Multiple Organizational Identities Research Articles

Identity Wind Tunneling: A method for discovering an organization’s strategic identity using scenarios

AbstractIn a turbulent environment characterized by unexpected events, such as the COVID‐19 pandemic, a sharp oil price decline, and dramatic economic crises, many organizations face not only challenges but also an “identity crisis” as they are unable to respond to the question "who are we as an organization?" Some organizations may concurrently hold multiple identities without being clear on whether these are shared and agreed upon, and on their role in potentially disruptive futures. In response to this challenge and addressing a methodological gap in the broader futures and foresight field, we draw on both futures and foresight as well as management and organization literature to propose a new organizational foresight method: Identity Wind Tunneling (IWT). Designed as an enhancement of wind tunneling approaches, IWT allows an organization to understand, test, and manage multiple organizational identities. Furthermore, IWT facilitates the alignment of organizational identities across a range of possible futures created during a scenario planning process with the ultimate goal of finding a strategic identity. This represents the central, enduring, and distinctive role that the organization embodies while pursuing a long‐term and holistic strategic direction that is robust across all scenarios. The strategic identity either clarifies or reimagines the identity of the organization. The paper provides a step‐by‐step explanation of how to implement IWT and ​presents a case study of its application. The method is also presented with a series of open‐source templates created on the whiteboard collaborative platform Miro (https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_kqakYjs=/).

Are we one, or are we many? Diversity in organizational identities versus corporate identities

PurposeThe implications of multiple organizational identities for branding research have been scarcely considered. This paper aims to explore what sources of identity internal stakeholders use to construct organizational identities and corporate identities, and identify how diversity emerges in the perceived identities across various stakeholders.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical study includes 59 in-depth interviews with internal stakeholders in a business-to-business service company.FindingsEmployees may perceive identity diversity as a strategic benefit for the company, and employees may not identify with a uniform corporate identity. The corporate identity could become more identifiable for employees through managerial recognition of different dimensions of identity diversity, such as multiple professional and locational identities.Originality/valueThe study bridges insights between organizational identity and corporate identity and problematizes identity coherence and consistency as strategic principles for corporate branding by proposing an alternative approach guided by identity diversity. Additionally, the study discusses identity diversity-based approaches to internal branding and co-creation in branding.

Multiple organizational identities and change in ambivalence: the case of a Chinese acquisition in Europe

PurposeBuilding on social identity theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine how European managers construct their multiple identities after being acquired by a Chinese firm and to determine the key factors contributing to the changing dynamics of multiple organizational identities.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a qualitative, single case study of a Chinese acquisition of a European manufacturing firm at two points in time.FindingsWe find that multiple identities initially trigger ambivalence toward the acquisition, but over time, the ambivalence diminishes. The reduction of ambivalence results from concurrent integration and separation: a newly constructed boundary spanning the organization separates positive identities from negative ones, and integration interventions foster the development of a new, shared identity.Originality/valueThe findings reveal that organizational identity change is facilitated by the aligning of a post-merger identity with the acquired organization's historical identity and by creating an ambivalent boundary spanning identity.

Focused or Multiple Organizational Identities: Who Performance in Complex Environments?

Is it better to have a focused organizational identity or multiple organizational identities? This study examines how the revenue growth of over 63,000 nonprofits was affected when they either inco...

Editorial Revista Ciencias Administrativas N° 14

La publicación del Número 14 de la Revista Ciencias Administrativas correspondiente al periodo enero - julio de 2019 constituye un motivo de satisfacción para los editores pero especialmente para los autores que, con la publicación de sus trabajos, ven culminado su esfuerzo. La presente edición incluye nueve artículos provenientes de la Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, México y Perú.
 Se han seleccionado cinco artículos científicos: “Un tablero de comando para el sector de la construcción de la provincia de la Pampa: variables relevantes para la toma de decisiones”, “Diseño de un proyecto de emprendimiento con población vulnerable: caso, jardín infantil de Bogotá”, “Stakeholders de los establecimientos hoteleros de las zonas especiales turísticas de Quito”, “Pagos por rendimiento en las filiales argentinas de empresas multinacionales” y “El ciclo de vida del posicionamiento y el choque de las generaciones en el mercado del siglo XXI”
 Completan la edición cuatro ensayos: “Determinación de límites presupuestarios para la administración de bienes públicos por la aplicación del método de costos de viaje”, “Emociones y decisiones en la empresa familiar: una propuesta de análisis fenomenológico interpretativo”, “Las múltiples identidades organizacionales en Textiles Pigüé. Recuperada, cooperativa, eficiente y social” y “La revisión bibliográfica en el doctorado en Administración”.
 Finalmente queremos compartir que durante el año 2018 la revista ha sido incluida en las bases de datos PKP Index, EBSCO y MIAR - Matriz de Información para el Análisis de Revistas con lo cual nuestra publicación figura en siete Bases de Datos y en cuatro Repositorios/Directorios. 
 Los logros obtenidos deben ser compartidos con el equipo editorial, con los autores que nos confían sus trabajos, con los evaluadores que participan del proceso de revisión y, en particular, con los lectores que tienen la última palabra.
 El Comité Ejecutivo

