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CM J30 - Cultivating Powerful Identities: Identity, Identification & Leadership* "NOT ESTABLISHED"

Faculty
Roar Vejter Bovim (Ph.D & teaching assistant), Chris Mathieu (associate professor)
Course Coordinator
Roar Vejter Bovim
Prerequisite/progression of the course
Bachelor degree. Basic knowledge of organizational culture, organizational identity, and HRM is an advantage, but not a precondition for participation.
Course content, structure and teaching
In this course, students will learn how leaders and managers can cultivate and facilitate identities in organizations based on an in-depth understanding of identity construction dynamics. Readings and lectures emphasize that the construction of identities is a complex issue, involving internal and external stakeholders, efforts of management as well as the everyday practices of organizational members. Applying a broad approach, we will move beyond organizational identities exploring team, work group, unit and project identities.
Identities are often recognized as important, functioning as sources of belonging, enhancing productivity, and providing a foundation for image, branding, reputation, and strategy. However, what promotes and creates identities are not always so well known. Participants will examine this topic using a cross-disciplinary framework. Organizational identity theory, which focuses on how organizational members understand and define “who they are”, shows how symbolic resources like values, symbols, practices and competences are used by organizational members in constructing distinct collective identities. On the other hand, the organizational identification field describes from a social-psychological point of view the processes in which individual members identify themselves with groups and organizations. As suggested by recent research, combining these two traditionally separate disciplines provides a rich understanding of a wide range of identity dynamics. Drawing on this theoretical framework, we will translate theory into specific managerial practices, i.e. HR-strategy, selection and training practices, ways of organizing work, and leadership practices.
In the lectures, seminars and readings, theory will go hand in hand with discussions of practical implications. Participants will engage in group exercises and case work, and teaching will be dialogue oriented.
The course's development of personal competences
This course stimulates the development of analytical skills as well as the ability to navigate through different, and sometimes incompatible, fields of research. At the same time, the participants will develop capabilities in the application and translation of theory into real-life contexts.
Learning Objectives
At the end of the course, students should be able to:
  • Define “collective identity” from multiple perspectives, and explain the differences between those perspectives
  • Explain how internal and external stakeholders, drawing on symbolic resources, construct collective identities in organizations
  • Explain how, why, and when organizational members identify themselves with groups according to the social identity approach
  • Distinguish between identity and identification, and explain how these phenomena work together in organizations mutually supporting each other
  • Analyze and discuss the role of leadership in relation to identity and identification, and account for key factors in the facilitation of identity on different organizational levels (e.g. team, work group, unit etc.)
  • Apply these concepts and perspectives to practice-oriented situations, explaining how specific managerial practices can foster and cultivate identity and identification in organizations.
Type of examination, exam aids and assessment
Oral exam based on a miniproject
Recommended literature
  • Albert, S. and Whetten, D. A. 1985. Organizational identity. In L. L. Cummings and B. M. Staw (eds.): Research in organizational behaviour, 7: 263-295. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
  • Ashforth, B. E., Harrison, S. H. and Corley, K. G. 2008. Identification in Organizations: An Examination of Four Fundamental Questions. Journal of Management, 34(3): 325-374.
  • Ashforth, B. E. and Johnson, S. A. 2001. Which Hat to Wear? The Relative Salience Of Multiple Identities in Organizational Contexts. In M. A. Hogg and D. J. Terry (eds.): Social Identity Processes in Organizational Contexts, pp. 31-48. Philadelphia: Psychology Press.
  • Ashforth, B. E. and Mael, F. 1989. Social Identity Theory and the Organization. Academy of Management Review, 14(1): 20-39.
  • Bartel, C. og Dutton, J. 2001. Ambiguous Organizational Memberships: Constructing Organizational Identities in Interactions with Others. In Hogg, M. A. and D. J. Terry (eds.): Social Identity Processes in Organizational Contexts, pp. 115-130. Philadelphia: Psychology Press.
  • Bartels, J., Pruyn, A., de Jong, M. and Joustra, I. 2007. Multiple organizational identification levels and the impact of perceived external prestige and communication climate. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 28: 173-190.
  • Corley, K. G., Harquail, C. V., Pratt, M. G., Glynn, M. A., Fiol, C. M. and Hatch, M. J. 2006. Guiding Organizational Identity Through Aged Adolescence. Journal of Management Inquiry, 15(2): 85-99.
  • Cornelissen, J. P., Haslam, S. A. and Balmer, J. M. T. 2007. Social Identity, Organizational Identity and Corporate Identity: Towards an Integrated Understanding of Processes, Patternings and Products. British Journal of Management, 18: S1-S16.
  • Dutton, J. E. and Dukerich, J. M. 1991. Keeping an eye on the mirror: Image and identity in organizational adaptation. Academy of Management Journal, 34(3): 517-554.
  • Glynn, M. 2000. When cymbals become symbols: conflict over organizational identity within a symphony orchestra. Organization Science, 11: 285-298.
  • Haslam, S. A. 2004. Leadership. In Psychology in Organizations, pp. 40-59.
  • Hatch, M. J. and Schultz, M. 2002. The Dynamics of Organizational Identity. Human Relations, 55(8): 989-1018.
  • Hogg, M. A. and Terry, D. J. 2000. Social identity and self-categorization processes in organizational contexts. Academy of Management Review, 25: 121-140.
  • Nag, R., Corley, K. G., Gioia, D. A. 2007. The intersection of organizational identity, knowledge, and practice: Attempting strategic change via knowledge grafting. Academy of Management Journal, 50(4): 821-847.
  • Pratt, M. G. and Rafaeli, A. 1997. Organizational dress as a symbol of multilayered social identities. Academy of Management Journal, 40: 862-898.
  • Riketta, M. and Van Dick, R. 2005. Foci of attachment in organizations; a meta-analytic comparison of the strength and correlates of workgroup versus organizational identification and commitment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 67: 490–510.

Last updated by The Electives Office 22/06/2010