We investigated the processes involved in forming an organizational identity, which we studied during the founding of a distinctive new college by using an interpretive, insider-outsider research approach. The emergent grounded theory model suggests that organizational identity formed via the interplay of eight notable processes, four of which occurred in more-or-less sequential, stage-like fashion —(1) articulating a vision, (2) experiencing a meanings void, (3) engaging in experiential contrasts, and (4) converging on a consensual identity—plus four recurrent processes that were associated with two or more of the sequential stages: (5) negotiating identity claims, (6) attaining optimal distinctiveness, (7) performing liminal actions, and (8) assimilating legitimizing feedback. The findings show that internal and external, as well as micro and macro influences affected the forging of an organizational identity. In addition, we found that both social construction and social actor views of identity-related processes were not only germane to the formation of organizational identity but that these processes were also mutually constitutive in creating a workable identity.
Any organizational environment is filled with many different types of organizational images, some sent by a focal organization, some sent by outside arbiters, and others formed by interested stakeholders. As organizations attempt to communicate directly to segmented audiences by using tailored images, they also indirectly, and sometimes unwittingly, create a broader array of images of themselves. The resulting spectrum of images cumulates into a scattered images problem. That is, the many sent images (expressions) and received images (impressions) constitute a collection of potentially disparate organizational images that need to be reconciled. The authors explore this increasingly troublesome scattered images problem; the authors also propose a taxonomy of images and discuss their underlying sources of variation. Finally, the authors discuss why and how some organizations are able to mitigate the scattered images problem, arguing that organizational complexity, visibility, and image equivocality will influence an organization's ability to better control its own image.
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