While many aspects of the leader-follower relationship have been studied, we know very little on ... more While many aspects of the leader-follower relationship have been studied, we know very little on the role leader-follower distance and closeness for individuals, relationships and organizations. Pa...
Why do we not blink when our organizations are described as friendly or aggressive? Why do we exp... more Why do we not blink when our organizations are described as friendly or aggressive? Why do we expect our organizations to care about our wellbeing? We argue that anthropomorphism-an attribution of human qualities or behavior to nonhuman entities, objects, and events-is both pervasive and surprisingly important in organizational life. Anthropomorphism helps satisfy the motives for sensemaking and social connection, even if the veracity of the results is in the eye of the beholder. Though anthropomorphism has broad relevance to various domains, we primarily focus on organizational identity. We contend that anthropomorphism enables organizational members to conceive of their organization in terms of "who it is/who we are as an organization" (e.g., personality, attitudes, affect) rather than "what it is/what we are" (e.g., industry, structure, age). This shift results in a more visceral, memorable, and energizing organizational identity, with major implications. We discuss how anthropomorphism results from both top-down (i.e., "This is who we are") and bottom-up (i.e., "You appear human to me") dynamics. We also discuss how treating an organization as if it were a person primes "interpersonal" emotions, behaviors, and accountability, facilitates social, relational, and personal identification with the organization, and enables psychological contracts.
Can affective states-emotions, moods, and sentiments-become institutionalized in an organization ... more Can affective states-emotions, moods, and sentiments-become institutionalized in an organization such that they become "objective" factors that are exterior to any one person and resistant to change? We argue that the answer is yes, through intertwined top-down and bottomup processes that shape an organization's (or subunit's) affective climate and affective culture, resulting in a dynamic equilibrium. The top-down processes include leadership, attractionselection-attrition, and socialization, coupled with the physical, task, and social context, while the bottom-up process of emergence occurs via affective events, appraisal, affective sharing, and affect schemas. We also consider how identification with the organization (or subunit) enhances the likelihood of institutionalized affect. We conclude that institutionalized affect in organizations is far from an oxymoron.
Since its formal entry to organization studies in 1985, the concept of organizational identity (O... more Since its formal entry to organization studies in 1985, the concept of organizational identity (OI) has had a long and fruitful development. We suggest OI is particularly appealing because it: 1) addresses fundamental questions of social existence about how we are both similar to and different from others; 2) is fundamentally a relational construct connecting apparent oppositions, such as “us” and “them”; 3) is a nexus concept forging relations with other theoretical constructs; and 4) is inherently useful to organizations. In the seven sections of this handbook, we trace conceptual, methodological, and practical challenges of theorizing and utilizing OI in organizations, including issues of the construct’s nomological net, its multi-level dynamics, the role time in OI (e.g., OI change), as well as its pluralistic manifestations (e.g., hybrid and multiple organizational identities).
Although research has established that it is often difficult for individuals engaged in dirty wor... more Although research has established that it is often difficult for individuals engaged in dirty work to adjust to stigma and the attributes giving rise to stigma, little theory or empirical work addresses how managers may help workers adjust to dirty work. Interviews with managers across 18 dirty work occupations-physically tainted (e.g., animal control), socially tainted (e.g., corrections), and morally tainted (e.g., exotic entertainment)-indicate that managers engage in "congruence work": behaviors, sensemaking, and sensegiving that they perceive as helping individuals adjust and develop a stronger sense of person-environment fit. Specifically, congruence work focuses on 3 phases of managerial practices that correspond to individuals' growing experience in the occupation. First, recruitment/selection involves overcoming individuals' aversion to dirty work by selecting individuals with an affinity for the work and providing a realistic stigma preview. Second, socialization involves helping newcomers adjust to distasteful tasks and to stigma by using targeted divestiture, developing perspective taking, helping newcomers manage external relationships, and utilizing desensitization or immersion. Third, ongoing management roles involve cementing individuals' fit by fostering social validation, protecting workers from dirty work hazards, and negotiating the frontstage/backstage boundary. The practices identified as congruence work highlight the important role that managers can play in facilitating adjustment for both "dirty workers" and presumably their less stigmatized counterparts.
