Features of the Formation of the Corporate Identity of the Staff

1Ufa State Petroleum Technological University, Russia, Republic of Bashkortostan, 450062, Ufa, Kosmonavtov Str., 1 2Tyumen State Oil and Gas University, Volodarskiy Str., 38, Tyumen, 625000, Russia 3Tyumen State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Lunacharskogo Street, 2, Tyumen, 625001, Russia 4Irkutsk National Research Technical University, Lermontov Str., 83, Irkutsk, 664074, Russia


The concept of the corporate identity of the staff
The results of numerous studies (Silin and Khairullina, 2004;Gaisina, 2014) show that in many Russian companies there is a very negative attitude of the staff to the role they perform in the organization.Such terms as "devotion to the company", "loyalty to the company" and "corporate solidarity" do not have any value for most employees.In this regard, the need to develop the organizational culture focused on the formation of the corporate identity of the staff is of particular importance.
Corporate identity (from Latin corporatio means association; from Latin identic us means identity, the same) means the self-identification by employees or organizational structures as a part of the organization, with the recognition of its philosophy, values and norms of behavior (Kupriyanov, 2012).If the employee have a sense of corporate identity, it means he/she is aware of the ideals of the company, fully accepts corporate values, observes the rules and norms of behavior, associates him/herself with the organization and connects his/her future with it.Organizational goals become personally meaningful to an individual and corporate values turn into personal values of the employee.Theoretical understanding of the phenomenon of the corporate identity, began in the second half of the twentieth century, related to various aspects of the formation of corporate style.Later the studied concept has been regarded in the context of the corporate philosophy and affiliation of employees to the organization by sharing its values.
In foreign literature the corporate identity is mainly interpreted as "boundless devotion of employees to the organization" (March and Simon, 1958).The researchers draw attention to the need to study the correlation between corporate identity and such variables as motivation, job satisfaction, qualification, working position.Much attention is paid to identifying the degree of influence of the corporate identity of employees on the effectiveness of the professional activities of organizations (Riketia M. (Riketia, 2005), Van Dick R., Wagner W., Stellmacher J. (Van Dick et al, 2003), Mael F.A., Ashforth B.E. (Mael and Ashforth, 1992), Lipponen Y. (Lipponen, 2001)).

The process of formation of the corporate identity of the staff
As for the process of formation of the corporate identity, in scientific literature there are only fragmentary statements of scientists in the articles devoted to human resource management.For example, according to Yurasov I.A. (Yurasov, 2010), this process comprises the following successive stages.The first stage is the procedure of initiation, i.e. initiation into rituals and values of the company, by which the company expresses its attitude towards employees, attracts the attention of the public, improving its image.The second stage is the internalization of criteria and standards of the organization.The employee becomes a member of the reference group and determines his/her own model of behavior that is acceptable (possible) for him/her as a member of a particular organization.
At this stage it is necessary to specify "model employees" whose role models are used as examples for "newcomers".The company specifies such workers and enables others to follow their example.This approach to the formation of role models in organizations having powerful corporate culture, is considered an effective method of promoting corporate values.The third stage includes the employee's awareness and acceptance of corporate values with the practical inclusion of the employee in the organization's activities, aimed at their implementation.This means that the daily activities of the employee in accordance with corporate standards and compliance with the established rules of behavior allow him/her to become a representative of the company, who satisfies intragroup social expectations and requirements.
We consider the position of Kupriyanov S.A. interesting, according to which there are three types of corporate identity of employees: partner, adaptive and confrontational types.Employees with a partner type of the corporate identity share corporate values, follow corporate standards and demonstrate high-level role behavior, highly appreciate the image and reputation of the organization.Employees with an adaptive type do not accept corporate values of the organization, but strictly follow its corporate standards and are ready to demonstrate high-level role behavior, highly appreciate the perceived image and reputation of the company.Employees with a confrontational type, who share corporate values, but do not want to follow corporate standards and demonstrate high-level role behavior, underevaluate the perceived image and reputation of the company.After analyzing the relationship of the employees' evaluation of the perceived image and reputation of the company with their level of adoption of corporate values, as well as with the level of adherence to corporate standards and aspiration to demonstrate high-level role behavior, Kupriyanov S.A. concludes that the higher employees evaluate the perceived image and reputation of the organization, the stronger their desire to follow corporate standards and demonstrate high-level role behavior, and vice versa, i.e. in this case employees tend to show their identification at the behavioral level, rather than at the value level (Kupriyanov, 2012).

