Memory Work

Abstract

Past research on organizational memory has mainly focused on the short term and the way information is acquired, retained, and retrieved. Instead, we argue that historical and long-term memory play an important role in organizations and we focus on the work of corporate historians and archivists in constructing long-term organizational memory. We analyzed the activities of corporate archivists and historians in eleven Fortune 500 firms. Our findings suggest that present strategic agendas drive mnemonic processes in organizations. In addition, longer-term memories offer richer possibilities for reinterpreting and reconstructing the past. Moreover, re-engagements generate additional layers of meaning that enrich and expand the possibilities of memory work for the future. We thus redefine organizational memory as an ongoing, dynamic process of memory work that encompasses both the acquisition, retention, and retrieval of information from the recent past and the recollection, reinterpretation, storytelling, and memorializing of issues and events from the longer past.

Building an Outward-Oriented Social Family Legacy: Rhetorical History in Family Business Foundations

“…To answer our research question, we carry out a multiple case analysis of three family business foundations (henceforth, FBFs), that is, corporate foundations of family-controlled firms (De Massis et al, 2021; Schillaci et al, 2013). FBFs are an ideal context to better understand outward-oriented social legacy as they are often founded to preserve the legacy of the family firm through the collection of historical sources which in turn constitute the historical narratives of the family business itself (Foster et al, 2020; Wadhwani et al, 2018). To give a better understanding of the situated nature of an outward-oriented social family legacy and its transfer through rhetorical history, we carried out a 12-months field study in three Italian FBFs: Fondazione Ermenegildo Zegna, Fondazione Pirelli, and Fondazione Dompé.…”

Organizational reputation: In search of lost time

“…Beyond emphasizing the work involved in active negotiations and power struggles between stakeholders, we contend that the concept of work—and of reputation work in particular—is inherently temporal in its nature (e.g. Foster et al, 2020; Kaplan and Orlikowski, 2013; Reinecke and Ansari, 2015). Indeed, it involves the subjective “politics of memory” (Fine, 2019: 7) and strategic reinterpretations of the nexus among past, present, and future (e.g.…”

“…A growing number of organization studies have started incorporating alternative temporal conceptualizations, such as cyclical or process time (Reinecke and Ansari, 2015, 2016; Schultz and Hernes, 2013, 2020; Tsoukas and Chia, 2002), to examine how the subjective experience of time interacts with organizing practices (Kaplan and Orlikowski, 2013) and to allow for a more processual understanding of the temporal qualities of phenomena such as coordination (Reinecke and Ansari, 2015), strategy (Kaplan and Orlikowski, 2013), and identity (Schultz and Hernes, 2013, 2020). Scholars have also focused on developing a more interpretive understanding of time by conceptualizing it as a resource being used, reinterpreted, or intentionally manipulated by individuals and collectives for specific purposes, thereby questioning the consequential and deterministic relationship among the past, present, and future (Anteby and Molnar, 2012; Foster et al, 2020; Hatch and Schultz, 2017; Suddaby et al, 2010).…”

Narrative Memory Work of Employees in Family Businesses: How Founding Stories Shape Organizational Identification

“…Memory work scholars direct attention to remembering together in mnemonic communities as the mechanism for transmitting firsthand memories across members of a community (Foroughi, 2020;Halbwachs, 1992;Middleton & Brown, 2005;Olick & Robbins, 1998;Zerubavel, 1996). It has been suggested that memory work is an act of joint remembering that allows members to coalesce around a shared understanding of the past Foster et al, 2020). Stories are seen as profound in sustaining this collective memory in organizations (Suddaby et al, 2022), particularly through intradiegetic storytelling which invites everyone into the small world described by the narration, creating a co-presence.…”

“…Although the act of remembering itself is individual, organizational actors draw on shared narratives of a past event to frame and inform how and what they remember (Bell & Taylor, 2016;Foroughi & Al-Amoudi, 2020;Ybema, 2014). Foster et al (2020) demonstrate that reactivating the long-term past and making it present again plays an important role in how actors interpret the past and construct their own versions of the bygone days of organizations. The processes of remembering are thus a means for members to experience events and encounters they were not directly involved in, thereby turning past events into vivid memories.…”