Design change and the emergence of pluralistic identities

It has long been apparent that organizations can have multiple identities. Two main research streams on identity plurality have developed: hybrid and multiple organizational identities. Although th...

Multiple organizational identities, identity cognitions and organizational identification

In this study of a mid-size healthcare system, we address two important issues in the conceptual development of organizational identification (OID): (1) understanding the cognitive mechanisms under...

Dual identities: organizational negotiation in STEM-focused Catholic schools

In the last decade, STEM-focused schools have opened their doors nationally in the hope of meeting students’ contemporary educational needs. Despite the growth of these STEM-focused institutions, minimal research exists that follows how schools make a transition toward a STEM focus and what organizational structures are most conducive to a successful transition. The adoption of a STEM focus has clear implications for a school’s organizational identity. For Catholic schools, the negotiation of a new STEM focus is especially complex, as Catholic schools have been shown to generally possess a distinct religious and cultural organizational identity. The adoption of a second, STEM-focused identity raises questions about whether and how these identities can coexist. Framed by perspectives on organizational identity and existing conceptualizations of the cultural and religious hallmarks of Catholic schools, this study utilizes a multiple-case study design to explore the organizational transition of four Catholic K-8 institutions to Catholic STEM-focused schools. These cases demonstrate the particular challenges of negotiating multiple organizational identities. While variation existed in how the four schools accommodated these identities, the most promising environments for successful transition drew upon an aggregative model of identity negotiation, that is, when schools attended to both identities, but ensured that the original Catholic identity of the school remained foundational to all decisions. The least successful identity negotiations occurred when there was a lack of common understanding about what comprised a STEM-focused school, leading to minimal buy-in from stakeholders or when a school sought to make the transition for recruitment or marketing rather than mission-driven reasons. Discussion of the more successful identity aggregation provides a framework for schools within and beyond the religious sector that desire to adopt an additional STEM-focused identity.

Communicating Organizational Identity as Part of the Legitimation Process: A Case Study of Small Firms in an Emerging Field

The purpose of this study is twofold: (a) to assess how small firms communicate their organizational identity (OI) as part of the legitimation process and (b) to explore communicated values as expressions of OI. Using nanotechnology as an emerging field context, the authors conducted interviews with managers from 23 small firms and analyzed the identity values expressed in company communication materials using computerized content analysis. The findings demonstrated a clear focus on gaining legitimacy by emphasizing social recognition and fitting in. Three paradoxes emerged as follows: being adaptable yet focused; being cutting edge yet traditional; and developing new products, yet ones that fit in with existing products. We propose that in addition to serving as expressions of firms’ OI, values can also drive the strategic communication of OI and may provide resolutions to these paradoxes. We introduce the term complex dynamic organizational identity to describe the way firms use multiple, fluid, and dynamic organizational identities as a component of strategic communication with stakeholders. We argue that firms should take a more active role in constructing a complex dynamic OI as a strategic approach to facing paradoxes and improving internal and external communication.

Multiple identity resourcing in the creation of a coordinated system of care

While past research suggests that managing multiple organizational identities can have a wide-ranging and positive impact on the organization, little is known about the “work” involved in producing...

Consulting firm identity: the online effort to differentiate and compete

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how consulting organizations create identity online. Using a sample of 50 consulting organizations in Australia, the research discusses the strategic implications of broadcasting multiple organizational identities online and the subsequent impact this has on legitimacy. Design/methodology/approach – The research paper engages content analysis across a broad sample to highlight common practices of online identity construction. Findings – The analysis of the sample highlights the creation and perpetuation of multiple, and sometimes contradictory, identities for consulting firms in the online sphere. Originality/value – This research paper highlights how consulting firms try to differentiate themselves in an industry that is both highly competitive and frequently changing.