Formation of the corporate identity of the staff through development of organizational culture
In modern language the term "culture" is used in a broad sense, when the culture is associated with customs, norms, traditions, prevailing in the society, institutions, including the state and the economy (Khairullina, 2002;Ustinova, 2014) and in a narrow sense when the culture is considered as the spheres of spiritual creativity, art, moral and intellectual activity (Barulin, 2000;Berdyaev, 1993) There is an interesting approach to the formation of the corporate identity of the staff that is based on the management of corporate culture, through which the influence (maintaining) of the devotion of employees to the company is implemented.In this regard, methods of management of corporate culture are considered currently important.Prokopenko T.V. identifies two main methods: evolutionary and revolutionary ones (Pimenova, 2004).
According to the first, evolutionary method, changes in culture, strategies, production processes, structure, etc. can be carried out gradually, in the form of small steps, i.e. management of corporate culture is constructed in such a way that the employees gradually become aware of the need for change or the formation of culture.In this case, the positive aspects of culture change are the account of the ability of the system members to develop, promoting self-management and self-organization, long-term perspective, less resistance to changes.The shortcomings of this approach also should be noted: the increased requirements to the competence of employees; the duration of the ongoing reforms and, as a result, the atmosphere of constant insecurity in the company until the organizational culture is fully developed.
The characteristic features of the second type of corporate culture management -the revolutionary one -are as follows: radical abrupt change in the enterprise culture, sharp change in the stereotypes of behavior, management and production techniques.The advantages of this management model is the possibility of the radical transformation of the enterprise culture and the formation of a completely new culture, short terms of such processes, the possibility of the quick transition to the stable environment of the company.Along with these advantages, this approach has the disadvantages, namely, instability in the phase of changes, limitation of time and actions in connection with the desire to quickly improve results, exclusion of alternative strategies for changes, dissatisfaction and lack of understanding on the part of the enterprise employees.
Most foreign scientists engaged in organizational problems, emphasize a great influence of the corporate culture on the production performance and long-term effectiveness of enterprises.Russian researchers have a similar opinion.Revealing the formation of corporate culture, Troitskaya O.V. assumes that this process includes the result of natural exposure of a set of external and internal organizational factors of functioning and management.According to Troitskaya O.V., "natural sources of the corporate culture are as follows: the external environment (economic, political and social characteristics of the society in which the organization functions and the characteristics of the national culture, as well as the immediate microenvironment of business: suppliers, customers, intermediaries, competitors); the internal environment of the organization (organizational structure, organizational leaders and the staff as active proponents of organizational values and norms); history of the organization" (Troitskaya, 2002).
The authors partially agree with Troitskaya O.V., assuming that corporate culture is formed, primarily, under the influence of all subjects of the organization, including management subjects, while natural external factors play a secondary role.They should certainly be taken into account, it is necessary to predict their direction and results of their impact, and wherever possible take into account their positive effects and prevent negative ones in the process of management.
Troitskaya O.V. does not deny the fact that the corporate culture has a significant impact on all aspects and the end result of the organization activities, in connection with which the company's management and managers need to influence it deliberately.Troitskaya O.V. considers the management of corporate culture as "the formation, maintenance or modification of organizational values and norms in order to increase the effectiveness of the organizational activities carried out in accordance with the overall strategy of the organization, based on the diagnosis of culture currently prevailing in the organization" (Troitskaya, 2002).
Based on the analysis of scientific publications Troitskaya O.V. specifies the most effective ways of managing the corporate culture such as: a) Promotion of corporate values through internal and external means of communication (newspapers, magazines, computer networks); b) The embodiment of declared values in the behavior of organizational leaders (both in formal and informal situations, in everyday and crisis situations); c) Development of an appropriate distribution system of rewards, job positions and status; selection and socialization of new employees.Barinov V.A. and Golobokova V.M. provide a more complete, in the opinion of the authors, description of methods for maintaining the corporate culture: 1.
Slogans declared by management, including the mission, goals, rules and principles of the organization, determining its relationship to its members and the public.

