Introduction: Organizational Identity

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael G. Pratt ◽  
Majken Schultz ◽  
Blake E. Ashforth ◽  
Davide Ravasi
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Social Existence ◽  
Organizational Identities ◽  
Multi Level

Since its formal entry to organization studies in 1985, the concept of organizational identity (OI) has had a long and fruitful development. We suggest OI is particularly appealing because it: 1) addresses fundamental questions of social existence about how we are both similar to and different from others; 2) is fundamentally a relational construct connecting apparent oppositions, such as “us” and “them”; 3) is a nexus concept forging relations with other theoretical constructs; and 4) is inherently useful to organizations. In the seven sections of this handbook, we trace conceptual, methodological, and practical challenges of theorizing and utilizing OI in organizations, including issues of the construct’s nomological net, its multi-level dynamics, the role time in OI (e.g., OI change), as well as its pluralistic manifestations (e.g., hybrid and multiple organizational identities).

What is NORML? Sedimented Meanings in Ambiguous Organizational Identities

2021 ◽  
pp. 017084062110577
Author(s):  
Matthew C.B. Lyle ◽  
Ian J. Walsh ◽  
Diego M. Coraiola
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Identity Change ◽  
National Organization ◽  
The Past ◽  
Organizational Identities ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Identity Threats ◽  
History Of ◽  
Identity Labels

Organizational identity scholarship has largely focused on the mutability of meanings ascribed to ambiguous identity labels. In contrast, we analyze a case study of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) to explore how leaders maintained a meaning ascribed to an ambiguous identity label amid successive identity threats. We found that heightened dissensus surrounding meanings attributed to the organization’s “reform group” label at three key points spurred theoretically similar manifestations of two processes. The first, meaning sedimentation, involved leaders invoking history to advocate for the importance of their preferred meaning while mulling the inclusion of others. The second, reconstructing the past, occurred as leaders and members alike offered narratives that obscured the history of disavowed meanings while sharing new memories of those they prioritized. Our work complements research on identity change by drawing attention to the processes by which meaning(s) underlying ambiguous identity labels might survive.

scholarly journals Becoming through doing: How experimental spaces enable organizational identity work

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-49
Author(s):  
Neva Bojovic ◽  
Valérie Sabatier ◽  
Emmanuel Coblence
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Identity Work ◽  
Cognitive Tools ◽  
Social Setting ◽  
Identity Change ◽  
Work Space ◽  
Organizational Identities ◽  
Magazine Publishing

This qualitative study of a magazine publishing incumbent shows how organizational identity work can be triggered when organizational members engage in business model experimentation within the bounded social setting of experimental space. The study adds to the understanding of the strategy-identity nexus by expanding on the view of business models as cognitive tools to business models as tools for becoming and by understanding the role of experimental spaces as holding environments for organizational identity work. We show how an experimental space engages organizational members in experimental practices (e.g. cognitive, material, and experiential). As firms experiment with “what they do,” organizational members progressively confront the existing organizational identity in the following ways: they engage in practices of organizational identity work by coping with the loss of the old identity, they play with possible organizational identities, and they allow new organizational identity aspirations to emerge. In these ways, experimental spaces act as an organizational identity work space that eventually enables organizational identity change. We identify two mechanisms (i.e. grounding and releasing) by which an organizational identity work space emerges and leads to the establishment of a renewed organizational identity.

scholarly journals Aligning resource integration and organizational identities in project networks

