Toward a Theory of Organizational Identity as Polyphony

Abstract

A growing body of research departs from classical notions of organizational identity as a shared, consensual self-understanding of ‘who we are as an organization’ by arguing that polyphony, i.e., a plurality of voices, is involved in organizational identity construction. Studies of the communicative processes through which an organizational identity comes into being through polyphony, however, remain rare. To uncover the processes through which polyphony contributes to the constitution of an organizational identity, we examine communication at Premium, a collective that produces and distributes a coke in socially and ecologically sustainable ways. Based on our analysis, we identify three communicative processes of polyphony––multiplicity, dissonance, and resonance––through which an organizational identity is produced; and we theorize the enablers that invoke the performance of these communicative processes. We also show that an organizational identity vanishes into moments of ‘silence’ if it is not talked into existence through polyphony. These findings have important implications not only for understanding organizational identity as a guide for collective action, but also for research on the ‘communicative constitution of organizations’ (CCO).