2.
Role modeling, which is expressed in the daily behavior of managers, their relations and communication with subordinates.Personally demonstrating behavioral norms to subordinates and concentrating their attention to this behavior, the manager helps to form certain aspects of corporate culture.

3.
External symbols, including a system of rewards, status symbols, criteria underlying the personnel decisions.Culture in the organization can be manifested through a system of rewards and privileges.The latter ones are usually linked to certain patterns of behavior, and thus they arrange priorities for employees and indicate those values that are more important for individual managers and the organization as a whole.

4.
Stories, legends, myths, rituals associated with the occurrence of the organization, its founders or prominent members.They include standard and recurring measures taken at the scheduled time or on a special occasion in order to influence the employees' behavior and understanding of the organizational environment.5.
Objects (tasks, functions, performance, etc.) that are subject to constant management attention.Everything that the head of the organization draws his attention to and comments, is very important for the formation of organizational culture.6.
The behavior of senior management in crisis situations.The depth and breadth of the crisis may require the organization either to enhance the existing culture or to introduce new values and norms, changing the culture to a certain extent.For example, in the case of a sharp reduction in demand for manufactured products the organization has two options: either to fire some workers, or to significantly reduce working hours among the same number of employees.The organizations where a person is claimed to be of a key value, apparently, will choose the second option.This action of the management will strengthen this aspect of the culture in the company.7.
The personnel policy of the organization.Personnel policy, including hiring, promotion and dismissal of employees, is one of the main ways to maintain the culture within the company.Individual personal values of employees can significantly undermine cultural values established within the organization.In order to maintain the existing system of cultural values the organization need to constantly influence the formation of value orientations of employees to maximize their rapprochement with the values of the organization (Barinov and Golobkova, 1997).
The objective of the management of corporate culture is to form the culture largely agreed with cultural, ethical and moral precepts generally accepted in the society, features of business (the area of activity) of the organization, the stage of the organization development, current or desired model of organizational behavior, mission, vision, strategic objectives, the dominant style of management, the nature of administration and influence, the interests of individuals, groups and organization in general, internal protocols (Imanbaev, 2004).
In general, an effective corporate culture is distinguished by the following characteristics: coherence, interaction, so-called team spirit; job satisfaction and pride of its results; devotion to the organization and willingness to comply with its high standards; high demands on the quality of work; readiness to changes caused by demands of progress and competition, despite the difficulties and bureaucratic obstacles (Lapina, 2005).
Magura M. identifies the following main stages of the corporate culture (Figure 1).
Magura M., assuming that the corporate culture can be formed, specifies the methods of its maintenance and strengthening: the behavior of the head; statements, appeals, declarations, guidelines; management response to the behavior of employees in critical situations; staff training; incentive system; criteria for selection of employees for the work in the organization; maintenance of organizational culture in the implementation of basic management functions; organizational traditions and practices; widespread adoption of corporate symbols.
Sho R.B., emphasizing that the corporate culture is a conscious purposeful management process, takes into account the following: a) The development of a long-term development strategy of the enterprise together with the team, using the potential of those who can resist to changes in the organizational culture of the enterprise; b) Formulation of goals and objectives for corporate culture change, the prospects for their implementation; c) The study of the external environment of the organization, as well as the analysis of the situation at the enterprise and the formation of the program designed either for changing or creating a new culture.d) The analysis of the factors influencing the culture: the driving forces of the organization, the aspirations of the leadership, desires of employees, morale, allocation of responsibilities, rights and power, the ways of decision elaboration and decision-making, means of communication and their quality, popular initiatives and innovations, types of control, etc. (Sho, 2000).Slobodskoy A.L. and Kasyanenko O.L. assume that the purposeful formation (change) of the corporate culture can help to efficiently use human resources of the company in order to implement its strategy, improve manageability, strengthen cohesion of the team, use these resources as a strategic motivating factor, directing employees to achieve the company's goals (Slobodskoy and Kasyanenko, 2003).
Lipatov S.A. offers a model of management of changes in the organizational culture, which includes four stages (see Figure 2).
At the first stage, a database of factors of external and internal environment is formed, their analysis is conducted, the decision on the need or lack of the need to change the organizational culture or to form a new company culture is to be formulated.
At the second stage, when there is a sufficient probability of changes in the organizational culture, here begins the resistance to changes in the organizational culture, which is caused by the fact that the other members of the organization have alternative change programs or there is a necessity of other changes dictated by external circumstances, as well as by disparity of the terms of such changes, etc.
The third stage initiates the search of innovations, changes are made and a thorough analysis of the forces is conducted, the critical elements of changes are identified and objectives are precisely defined.The organization can move to the next stage of changes only after it successively passes all earlier stages.
At the fourth final stage, changes in the organizational culture are fixed on the basis of positive results, they become an essential element of the company.This stage can be considered successfully completed in the case where the change of norms, values, rules and behavior patterns become habitual.
This model of management of the organizational culture is similar to the models proposed by foreign authors.For example, the model of organizational changes proposed by Kurt Levin.According to his concept any organizational changes, including those related to the organizational culture begins with the stage of "unfreezing", that means awareness of the need for change and the factors that facilitate and impede this process.The next stage is the "implementation of changes", the basic process of this stage is the process of learning and acquiring new things.The last stage is "freezing".At this stage the reinforcement of innovation occurs, the results of the implementation of elements of a new culture are evaluated, etc.
The approach proposed by Shane E. is rather popular.This approach involves the implementation of changes in the company culture, depending on the stage at which the organization is situated.According to Shane, at each stage of the culture formation there should be different mechanisms and technologies of its change, for example, when a new enterprise is set up and a completely new enterprise culture is formed, mechanisms can be as follows: attention, control and compensation on the part of the leader, the roles of leaders as role models, the way they allocate resources, select, promote and dismiss people, processes of creating of the organizational structure, etc. (Shane, 2011).At the same time, Shane proposes the creation of hybrid cultures as one of the main mechanisms for changing the organizational culture at the stage of early development and proposes Prokopenko T.V. assumes that the processes of transformation of the corporate culture are very complex and impose heavy demands on the company management, because it is namely conscious participation of management makes it possible to implement the planned changes.The head of the company should provide information on the initiation of the process of changes and must create the motivation to changes among subordinates, find a way to provide sufficient psychological security, so that subordinates agree with the implementation of these changes and begin to take training, and, moreover, imagine rather clearly the desirable state of the company (Prokopenko, 2010).
Smirnova N. notes that the policy of the company in respect of the corporate culture is expressed not only in the formulation of formal values, but also in the specific activities carried out by the company aimed at developing the identity of the staff with the company (Smirnova, 2013).
According to Ogloblin V. modern enterprises consider the culture as a powerful strategic tool that allows to orient all units and individuals for the common goals, mobilize the initiative of employees and ensure productive interaction.The corporate culture is one of the mechanisms to coordinate individual goals with the overall purpose of the company, forming a common cultural space that includes values, norms and behavioral patterns shared by all employees.Therefore, the result and consequence of management of the corporate culture are as follows: corporate patriotism, loyalty of employees, devotion to the organization and an increase in the level of non-financial motivation of the staff (Ogloblin, 2010).
Summarizing scientific approaches to the formation of the corporate identity, the authors of the article assume that the model of the corporate identity should include the following elements: morale; relationships in a team; internal communication; interaction with the immediate supervisor; training; motivation and incentives; values, traditions, image and culture.Moreover, the prerequisite for the formation of the corporate identity of employees must be the evaluation and making adjustments.This will make the process flexible and allow to timely response to emerging problems (Figure 3).