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (10) ◽  
pp. 1581-1589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingo Husmann ◽  
Michael Kleinaltenkamp ◽  
Stuart Hanmer-Lloyd
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Institutional Setting ◽  
Resource Integration ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Project Networks ◽  
Organizational Identities ◽  
Project Network ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Multi-supplier project networks represent a large part of the business-to-business (B2B) sector as the scope of many projects requires that different providers participate in their development and delivery. This raises the question of how the integration of the resources of the various partners can be shaped successfully. Specifically, the different organizational identities provide institutional frames of reference to the resource-integrating firms. As the organizational identities are typically not harmonious with each other, at least partial misalignments of the institutional setting that shapes the resource integration processes may emerge. The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the impact of various organizational identities on the course and outcome of resource integration in project networks. Design/methodology/approach The paper makes use of interpretive phenomenology in conjunction with a qualitative case study approach to access the lived experience of actors of different professional service firms having experienced changes in resource integration in a B2B project network. Findings A conceptualization of organizational identity as an institutional context for resource integration is developed and empirically investigated. The findings show a strong impact on the firms’ organizational identities and the actors’ resource integration experience and evaluation. Moreover, the findings provide evidence that, if unmanaged, at least partial misalignment of the institutional arrangements of multi-organizational B2B project network represents a normal and also a stable condition. Originality/value As a first conceptualization and empirical analysis of the interplay between organizational identity and resource integration, this paper advances the current understanding of the institutional context for resource integration. It argues for the wider relevance of organizational identity constructs and paves the way for future development.

An Archival Approach to Measuring Family Influence

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron H. Anglin ◽  
Shane W. Reid ◽  
Jeremy C. Short ◽  
Miles A. Zachary ◽  
Matthew W. Rutherford
Keyword(s):  
Family Involvement ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Random Coefficients ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Family Influence ◽  
Archival Data ◽  
Business Research ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Organizational Identities

Drawing from a framework highlighting how family influence is reflected in organizational identity, we present archival and content analytic adaptations for three key factors signifying alignment between family and organizational identities: family visibility, transgenerational sustainability, and family self-enhancement. We validate these measures using archival data sources, “About Us” pages, and shareholder letters from S&P 500 firms. Random coefficients modeling indicates our measures are largely shaped by temporal and firm, followed by industry, differences. Our work paves the way for further investigation exploring the relationships between family involvement and organizational identity while simultaneously addressing lingering methodological challenges in family business research.

The Interaction of Control Systems and Stakeholder Networks in Shaping the Identities of Self-Managed Teams

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 619-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Carmela Annosi ◽  
Nicolai Foss ◽  
Federica Brunetta ◽  
Mats Magnusson
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Multinational Corporation ◽  
Telecommunications Industry ◽  
Specific Work ◽  
Team Identity ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Level Model ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Order Identity ◽  
Number Of Firms

Team identity has received little research attention even though an increasing number of firms are moving to team-based organizations and there is evidence that teams form identities. We explore the extent to which team identity can be institutionalized as a central organizing principle of team-based firms. We argue that managerial and stakeholder interventions shape the self-construction of team identity as well as the team’s commitment to specific work objectives. We also suggest that team identity becomes isomorphic to organizational identity because of pressures related to: (1) the presence of a dense network of managers and stakeholders, which orients teams towards a focus on certain aspects of the higher-order identity; (2) the use of team routines and regular feedback loops, which force alignment with the organizational identity; and (3) the use of coordinating roles aimed at promoting, ratifying and reinforcing the convergence of identity within the team. We analyse multiple cases from a major multinational corporation in the telecommunications industry, which we examine through the lens of a multi-level model of controls involving the micro, meso and macro organizational levels. We expand and refine the model in the process.

The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Identity

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Future Development ◽  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Road Map ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
The Future ◽  
Broad Overview ◽  
Critical Perspectives

What happens when you take one of the most fundamental concepts in social science and apply it to one of the most ubiquitous forms of human collectives? This handbook strives to answer this question by exploring what has become a “root construct” in the field of management and organization studies: organizational identity (OI). The handbook provides a road-map to the OI field, both theoretically and methodologically, across seven sections: 1) Mapping the Organizational Identity Field; 2) Critical Perspectives on Organizational Identity; 3) Integrative Models of Organizational Identity; 4) How Individuals Relate to Organizational Identity; 5) Sources and Processes of Organizational Identity; 6) Identity and the Organization’s Environment; and 7) Implications of Organizational Identity. Each chapter not only offers a broad overview of its particular topic but also advances new knowledge and discusses the future of research in its area of focus. The handbook is introduced and concluded by the four editors who invite the reader to join the future development of OI.

