Style is a critical element of identity, be it organizational or personal: the purpose manifests itself through style.

Since there is no perfect harmony between purpose and style, organizations are always in a state of identity crisis, to some degree.

Organizations without a clear purpose that goes beyond functions (like making profit) obviously act completely undifferentiated. But organizations with a very clear purpose may also be completely oblivious to how misaligned their style is (be it marketing, communications, branding, leadership etc.), failing to connect with the right minds in the first place and creating an absolutely wrong positioning in the minds of people in general.

A good example of such misalignment is the fund raising style of some non-profits who send people to the streets to talk to/harass everybody walking by. Begging as an analogy comes to mind immediately: does pitiful and calculated sentimentalism do justice to cancer patients?

The other side of the coin is too easy: style discloses a great deal about the purpose of the organization, or the lack thereof:

the process of calling the customer service of a telco for example almost always wastes time, communicates indifference (automation or the monotone voice of the reps who sound like machines), is set up to conceal information, etc. They create the impression that they are purposefully ill willed. The style speaks volumes about the purpose: we are here to rip you off. If no empirical evidence contradicts this, we are forced to think that this actually IS the purpose of the organization.

Only exceptional organizations are able to align themselves to the purpose and these are organized completely differently from the average ones. Examples: they define cost centres differently (call centres may belong to branding), their roles have different scopes of responsibilities (like chief operating and customer officer, chief strategy and people officer, chief hr and marketing officer, product and customer service manager, CEO and chief recruiting officer, etc., depending on the industry) and of course since more people are positioned where they should be and doing what they are born to do, these organizations are filled with creative tension that results in a high intensity energy that is palpable to everybody who interacts with them.

In short: differentiated organizations have a differentiated style.