METHODS
At the first stage in order to study the problems of the formation of the corporate identity the authors of the article carried out the analysis of scientific approaches to the formation of the corporate identity.At the second stage the results of two questionnaire surveys carried out among the employees of major retailers have been analyzed (e.g.Managing Company "Bridge").Questions of the first questionnaire were grouped into three sections: a) Open questions -employees can directly express their opinion on the issues under study.At the processing stage answers to these questions were previously grouped and codified.The results were presented in the form of shares of all respondents who could answer this question.b) Dichotomous questions -only 2 answers were possible ("yes/no").The results were presented in the form of shares of all respondents who could answer this question, and selected a specific statement.c) Scale questions.Most of the survey questions had a four-level (strongly agree/ partially agree/do not agree/strongly disagree) scale presenting an agreement with the statement.Answers to these questions are ordinal variables.
During the analysis of the data for easy comparison of dissimilar indicators having a scale of answers, these data were brought to a unified index -"index of consent".To do this, it is necessary to detect the level of corporate identity of the company staff for each of its constituent elements: the morale; relationships in a team; internal communication; interaction with the immediate supervisor; training; motivation and incentives; values, traditions, image and culture.
Then the problems of the formation of the corporate identity of the company staff were identified.
It is worth to mention that the analysis of the survey results was based on the identification of critical indicators of the "index of consent" for each question.Moreover, the research topic (the corporate identity of the staff) and short term of the company activities have been taken into account, that had an impact on the interpretation of the results obtained.

