Identities and Identity Work in Organizations

Abstract

Identities, people's subjectively construed understandings of who they were, are and desire to become, are implicated in, and thus key to understanding and explaining, almost everything that happens in and around organizations. The research contribution that this review paper makes is threefold. First, it analyses the often employed but rarely systematically explored concept ‘identity work’, and argues that it is one metaphor among many that may be useful in the analysis of professional and more generally work identities. Second, it focuses on five fundamental, interconnected debates in contemporary identities research centred on notions of choice, stability, coherence, positivity and authenticity. Third, it outlines the roles that the concept ‘identity work’ may play in bridging levels of analysis and disciplinary boundaries, and sketches some possible future identities‐focused ideas for further research. Under‐specification has meant that ‘identity’ has not always fulfilled its analytical promise in either theoretical explorations of identities issues or in empirical studies of identities in practice; and it is to these ends that this paper seeks to contribute.

Role-meanings as a critical factor in understanding doctor managers' identity work and different role identities

“…Notwithstanding the recognised relationship between the sensemaking process and identity work, meanings as the substance of identity work and the very fabric of the sensemaking process do not feature in identity research. Research on identity from the sensemaking perspective has focused on the discourses and narratives extrapolated from meanings (Brown, 2015) rather than meanings themselves. Brown, however, suggests that "much still needs to be done to understand in-depth how sensemaking connects to identities and the role of identity work in processes of external interpretation and meaning making " (2015:32).…”

“…However, in all these studies the question of how DMs develop the meanings attached to their role has been omitted as a key factor in the process of explaining variations in DMs' identities. Following Brown's (2015) ideas on meanings, this article starts from the premise that if we are to capture the nuances underpinning DMs' work-related identity construction, we need to focus on how they attach meaning to their roles and identities as clinical managers. Specifically, this article aims to develop existing knowledge of DMs' identity work activities by attending to how role-meanings are constructed and how they influence identification.…”

“…Specifically, this article aims to develop existing knowledge of DMs' identity work activities by attending to how role-meanings are constructed and how they influence identification. This aim is necessary because meanings as a constitutive element of identities and identity work have been neglected in the identity work literature, and fieldwork is required to explain the processes of meaning construction (Brown, 2015). Moreover, this research responds to an invitation from sociology of professions and public management literatures (Currie et al, 2010 andAshworth et al 2013, respectively) to incorporate knowledge from literatures in psychology and identity to understand the identification of hybrid clinicianmanagers with their managerial roles.…”

The Value of an HR Professional Group for Organizational Learning

“…Wenger-Trayner sees identity as a central concept to CoPs (Farnsworth et al, 2016). Identity construction is fundamental to understanding and explaining key aspects of organizational life (see for example, Brown, 2015). A focus on professional identity is perhaps even more important to a profession such as HR which has fought to establish itself as a profession and still undergoes a degree of ambiguity and uncertainty about the domain.…”

Evidence of Professional Learning: a Closer Look at Development in Practice

“…So, an evidence-base of competence provides an anchor to assert professional identity in context (Mackay, 2015a;Brown, 2014 there is a move to gather, measure and analyse data in order to improve overall performance of both HR and the organization, but also to demonstrate the value of the HR function.…”