Abstract
How do professionals respond when they are required to conduct work that does not match with their identity? We investigated this situation in an English public services organization where a major work redesign initiative required professionals to engage in new tasks that they did not want to do. Based on our findings, we develop a process model of professional identity restructuring that includes the following four stages: (1) resisting identity change and mourning the loss of previous work, (2) conserving professional identity and avoiding the new work, (3) parking professional identity and learning the new work, and (4) retrieving and modifying professional identity and affirming the new work. Our model explicates the dynamics between professional work and professional identity, showing how requirements for new professional work can lead to a new professional identity. We also contribute to the literature by showing how parking one’s professional identity facilitates the creation of liminal space that allows professional identity restructuring.
Highlights
Professional identity is an essential component of how professionals make meaning of their lives (Kyratsis et al, 2017; Nelson and Irwin, 2014; Pratt et al, 2006)
Our data analysis shows how OTs, Occupational Therapist Assistants (OTA), and CWs first rebelled against the imposed work changes, and engaged in a process we call “identity parking”—creating liminal space that enabled them to learn the new work
In our initial interviews (T1), very soon after the job redesign was announced, employees angrily explained why their professional identity was mis-aligned with the new work arrangements
Summary
Professional identity is an essential component of how professionals make meaning of their lives (Kyratsis et al, 2017; Nelson and Irwin, 2014; Pratt et al, 2006). Research has shown that professionals can change their identity in concert with changes in their work when they believe the new work is valuable (Ibarra, 1999; Kyratsis et al, 2017) This situation often occurs as part of professional advancement, such as when physicians learn to become specialists (Pratt et al, 2006). With increasing numbers of professionals employed in organizations, professionals may be required to adopt new work practices where they do not initially see value, and where the required new practices are not well aligned with their identity (Muzio et al, 2020; Reay et al, 2013). To better understand such situations of organizational change, we need to know more about how professional identity and professional work can become unbundled and potentially realigned
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