This paper develops grounded theory on how receiving respect at work enables individuals to engag... more This paper develops grounded theory on how receiving respect at work enables individuals to engage in positive identity transformation and the resulting personal and work-related outcomes. A company that employs inmates at a state prison to perform professional business-to-business marketing services provided a unique context for data collection. Our data indicate that inmates experienced respect in two distinct ways, generalized and particularized, which initiated an identity decoupling process that allowed them to distinguish between their inmate identity and their desired future selves and to construct transitional identities that facilitated positive change. The social context of the organization provided opportunities for personal and social identities to be claimed, respected, and granted, producing social validation and enabling individuals to feel secure in their transitional identities. We find that security in personal identities produces primarily performance-related outc...
A recent theoretical proposal is that relational identification generalizes to organizational ide... more A recent theoretical proposal is that relational identification generalizes to organizational identification through affective, cognitive, and behavioral mediating mechanisms. The generalization process is strengthened when a relational other is prototypical-that is, is seen as promoting core organizational values. We investigate these propositions via two field studies. First, we find, via temporally lagged data from 186 newcomers to the telemarketing industry, that relational identification with a supervisor generalizes to organizational identification through affective (i.e., affect transfer), cognitive (i.e., social influence), and behavioral (i.e., behavioral "sensemaking") mediating mechanisms. Second, we find, via temporally lagged data from 1,101 newcomers to the U.S. Army, that a newcomer's relational identification with his/her supervisor generalizes to the newcomer's organizational identification, but only when the supervisor is perceived to be prototypical. Our combined findings suggest that (1) multiple identifications are more integrative than exclusive and (2) organizational membership may be more personalized and relational than previously assumed in extant research.
Identification (a state of perceived "oneness" with a given target) fulfills fundamental human mo... more Identification (a state of perceived "oneness" with a given target) fulfills fundamental human motives and facilitates a range of positive outcomes, but it also has a dark side. While detrimental effects of identification in organizations have been captured in various studies, the field of management lacks a comprehensive blueprint of the state of this research. This omission is particularly significant given recent calls for some "course corrections" in the field, which signal the need to balance the dominant preoccupation with the positive effects of identification and identity with more consideration of their negative effects. It is also a missed opportunity for impact given the relevance of the topic to understanding current identity-related tensions and issues within organizations (e.g., debates around diversity and inclusion). We address this oversight with a comprehensive review of the dark side of strong identification, focusing specifically on exclusive, mixed, and multiple identifications. In doing so, we highlight the need for a more balanced understanding of the ways identification processes influence our lives, organizations, and society at large.
Contents: Part I: Introduction. S.L. Blader, A. Wrzesniewski,C.A. Bartel, Identity and the Modern... more Contents: Part I: Introduction. S.L. Blader, A. Wrzesniewski,C.A. Bartel, Identity and the Modern Organization. Part II: Social Motivations in Modern Organizations. M.A. Glynn, C. Marquis, Legitimating Identities: How Institutional Logics Motivate Organizational Name Choices. M.A. Hogg, Organizational Orthodoxy and Corporate Autocrats: Some Nasty Consequences of Organizational Identification in Uncertain Times. S.L. Blader, Let's Not Forget the "Me" in "Team": Investigating the Interface of Individual and Collective Identity. B. Ashforth, Identity: The Elastic Concept. Part III: Social Processes in Modern Organizations. M.G. Pratt, K.G. Corley, Managing Multiple Organizational Identities: On Identity Ambiguity, Identity Conflict, and Members' Reactions. C.A. Bartel, A. Wrzesniewski, B. Wiesenfeld, The Struggle to Establish Organizational Membership and Identification in Remote Work Contexts. S.A. Haslam, S. Reicher, Social Identity and the Dynamics of Org...
Building on work at the individual and organizational levels suggesting that an individual’s self... more Building on work at the individual and organizational levels suggesting that an individual’s self-concept and an organization’s identity are dynamic, we relax the generally held assumption that perceptions of organizational identification are perceived as relatively stable over time and highlight the importance of understanding the perceived dynamism in members’ relationships with their organizations over broader time horizons. We introduce various identification trajectories—a member’s current perception of how his or her identification has evolved and will evolve over time—and investigate the sense of momentum that characterizes these trajectories. We also generate theory about the different action tendencies created by various types of trajectories and examine their influence on cognition, affect, and behavior in the present. Our theoretical model helps to explain why two members of the same organization with similar degrees of identification in the present might think, feel, and...