Evolution of multiple organisational identities after an M&A event

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the possible coexistence of single and multiple organizational identities (OIs) after mergers and acquisitions (M&A). In particular, it describes how the sensemaking process leads the acquired and acquiring companies to maintain multiple identities, even after the formal conclusion of the integration process.Design/methodology/approach– The paper presents a grounded study based on a single case study (M&A between a German chemical multinational and an Italian/Swiss pharmaceutical firm).Findings– While many previous studies suggest that the evolution of OI reduces ambiguity by providing multiple identities under a shared commonality, this paper shows that multiple identities might survive within the same “new entity.”Research limitations/implications– Despite being based on a single case, the paper argues that the choice of maintaining multiple identities may be even more appropriate than the tendency to converge toward one of the old ones or toward a new one. The “sense” that employees and managers give to the same “words,” as well as the “sense” that they make for them, mirrors the perception they have of the OI.Practical implications– The conclusions presented could help managers to facilitate sensemaking as a means of dealing with multiple OIs.Originality/value– Differently from the extant literature, the paper concludes by stating that striking a balance between single and multiple identities might provide the ideal platform for building a new identity based on plurality. When the two (or more) organizational contexts present some complementarities, the existence of multiple identities, and its inner ambiguity, is not a problemper se.

Single or Multiple Organizational Identities: The Management Consultant’s Dilemma

In this article, we examine the signals consulting firms send to clients and the public through the identities they publish on their websites. The paper begins with a review of academic and practitioner literature on consulting identities and typologies. The literature review leads us to conclude that the consultant cannot be conceptualized by a single definable construct but rather by multiple typologies. To demonstrate this we establish a theoretically informed framework summarizing the main consulting identities from extant literature. The framework is then applied to a sample of 50 consulting organizations currently operating in Australia. Through the application of this framework, the identity of the consulting firms are seen to be multiple and sometimes contradictory in nature. Finally, we discuss the possible strategic implications of identity multiplicity, correlating identity with legitimacy and impression management techniques.

Stories and metaphors in the sensemaking of multiple primary health care organizational identities

BackgroundThe Quebec primary health care delivery system has experienced numerous reforms over the last 15 years. In this study, we sought to examine how managers and primary care providers made sense of the creation of successive new primary care organizational forms.MethodsWe conducted a longitudinal qualitative case study in a primary care practice group located in Montreal, Quebec, for over 6 years (2002 to 2008). The data sources for the study include 31 semi-structured interviews with key informants, in-situ observations of group meetings, as well as documents and field notes. Textual material was submitted to narrative and metaphor analysis.ResultsThe core metaphor of the journey came from a set of stories in which the members of this primary care group depicted the processes undertaken towards developing a multidisciplinary cooperative practice, which include an uneasy departure, uncertainty about the destination, conflict among members who jump ship or stay on board, negotiations about the itinerary, and, finally, enduring challenges in leading the way and being pioneers of change in the organization of primary care in their institutional context. Identification with the initial family medicine unit identity was persistent over time, but successive reforms further enriched its meaning as it became a multidisciplinary primary care practice pioneering organizational change.ConclusionsIn order to support primary care reforms in complex institutional fields, this study proposes that decision-makers undertake a journey in which they recognize both the need to capitalize on existing meaningful and legitimated organizational identities, as well as the necessity for collective leadership in the management of multiple organizational identities over time.

Entrepreneurs Enacting Conflicting Organizational Identities to Gain Legitimacy

Using ethnographic and archival data within the context of “X- fit”—an emerging organization in a nascent extreme fitness market segment—this study seeks to understand how multiple organizational identities are enacted and whether they provide benefits or constraints for an emerging organization’s quest for legitimacy. Prior research in the entrepreneurship literature predicts that multiple organizational identities will be harmful to emerging organizations because stakeholders become confused by contradictory identity messages and consequently penalize the organization. Conversely, other research demonstrates that when organizations are faced with conflicting environmental demands multiple organizational identities help organizations reach varied interest groups and garner greater levels of legitimacy. This study reveals that emerging organizations can utilize a legitimate “conformist identity” to balance an illegitimate “rebellious identity.” This approach allows them to escape the pitfalls of categorical ambiguity by achieving notoriety from illegitimacy while attracting stakeholders from more traditional categories. Initial findings report that organizational actors maintain these contradictory identities through two mechanisms: the use of humor and ambiguity that prevent the direct comparison of oppositional identities, and stratification and unification structures that reinforce both identities’ importance.

