Identity Ambiguity and Change in the Wake of a Corporate Spin-off

2004 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-208
Author(s):  
Kevin G. Corley ◽  
Dennis A. Gioia
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Collective State ◽  
Identity Change ◽  
Interpretive Case Study ◽  
Identity Ambiguity ◽  
Fortune 100 ◽  
Collective Experience ◽  
Experience Of Change ◽  
Independent Organization

We report on the findings of an inductive, interpretive case study of organizational identity change in the spin-off of a Fortune 100 company's top-performing organizational unit into an independent organization. We examined the processes by which the labels and meanings associated with the organization's identity underwent changes during and after the spin-off, as well as how the organization responded to these changes. The emergent model of identity change revolved around a collective state of identity ambiguity, the details of which provide insight into processes whereby organizational identity change can occur. Additionally, our findings revealed previously unreported aspects of organizational change, including organization members' collective experience of “change overload” and the presence of temporal identity discrepancies in the emergence of the identity ambiguity.

What is NORML? Sedimented Meanings in Ambiguous Organizational Identities

2021 ◽  
pp. 017084062110577
Author(s):  
Matthew C.B. Lyle ◽  
Ian J. Walsh ◽  
Diego M. Coraiola
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Identity Change ◽  
National Organization ◽  
The Past ◽  
Organizational Identities ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Identity Threats ◽  
History Of ◽  
Identity Labels

Organizational identity scholarship has largely focused on the mutability of meanings ascribed to ambiguous identity labels. In contrast, we analyze a case study of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) to explore how leaders maintained a meaning ascribed to an ambiguous identity label amid successive identity threats. We found that heightened dissensus surrounding meanings attributed to the organization’s “reform group” label at three key points spurred theoretically similar manifestations of two processes. The first, meaning sedimentation, involved leaders invoking history to advocate for the importance of their preferred meaning while mulling the inclusion of others. The second, reconstructing the past, occurred as leaders and members alike offered narratives that obscured the history of disavowed meanings while sharing new memories of those they prioritized. Our work complements research on identity change by drawing attention to the processes by which meaning(s) underlying ambiguous identity labels might survive.

scholarly journals Why Open Innovation is Easier Said Than Done: An Organizational Identity Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-67
Author(s):  
Maral Mahdad ◽  
Chiara E. De Marco ◽  
Andrea Piccaluga ◽  
Alberto Di Minin
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Open Innovation ◽  
Organizational Transformation ◽  
Identity Transformation ◽  
Identity Change ◽  
Innovation Ecosystem ◽  
Managerial Skills ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
Identity Ambiguity ◽  
University Scientists

In this article, we explore and interpret organizational identity transformation associated with open innovation strategy of the largest telecommunication company in Italy, Telecom Italia (TIM). When TIM established eight joint laboratories within five major Italian universities to benefit from opening its business model, it transferred some of the R&D employees to the new laboratories to work with the university scientists. This organizational transformation created underexplored conditions for R&D employees engaged in the open innovation activities of the firm. Our interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) answers the question of “How do R&D employees experience organizational identity change in the process of open innovation?”. We based our analysis on interpreting lived experiences of 14 employees. Studying the phenomena of organizational identity change during the process of open innovation implementation suggests the following: (1) The process of open innovation through mobility of skilled R&D employees triggers organizational identity ambiguity and change, (2) Organizational identity ambiguity phase in the process of open innovation can be shortened by the support of parent company and managerial skills highlighting sensemaking mechanisms, (3) Constructing a shared organizational identity with university members involved in this process is an undeniable element of OI success for this strategy. We contribute to the literature by establishing linkages among organizational identity and open innovation and by building on recent works on the role of individuals within open innovation ecosystem. Our qualitative analysis draws on a conceptual framework for open innovation and organizational identity transformation.

scholarly journals Anti-identity strategizing: The dynamic interplay of “who we are” and “who we are not”

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Stanske ◽  
Madeleine Rauch ◽  
Anna Canato
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Strategy Selection ◽  
Discontinuous Change ◽  
Change Trajectories ◽  
Change Initiatives ◽  
Identity Ambiguity ◽  
Dynamic Interplay

In this article, we investigate the strategy–identity nexus by illustrating the interaction between organizational identity, anti-identity, and strategy. While extant research illustrates the potentially constraining role of organizational identity on change trajectories, less is known about the role of organizational anti-identity. Drawing on a qualitative case study of a leading German distributor’s 32-year history, we highlight the importance of organizational anti-identity for both continuous and discontinuous change initiatives, and illustrate how organizational members can overcome identity ambiguity by referring to “who we are not as an organization” rather than to “who we are as an organization.” We further show how managers who draw on identity reservoirs may have greater leeway when exploiting anti-identity, and how ambiguity and resistance may be overcome by referring to “who we are not” as an organization. Our findings broaden our understanding of the role of anti-identity for strategy selection and contribute to the burgeoning literature on the strategy–identity nexus.

