legitimate role for them is to discover and understand why particular corporate fictions are necessary and which have the potential to be damaging. Corporate clients employing those doing action research either as researcher or consultant should be wary if they fail to alert them to the consequences of representing their own fictions as reality. In certain cases where the organisation is in a dominant market position it may maintain their fictions with fewer repercussions. Those organisations less fortunate are treading a dangerous path by the institutionalisation of fiction as a means of perpetuating reality. If proper lining is ignored it has the potential to cause serious damage to the corporation's reputation with both its customers and its stakeholders.