The OTRI-I Audit and the Detection and Expression of Hidden and Blind Organizational Identities: Implications for Managing Reputational Intelligence, Authenticity and Alignment

This study introduces a method for identifying multiple and hybrid identities for values-based organizations. Using a case study composed of mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, this paper details an instrument and process for detecting and expressing an organization's multiple organizational identities from the perspective of its publics. Within the US population, the OTRI-I Audit empirically verified the existence of eight distinct but not mutually exclusive publics having different perceptions of the identity of the denomination. These eight profiles explained 53.7 percent of the statistical variance. Two publics represented views of the organization's corporate story that should be used as reference points for uncovering hidden or blind identities or reputations, managing authenticity and aligning the organization's various identities from the AC2/3/4ID Test for the mutual benefit between an organization and its stakeholders.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Multinational Corporation Identity: Norwegian Strategies in the Chilean Aquaculture Industry

This study brings an organizational identity perspective to the debate regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR) and multinational corporations (MNCs). The basic proposition is that organizational identities warrant closer attention since they influence CSR strategies. It is further argued that a more explicit distinction between principles and practices, or between ‘being’ and ‘doing’, is needed when debating whether multiple organizational identities are required for MNCs operating in locations characterized by different stakeholder demands. In terms of identity construction, two translation processes are suggested to be pertinent; from hypernorms to organizational principles and the translation of organizational principles to practices. The first translation is relevant since ‘hypernorms’ alone do not create the distinctiveness needed for an organizational identity to develop and the second translation helps in explaining the ability to endorse local contracts.

Multiple organizational identities and legitimacy: The rhetoric of police websites

This article analyses how multiple organizational identities are constructed through rhetoric to maintain and enhance the legitimacy claims made by organizations. Our theorizing is founded on an investigation of the 43 geographically based English and Welsh constabularies. The research contribution of our study is threefold. First, we show that officially sanctioned web-based organizational identity claims are multiple and discuss their implications for identity theory. Second, we consider how these multiple identity claims are constituted using particular rhetorical strategies. Third, we argue that the multiple identity claims constituted aspects of constabularies’ selfpresentation strategies by which they attempted to exert control over stakeholders’ perceptions and establish pragmatic, cognitive and moral claims to legitimacy. This is contrary to some previous research that has suggested that organizations seek to reconcile or redefine multiple claims, and that has ignored them as a resource for satisfying sceptical audiences. The principal argument we make is that organizational identities are often multiple, are phrased using specific rhetorical schemes, and that identity multiplicity supports claims for legitimacy.

FOCUSING ON LONE TREES IN THE FOREST: MEMBERS' EXPERIENCES OF A MULTIPLE IDENTITY ORGANIZATION.

This article examines the impact and effect of multiple organizational identities on lower-level members of the organization. The author's implement a longitudinal field study, utilizing interviews and archival data, to develop a perspective on the patterns which shape the experiences of low level employees of an organization with multiple identities. An overview of the methodology of the study is presented. Results indicate the lower-level employees do not completely recognize or reconcile an organization's multiple identities.

Defined by our strategy or our culture? Hierarchical differences in perceptions of organizational identity and change

While theory and research have identified the possibility for multiple organizational identities to exist within an organization, there is little empirical evidence on how differentiation occurs or what its implications are for the organization. In the course of inductively studying an organizational spin-off, evidence of identity differentiation based on hierarchy level emerged in interview-, documentation-, and observation-based data. Higher levels of the hierarchy tended to see identity in light of the organization’s strategy, whereas lower aspects of the hierarchy saw it in relation to the organization’s culture. This identity differentiation was evident in marked differences in the perceptions organizational members had about: (i) the nature of organizational identity; (ii) the most salient identity-based discrepancies; (iii) the basis for organizational identity change; and (iv) how identity change can be implemented. After examining how and why this hierarchical differentiation occurred, I discuss the implications for our understanding of organizational identity and situate it in the larger context of organizational change.