While many aspects of the leader-follower relationship have been studied, we know very little on ... more While many aspects of the leader-follower relationship have been studied, we know very little on the role leader-follower distance and closeness for individuals, relationships and organizations. Pa...
Why do we not blink when our organizations are described as friendly or aggressive? Why do we exp... more Why do we not blink when our organizations are described as friendly or aggressive? Why do we expect our organizations to care about our wellbeing? We argue that anthropomorphism-an attribution of human qualities or behavior to nonhuman entities, objects, and events-is both pervasive and surprisingly important in organizational life. Anthropomorphism helps satisfy the motives for sensemaking and social connection, even if the veracity of the results is in the eye of the beholder. Though anthropomorphism has broad relevance to various domains, we primarily focus on organizational identity. We contend that anthropomorphism enables organizational members to conceive of their organization in terms of "who it is/who we are as an organization" (e.g., personality, attitudes, affect) rather than "what it is/what we are" (e.g., industry, structure, age). This shift results in a more visceral, memorable, and energizing organizational identity, with major implications. We discuss how anthropomorphism results from both top-down (i.e., "This is who we are") and bottom-up (i.e., "You appear human to me") dynamics. We also discuss how treating an organization as if it were a person primes "interpersonal" emotions, behaviors, and accountability, facilitates social, relational, and personal identification with the organization, and enables psychological contracts.
Can affective states-emotions, moods, and sentiments-become institutionalized in an organization ... more Can affective states-emotions, moods, and sentiments-become institutionalized in an organization such that they become "objective" factors that are exterior to any one person and resistant to change? We argue that the answer is yes, through intertwined top-down and bottomup processes that shape an organization's (or subunit's) affective climate and affective culture, resulting in a dynamic equilibrium. The top-down processes include leadership, attractionselection-attrition, and socialization, coupled with the physical, task, and social context, while the bottom-up process of emergence occurs via affective events, appraisal, affective sharing, and affect schemas. We also consider how identification with the organization (or subunit) enhances the likelihood of institutionalized affect. We conclude that institutionalized affect in organizations is far from an oxymoron.
Since its formal entry to organization studies in 1985, the concept of organizational identity (O... more Since its formal entry to organization studies in 1985, the concept of organizational identity (OI) has had a long and fruitful development. We suggest OI is particularly appealing because it: 1) addresses fundamental questions of social existence about how we are both similar to and different from others; 2) is fundamentally a relational construct connecting apparent oppositions, such as “us” and “them”; 3) is a nexus concept forging relations with other theoretical constructs; and 4) is inherently useful to organizations. In the seven sections of this handbook, we trace conceptual, methodological, and practical challenges of theorizing and utilizing OI in organizations, including issues of the construct’s nomological net, its multi-level dynamics, the role time in OI (e.g., OI change), as well as its pluralistic manifestations (e.g., hybrid and multiple organizational identities).
Although research has established that it is often difficult for individuals engaged in dirty wor... more Although research has established that it is often difficult for individuals engaged in dirty work to adjust to stigma and the attributes giving rise to stigma, little theory or empirical work addresses how managers may help workers adjust to dirty work. Interviews with managers across 18 dirty work occupations-physically tainted (e.g., animal control), socially tainted (e.g., corrections), and morally tainted (e.g., exotic entertainment)-indicate that managers engage in "congruence work": behaviors, sensemaking, and sensegiving that they perceive as helping individuals adjust and develop a stronger sense of person-environment fit. Specifically, congruence work focuses on 3 phases of managerial practices that correspond to individuals' growing experience in the occupation. First, recruitment/selection involves overcoming individuals' aversion to dirty work by selecting individuals with an affinity for the work and providing a realistic stigma preview. Second, socialization involves helping newcomers adjust to distasteful tasks and to stigma by using targeted divestiture, developing perspective taking, helping newcomers manage external relationships, and utilizing desensitization or immersion. Third, ongoing management roles involve cementing individuals' fit by fostering social validation, protecting workers from dirty work hazards, and negotiating the frontstage/backstage boundary. The practices identified as congruence work highlight the important role that managers can play in facilitating adjustment for both "dirty workers" and presumably their less stigmatized counterparts.
