Social science research can play a valuable role in enabling people to understand how their personal predicaments relate to the broader structures and historical circumstances in which they arise. This was argued by Wright Mills (1970, originally 1959) with his concept of the sociological imagination, a notion of considerable relevance to the identity issues which arise in relation to organizational involvement. Using a rare combination of ethnographic, autobiographical and interview research material, a close examination is made of two managers' identity work and the part played in this by their involvement in one specific organization in particular structural and historical circumstances. In the course of carrying out this study the concept of `identity work' has been developed and refined. This incorporates a clear analytical distinction between internal personal `self-identities' and external discursive `social-identities' with social-identities being seen as a link or bridge between socially available discourses and self-identities. `Managerial identities' take their place among the multiplicity of social-identities to which any particular manager may relate in both their `inward facing' and their `outward facing' identity work.

To study and better understand people's working lives and organizational involvement in the context of their whole lives and in the context of the societal culture in which they have grown up and now live, it is helpful to bring together three key concepts of narrative, identity work and the social construction of reality. Such a move can be connected to the abandonment of widely used but limiting concepts, such as that of`managerial identity'. The essentially sociological nature of this move also provides an antidote to the equally limiting tendency towards the `narrative imperialism' which is associated with the idea of the `narrative self'. The value of the suggested theoretical framing and its linking of narrative, identity work and social construction is demonstrated by the close analysis of a large private autobiography of a former manager. This individual's identity work simultaneously uses discursively available narratives and creates new narratives (many small stories being embedded in one large life story), all within the framework of history, social structure and culture.

There is considerable potential for ethnography to play a larger and more mainstream role in organization and management studies. Ethnography is not a research method. It is a way of writing about and analysing social life which has roots in both the sciences and the humanities. Whilst it prioritizes close and intensive observation in the gathering of information and insights, it may additionally and potentially use any of the full range of other research methods. A powerful rationale for ‘good’ ethnographic work is offered by Pragmatist Realist principles of truth, reality, and relevance-to‐practice. Research based on these principles investigates the realities of ‘how things work’ in organizations. In doing this, it rigorously grounds and contextualizes the activities which the researcher observes and the accounts which they receive from organizational members. To do this well, researchers must avoid being diverted from the analysis of organizational patterns and managerial processes by researchers trying to ‘get into the heads’ of organizational members in order to capture their subjective experiences. Various moves can be identified which would encourage and enable more people to work ethnographically and to produce research which is inherently critical and is unfettered by attachment to any narrow specialist method, concept or ‘perspective’.

It is argued that rhetoric is a key element in both the thinking and communicat ive processes of ordinary human actors and that this applies as much to the writer of this paper as to the two organizational actors whose words are closely analyzed. Following a rhetorical analysis of a dialogue between two managers encountered within a participant observation research project, two broad dis courses are identified within the organization and these are said to provide sets of discursive resources which are variously drawn on by managers in making sense of their managerial work and in pursuing interests.

Research is increasingly questioning the way in which the notion of entrepreneurial self or entrepreneurial identity was initially used to throw light on the connection between the variety of relevant discourses that exist in contemporary societies and the everyday actions of entrepreneurial actors.To take this trend further, two developments are made. First, the concept of identity is refined by identifying two intertwined aspects: a self-identity aspect and a discourse-related social identities aspect. Both the `self' and the `social' aspects of entrepreneurs' identity work are influenced by discourses existing in the society around them. Second, existing empirical research is supplemented by a very close focus on individuals in a specific entrepreneurial context.A case study is presented in which we see two principle figures in a growing family firm being influenced by, making use of and contesting a variety of discursive resources. This fine-grained analysis of entrepreneurially related identity work in practice shows how people in entrepreneurial contexts use discursive resources in a negotiated, shifting, creative and nuanced but often ambiguous manner. These discursive resources include but go beyond notions from `entrepreneurial' discourses.