Connection, Restructuring, and Buffering: How Groups Link Individuals and Organizations

Abstract

Research examining the individualÁorganization relationship has largely ignored the linking role of groups. Grounded in Scott, Corman, and Cheney's (1998) structurational model of organizational identification, we analyzed data obtained from members of groups embedded in a large religious organization. Results revealed three primary ways groups link individual members and the organization via identification. The connection function provides members with local copresent linkages to the organization and an environment in which to express their connection/relationship to the organization. The restructuring function enables members to restructure conflicting individual and organizational identity structures. The buffering function enables members to disidentify with a portion of the organizational identity and still maintain a sense of organizational identification.

Structurational Divergence Theory as Explanation for Troublesome Outcomes in Nursing Communication

“…Group connections aid in organizational and professional identity construction and maintenance. These connections also provide protection from negative aspects of organizational identity (Silva & Sias, 2010). SD's detrimental effect on relationships, however, estranges individuals from the organization, so SD is expected to be negatively related to organizational identification.…”

“…Identification, the extent to which an organizational member shares and expresses the organization's values and decision premises (Cheney & Tompkins, 1987), has long been linked to job satisfaction and employee commitment (Scott et al, 1999) across occupations, but has not been a focus in the nursing literature. An individual's identification with the organization is provided by group links; groups provide connection, identity restructuring, and buffering from undesirable aspects of organizational identity (Silva & Sias, 2010). Identification with one's organization and profession is likely related positively to job satisfaction and negatively to turnover in nursing.…”

Faith-Based Organizational Communication and its Implications for Member Identity

“…Some studies suggest that communicative interactions in FBOs have constructive implications for members' various individual and organizational identities (e.g., Hoffman, 2007;Leeman, 2006;Silva & Sias, 2010). For example, Hoffman (2007) cited how Benedictine women helped each other to reconcile their organizational identities with the larger Roman Catholic Church.…”

“…Scott et al, 1998). Silva and Sias (2010) recently offered an empirical study of this activityidentification link in FBOs, finding that organizational identification was fostered in group gatherings through the activities of connection and restructuring (providing opportunities for members to feel unified with the organization and share/reconcile alternative views of the organization respectively); alternatively, they concluded that buffering activities (providing opportunities to accept discordant views) spurred organizational disidentification. The present study goes beyond Silva and Sias's work to examine specific discursive features of group interactions and their links to organizational and individual (dis)identification, but before doing so I first sketch the scholarly understandings of FBOs as contexts for the identification process.…”

“…This critical influence of situated activity on identifications was illustrated in the ways that pastors altered their code use in pastor-only versus mixed-member meeting settings. Silva and Sias's (2010) recent study of Sabbath Day Classes in the Seventh Day Adventist Church made strides in recognizing group activities as meaningful locales for identity negotiation, and the present study builds upon this work by identifying specific group circumstances (i.e., setting, purpose, attendees, etc. of group meetings) and messages shaped/exchanged in those circumstances that shape members' multiple identifications/identities.…”