Organizational identity consistency in a discontinuous corporate volunteering program

Abstract

Abstract: Despite increasing interest in discontinuous organizations and new forms of work, our understanding of how iterative organizations achieve organizational identity consistency over time remains limited. On the basis of our analysis of the Disaster Response Teams organization, a corporate volunteering program of Deutsche Post DHL, we identify four organizational enablers fostering identity consistency that primarily occur during phases of dormancy: connecting organizational episodes, preparing organizational episodes, expanding organizational interaction, and alternative organizational interaction. We illustrate the positive role of organizational growth through boundary expansion as well as the importance of emotionally intense experiences and future-orientation in achieving organizational identity consistency across single deployments in a corporate volunteering program. In addition, we point to the paradoxical role of discontinuity, which requires more intensive organizational identity work to bridge phases of dormancy but, at the same time, may represent a resource for identity work.