Contested Terrain

2011 ◽  
pp. 1948-1960
Author(s):  
John Willy Bakke
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Change Process ◽  
Distributed Work ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Identity Processes ◽  
Material Environment ◽  
Increase Productivity ◽  
Contested Terrain ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Study ◽  
Oil Company

Workplaces are key loci for expressing and studying organizational identity, even in distributed work. In organization studies, there is a growing recognition of the importance of spatial processes, and workplace design has become an instrument for organizational change. This chapter explores organizational identity through a change process where the office layout was redesigned to strengthen organizational identity and increase productivity. The study shows that identity processes get shaped by the material environment and by technologies enabling distributed and mobile work. It also shows that previous events frame the interpretation of current processes. The chapter is based on a qualitative and quantitative study of the national branch of an international oil company.

scholarly journals The Introduction of Drive-in Sport in Community Sport Organizations as an Example of Organizational Non-Change

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 497-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilia Stenling
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Processes Of Change ◽  
Sport Organizations ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Community Sport ◽  
Organizational Identities ◽  
Sport Activities

The purpose of this article is to understand change in community sport organizations (CSOs) by examining the introduction of spontaneous sport activities labeled “drive-in sport” in six Swedish CSOs. Drawing on the theoretical concepts of translation and organizational identity, data from 10 interviews were analyzed to answer how, why, and with what consequences, in terms of organizational change, the focal CSOs interpreted and acted upon the idea of drive-in sport. The findings show that while drive-in sport initially may seem to have changed the CSOs, a closer examination reveals a reproduction of their organizational identities. The findings are discussed in relation to the alignment of the drive-in sport idea with the CSOs’ core purpose and practices and with wider processes of change in the CSOs’ institutional context.

scholarly journals Producing an LGBT Religious Organizational Identity: The Case of DignityUSA

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nik Lampe ◽  
James Cavendish ◽  
J. Sumerau
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Identity Integration ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
The Past ◽  
Organizational Identities ◽  
Lgbt People ◽  
Over Time

In this exploratory study, we examine the production of an organizational LGBT religious identity utilizing the case of DignityUSA. To this end, we engage in two interconnected analyses. First, we revisit and verify the findings of Loseke and Cavendish (2001) concerning the production of what they called a “Dignified Self,” which LGBT Catholics may use to integrate their religious-sexual-gender identities. Then, we expand on their analyses of DignityUSA in the late 1990’s to outline the ways DignityUSA constructs an organizational identity their members may draw upon to construct the Dignified Self and integrate their sexual/gender and religious identities. In so doing, our analyses speak both to (1) Loseke and Cavendish’s (2001) call to explore whether their findings from three years of newsletters held over time; and (2) calls over the past two decades for LGBT religious studies to expand beyond individual LGBT religious-sexual-gender identity integration to ascertain the construction of the organizational identities LGBT people draw upon to accomplish individual and interpersonal identity integration.

scholarly journals New Universities’ Organizational Identities Through Presidential Lenses

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
John S. Levin ◽  
Ariadna I. López Damián ◽  
Marie C. Martin ◽  
Evelyn M. Vázquez
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
British Columbia ◽  
Community Colleges ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Qualitative Investigation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Organizational Identities ◽  
Sectoral Change ◽  
The University

This qualitative investigation addresses three new universities in the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta and their presidents’ ascriptions of organizational identity to their universities. Through extended, semi-structured interviews and narrative analysis, this investigation uses organizational identity theory and institutional theory to explain the positionality and understandings of presidents in relationship to their universities’ paths to legitimacy. We found that the preservation of aspects of the institutions’ original identity (as community colleges) aids new universities’ organizational change. Furthermore, while presidents advocated for a replacement of community college logics with university logics, data showed that these three new universities had yet to embrace the university logic fully. We propose that a blending of logics may be the preferred mechanism for the attainment of legitimacy during sectoral change for new universities.  

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