This paper develops grounded theory on how receiving respect at work enables individuals to engag... more This paper develops grounded theory on how receiving respect at work enables individuals to engage in positive identity transformation and the resulting personal and work-related outcomes. A company that employs inmates at a state prison to perform professional business-to-business marketing services provided a unique context for data collection. Our data indicate that inmates experienced respect in two distinct ways, generalized and particularized, which initiated an identity decoupling process that allowed them to distinguish between their inmate identity and their desired future selves and to construct transitional identities that facilitated positive change. The social context of the organization provided opportunities for personal and social identities to be claimed, respected, and granted, producing social validation and enabling individuals to feel secure in their transitional identities. We find that security in personal identities produces primarily performance-related outc...
A recent theoretical proposal is that relational identification generalizes to organizational ide... more A recent theoretical proposal is that relational identification generalizes to organizational identification through affective, cognitive, and behavioral mediating mechanisms. The generalization process is strengthened when a relational other is prototypical-that is, is seen as promoting core organizational values. We investigate these propositions via two field studies. First, we find, via temporally lagged data from 186 newcomers to the telemarketing industry, that relational identification with a supervisor generalizes to organizational identification through affective (i.e., affect transfer), cognitive (i.e., social influence), and behavioral (i.e., behavioral "sensemaking") mediating mechanisms. Second, we find, via temporally lagged data from 1,101 newcomers to the U.S. Army, that a newcomer's relational identification with his/her supervisor generalizes to the newcomer's organizational identification, but only when the supervisor is perceived to be prototypical. Our combined findings suggest that (1) multiple identifications are more integrative than exclusive and (2) organizational membership may be more personalized and relational than previously assumed in extant research.
Identification (a state of perceived "oneness" with a given target) fulfills fundamental human mo... more Identification (a state of perceived "oneness" with a given target) fulfills fundamental human motives and facilitates a range of positive outcomes, but it also has a dark side. While detrimental effects of identification in organizations have been captured in various studies, the field of management lacks a comprehensive blueprint of the state of this research. This omission is particularly significant given recent calls for some "course corrections" in the field, which signal the need to balance the dominant preoccupation with the positive effects of identification and identity with more consideration of their negative effects. It is also a missed opportunity for impact given the relevance of the topic to understanding current identity-related tensions and issues within organizations (e.g., debates around diversity and inclusion). We address this oversight with a comprehensive review of the dark side of strong identification, focusing specifically on exclusive, mixed, and multiple identifications. In doing so, we highlight the need for a more balanced understanding of the ways identification processes influence our lives, organizations, and society at large.
Contents: Part I: Introduction. S.L. Blader, A. Wrzesniewski,C.A. Bartel, Identity and the Modern... more Contents: Part I: Introduction. S.L. Blader, A. Wrzesniewski,C.A. Bartel, Identity and the Modern Organization. Part II: Social Motivations in Modern Organizations. M.A. Glynn, C. Marquis, Legitimating Identities: How Institutional Logics Motivate Organizational Name Choices. M.A. Hogg, Organizational Orthodoxy and Corporate Autocrats: Some Nasty Consequences of Organizational Identification in Uncertain Times. S.L. Blader, Let's Not Forget the "Me" in "Team": Investigating the Interface of Individual and Collective Identity. B. Ashforth, Identity: The Elastic Concept. Part III: Social Processes in Modern Organizations. M.G. Pratt, K.G. Corley, Managing Multiple Organizational Identities: On Identity Ambiguity, Identity Conflict, and Members' Reactions. C.A. Bartel, A. Wrzesniewski, B. Wiesenfeld, The Struggle to Establish Organizational Membership and Identification in Remote Work Contexts. S.A. Haslam, S. Reicher, Social Identity and the Dynamics of Org...
Building on work at the individual and organizational levels suggesting that an individual’s self... more Building on work at the individual and organizational levels suggesting that an individual’s self-concept and an organization’s identity are dynamic, we relax the generally held assumption that perceptions of organizational identification are perceived as relatively stable over time and highlight the importance of understanding the perceived dynamism in members’ relationships with their organizations over broader time horizons. We introduce various identification trajectories—a member’s current perception of how his or her identification has evolved and will evolve over time—and investigate the sense of momentum that characterizes these trajectories. We also generate theory about the different action tendencies created by various types of trajectories and examine their influence on cognition, affect, and behavior in the present. Our theoretical model helps to explain why two members of the same organization with similar degrees of identification in the present might think, feel, and...
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Papers by Blake Ashforth