Just as we personify organizations, regarding them as in some sense responsible actors, so we can attribute loyalty to them or more often bemoan their lack of loyalty to those who have been loyal to them.
One psychologist in the column was quoted as saying that "Perhaps you can consider loyalty to your co-workers and clients as the new loyalty".
"Perhaps you can consider loyalty to your co-workers and clients as the new loyalty," she wrote in a Web post last year.
But McDonald's showed how consistent standards across a huge network of branches can win loyalty.
Mr Torre "has proven he can inspire loyalty from a group of the overpaid and petulant".
"Looking at the bigger picture," she added, "you can consider loyalty to your team, your department or a cause".
Nor can the loyalty of the governing elite, to the president or to his son, be guaranteed.
The Cavaliers can cite loyalty and the comfort of home and the fact that James has already been to the N.B.A. finals once as a Cleveland player.
If you're a regular M&S shopper, the fact you can earn loyalty points on your debit card spending may appeal.
But some administrators say such promotions are gimmicks, and that online universities can create loyalty only by fostering accessibility between staff and student, and student and student.
