A Temporal Perspective on Organizational Identity

Abstract

We offer as our main theoretical contribution a conceptual framework for how the past is evoked in present identity reconstruction and the ways in which the past influences the articulation of claims for future identity. We introduce the notion of textual, material, and oral memory forms as the means by which organizational actors evoke the past. The conceptual framework is applied in a study of two occasions of identity reconstruction in the LEGO Group, which revealed differences in ways that the past was evoked and influenced claims for future identity. Our study suggests that (1) a longer time perspective in the use of memory enabled a longer time perspective in formulating claims for future identity, (2) a broader scope of articulated identity claims for the future was related to the combination of a broader range of memory forms, and (3) the depth of claims for future identity was related to the way in which memory forms were combined. At a more general level, our paper illustrates how viewing identity construction from the perspective of an ongoing present adds a new dimension to understanding the temporal dynamics of organizational identity.

Path dependence and the stabilization of strategic premises: how the funeral industry buries itself

“…In that sense, the findings on how organizations stabilize strategic premises may be transferrable to path-dependent organizations in crises in different contexts (Lincoln and Guba 1985). However, based on the analysis in this study, it may not be concluded that organizations that stabilize strategic premises must necessarily be path-dependent (Schultz and Hernes 2013); path dependence is just one among several forms of organizational stability (Sydow et al 2009). Thus, while the present study focuses on path-dependent organizations that have entered a crisis because of severe path disruptions, future research may explore whether these findings also apply to organizations that are not path-dependent.…”

Lasting temporariness: Projects as capability bridges across time and organizational levels

“…Accordingly, what is relevant in an organization's past accomplishments depends on where the organization is heading and what paths the organization would like to preserve. As evidenced in prior research, the past also constitutes an important mechanism of forgetting -ignoring what the organization wants to ignore and remembering what the organization wants to remember (Schultz & Hernes, 2013). Thus, this paper suggests that capability development needs to be understood as the merging of past and future in the present and that research needs to develop more theoretical knowledge addressing the temporality of capabilities and capability development.…”

Connecting Temporary and Permanent Organizing: Tensions and Boundary Work in Sequential Film Projects

“…In this way, it also responds to Sydow et al's (2004) calls for multi-dimensional and multi-level research. Second, by bringing in a temporality perspective (Hernes & Schultz, 2013), which captures the interplay of past and future projects' shadows in realizing present projects, it opens up the notion of temporariness and the "bracketed", "closed time" view of temporary organizations (Lundin & Söderholm, 1995;Bakker & Janowicz-Panjaitan, 2009). In further examining the temporality of temporariness, it would be useful to focus on how different actors from the permanent and temporary organizations strategically re-interpret their past and future when shaping projects in the present.…”

“…It brought in shadows of past and future projects as part of its boundary work to resolve tensions. Below we detail the multi-level and, at times, contentious meaning of these temporary-permanent connections as a way for advancing the understanding of projects in context and enriching the embeddedness perspective of temporary organizing with a more dialectic and long-term view (Sydow et al, 2004;Bakker, 2010), which is also attentive to temporality (Hernes & Schultz, 2013).…”