RESULTS
The employees consider low wages and inconvenient schedule as the main problems in the work.The problems noted by employees, also include a bad atmosphere in the team and the problem of undermanning which are generally interconnected (see Figure 4).
When comparing the company as an employer with other companies the staff evaluates training, working environment and interesting work most positively (see Figure 5).
The employees have more critical attitude to the level of wages and individual awards in the company (the indices of consent are below 45%), as well as to the work schedule (the indices of consent are below 55%).
Among the components of the work and working conditions the staff are not satisfied with the salary, awards and work schedule (including combining the work with private life), as well as meals."Indices of consent" for all these components are below 70%.The workplace and its safety, opportunities for training and taking the initiative, wearing a uniform are most appreciated (see Figure 6).
With regard to observations, only 151 employees of the total amount of respondents spoke up.The ranking included the most frequently mentioned suggestions of the employees.The leading proposal was to increase salary by 56%.Development, learning and career growth were also very important issues.Suggestions related to the work schedule, the need for a more benevolent attitude from the management and enhancement of the award were also frequently mentioned (see Table 1).
The attitudes of the administration to the employee, the level of ability to make managerial decisions and relationships in the team influence the nature and effectiveness of labor behavior of a person.According to the results of the second questionnaire survey conducted among 120 employees of the Managing Company "Bridge", it was revealed that the motivations of more than half of the respondents (67,5%) correspond to the goals of the organization (35% -"yes", 32,5% -"rather yes").The opposite opinion was expressed by 13,4% of the company's employees.One in five (19,2%) found it difficult to answer the asked question.It was revealed that motivation of employees working in the specialty more often corresponds to the goals of the organization than of employees whose specialty does not meet the education received (Table 2).
Despite some satisfaction with 1. Development of the organization's mission, strategy, main objectives and values (priorities, principles, approaches, standards and desirable patterns of behavior).
2. The study of the existing organizational culture.Determination of the extent to which the existing corporate culture corresponds to the development strategy worked out by the leadership of the organization.Identification of positive and negative values.
3. Development of organizational activities aimed at the formation, development and preservation of desirable values or patterns of behavior.
4. Targeted effects on the corporate culture in order to get rid of negative values and develop attitudes promoting the implementation of the developed strategy.
5. Assessment of the success of impacts on the corporate culture and making necessary adjustments.psychological climate in the structural department, the majority of respondents positively evaluated their attitude to the team.About half of the respondents answered that they "got used to work with these people" (47,8%), about the same number believes that they "are surrounded by good people and have developed friendly relations with them" (42,8%).Only 3,5% of respondents frankly stated that they "do not like the team".The authors identified that the enthusiasm for profession, awareness of the importance and necessity of work, obtaining financial compensation, the content of work and its organization are the determinants of employee's labor behavior.During the questionnaire survey two-thirds of employees (63,8%) reported that their qualifications and education corresponded to the duties and functions performed; one in four (27,8%) admitted to the contrary.However it was revealed that a fifth of employees (21,7%) were satisfied with the amount of wages they received for their work.Analysis of answers to this question depending on education showed that satisfaction with salary was more often expressed by employees who received primary education; dissatisfaction is expressed by representatives of general, secondary and higher education (Table 3).It was noted above that the two-thirds of employees (63,8%) indicated the qualifications and the education to perform their duties and functions.While almost the same number of the respondents (57,6 %) admits that their salaries do not meet the level of professional competence.Compliance with the salary level of the professional competence indicated only one of the four participants of the questionnaire survey.
The responses to the survey question "does the size of your salary match the degree of your efforts' return on the job?" were distributed as follows: more than the half of the respondents (57,4%) indicated a mismatch of their salary rate to the degree of their efforts' at work.Compliance with the salary rate of return on the job indicated only one of the four participants of the questionnaire survey (27,5%).
The labor productivity is also influenced by the awareness of the social protection of the employees.The existence of the company's social package guaranteed by the collective agreement, employee care, provided health care, good safe working conditions, availability of meals, education reimbursement, etc. determines the presence of labor discipline, responsibility for the completion of the tasks.So that to the question of the questionnaire "are you satisfied with the conditions of your labor?"only the half of the respondents answered ("Yes" -26,9%, "likely Yes" -22,7%).At the same time more than one-third of the respondents rated the unsatisfactory conditions of their labor ("Rather no" -17,6%, "No" -21,0%) and the one out of 10 found it difficult to assess the conditions of their employment (11,8%).The employers often express the satisfactory assessment of their labor's conditions, while specialists and employees express unsatisfactory assessment (Table 4).
In the last decade, the employers have been increasingly expressing wishes to take the staff who would possess the modern knowledge and skills, systematic and analytical thinking, ethical personal and professional qualities (Mikhaylovskaya, Sultanova, 2014  order to identify a set of competencies, the respondents from the list were asked to choose five or six of the most important business skills that they possess.Below is a set of qualities that were the most common in respondents' answers: 1.
Hardy and able to work under the overload conditions -23,6%; 11.
Reliable and able to keep the word -22,8%.
The above mentioned respondents' listed qualifications allow employees to move in the structural units of the company.About half of the participants of the survey (43,4%) consider that there is an opportunity to be promoted in the department of the company while 38.5% of the staff are of the opposite opinion.

DISCUSSION
The results of the research of the problems of the formation of the corporate identity of the staff at major retailers have showed employees' dissatisfaction with the development opportunities and career growth as well as the personnel training system.The main problems affecting the work were low pay, inconvenient schedule, moral-psychological climate in the team and the lack of managers.It should be noted that the identified problems are largely interconnected.So that without learning it is not possible the employees' career development and at the constant state of understaffing there is no normal atmosphere in the team.
The formation and sustentation of the corporate identity of the staff must be carried out through the management of the organizational culture.The fulfilled analysis of the scientific approaches to the management of the organizational culture demonstrates, firstly, the complexity of this social phenomenon having a significant impact on the production performance and a long-term efficiency of the enterprises.Secondly, despite considerable differences in the interpretation of the Russian and the foreign researchers on the role of the management structures and their constituents, the external and internal environment of the enterprises on the formation of the organizational culture, there are many similarities in the approaches to the creation of its optimal parameters.
The purposeful development of the organizational culture, contributing to the formation of the corporate identity of the staff will effectively use the human resources of the company to implement its strategy, increase the manageability of the company, enhance the team cohesion, and use the corporate values as the strategic motivator guiding the employees on the achievement of the organizational goals.

CONCLUSION
Thus, the modern Russian enterprises should consider organizational culture as a strategic tool to guide members of the organization on the common goals and values, to mobilize their initiative and to ensure productive interaction.In addition, organizational culture is a mechanism to align individual goals with the corporate ones in order to form a common cultural space, including values, norms and behavioral patterns shared by all employees.
The substantial structure of the research topic is very complex.Relevant for the future researches can be problems of the development of the corporate identity of the employees depending on the type of organization, its structure, and the form of the ownership and the spheres of the activity.Thus, for example, the interesting features of the formation of the corporate identity of the staff in state-owned enterprises and business organizations seem to be appropriate at the enterprises of the large, medium and small scale businesses; economic and socially-oriented companies, etc.

Fig. 1 .
Fig. 1.The main stages of formation of the corporate culture according to Magura M. (Magura, 2002) 1. Internal and external forces have an impact on the organization and cause the need for change.These effects are studied and the need for change is recognized.

Fig. 4 .Fig. 5 .
Fig. 4. Distribution of answers to the question about the problems in the work, %

Fig. 6 .
Fig. 6.The employees' evaluation of the work and working conditions, %

Table 1 .
Key staff wishes to improve the professional activity, %

Table 2 .
The dependence of motivation of the respondents on goals of the organization, depending on their specialty, %

Table 3 .
Distribution of the respondents' answers to the question "Are you satisfied with the amount of salary you receive for the work?" depending on education, as % to the total number of the respondents

Table 4 .
The distribution of the answers to the question on satisfaction with working conditions, depending on the category of the staff, in % to the total number of the respondents