scholarly journals (Un)Mind the gap: How organizational actors cope with an identity–strategy misalignment

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 212-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Wenzel ◽  
Joep P. Cornelissen ◽  
Jochen Koch ◽  
Michael Hartmann ◽  
Madeleine Rauch
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Public Broadcasting ◽  
Cognitive Coping ◽  
Specific Strategy ◽  
Interpretive Case Study ◽  
Coping Tactics

In this article, we explore how organizational actors cope with a perceived misalignment between their organization’s identity and strategy. Based on an inductive, interpretive case study at a public broadcasting organization, we identify three cognitive tactics through which organizational members cope with an identity–strategy misalignment: contextualization, abstraction, and fatalism. Furthermore, we show that the enactment of these cognitive coping tactics coincides with specific strategy-related tasks that prioritize different aspects of an organization’s identity and, therefore, invokes different conceptions of the identity–strategy misalignment. Based on these findings, we develop a framework that conceptualizes how organizational members cope with an identity–strategy misalignment. We end the article by discussing the implications of our study for further research on the linkages between organizational identity and strategy.

Mission accomplished? Organizational identity work in response to mission success

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (9) ◽  
pp. 1234-1263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila M Cannon ◽  
Karin Kreutzer
Keyword(s):  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Identity Work ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Rhetorical Strategies ◽  
Mission Success ◽  
Identity Ambiguity ◽  
Conventional Literature

How do nonprofit organizations reinvent their identities after they have accomplished all or part of their missions? This comparative case study of two Irish peacebuilding organizations explores what happens when their raison d’etre is fundamentally challenged. A successful peace process in Northern Ireland resulted in reduced support for peacebuilding organizations and a perception of mission accomplished. Conventional literature on nonprofit organizations portrays mission success as positive. We show that mission success paradoxically threatens the very existence of the organization as it may lead to member and donor dissociation. We find that mission success leads to identity ambiguity, which catalyses organizational identity work including different rhetorical strategies of self–other talk. We develop a process model illustrating competitive versus integrative approaches to organizational identity work to understand nonprofits adapting to mission success. We draw out lessons for practitioners. Focusing on a renewed mission that is consistent with the organization’s history is more important than finding a quick financial fix. Social purpose organizations can efficiently and effectively be redeployed to address new challenges, rather than recreating new organizations each time.

scholarly journals A first step towards service-dominant logic as a new approach to overcome challenges in business intelligence

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-231
Author(s):  
Pamela Clavier ◽  
Hugo Lotriet ◽  
Johan Van Loggerenberg
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
South African ◽  
Business Intelligence ◽  
New Approach ◽  
High Expectations ◽  
Dominant Logic ◽  
Interpretive Case Study ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Banking Institution

High expectations are set for Business Intelligence (BI), yet it fails to consistently deliver accordingly: there are numerous reports of BI challenges and failures. Existing approaches to address BI challenges are largely found to be ineffective, highlighting the need for a new approach. This paper examines how BI is perceived or understood and establishes that, firstly, BI is inherently grounded in Goods-Dominant (G-D) logic and secondly, that this can be linked to the challenges that are experienced within BI. A recommendation is made for a shift to Service-Dominant (S-D) logic as a new avenue of exploration to assist in overcoming BI’s prevailing challenges. Identifying the inherent G-D logic in BI provides the first step necessary in making this shift. Research findings are based on an interpretive case study of a South African Banking institution as well as a literature review.

Digital innovation in context

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 696-714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Nylén ◽  
Jonny Holmström
Keyword(s):  
Centralized Control ◽  
Church Of Sweden ◽  
Advertising Agency ◽  
Digital Innovation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Organizational Settings ◽  
Interpretive Case Study ◽  
Traditional Organization

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how digital innovation processes emerge and evolve in organizational settings, and how serendipitous and unbounded digital innovations affect organizations’ overall digital directions. Design/methodology/approach The authors draw on an interpretive case study of the Church of Sweden, tracing in detail the design, deployment and governance of an interactive website for digital prayer, the Prayer Web (PW). Findings The findings show how the site came about in a serendipitous manner, created by an advertising agency as part of a marketing campaign. In turn, the unbounded nature of digital innovation was revealed as the wide and rapid adoption of the PW raised issues concerning the church’s overall digital direction linked to centralized control, as well as the nature and role of pastors, prayer and communities, as the site allowed people to post prayers and spread their messages (initially with no moderation). Originality/value The authors explore the serendipitous and unbounded ways in which digital innovation emerged and evolved in a traditional organization with a long legacy as an important societal institution. The paper contributes by generating rich insights on the role of the distinct aspects of digital technology in serendipitous and unbounded digital innovation. It particularly highlights how the editability and reprogrammability of digital artifacts triggered unexpected new behaviors and governance requirements in the organization under study. The authors encourage further research into the interrelationship between multiple unbounded and serendipitous digital innovations in an organization over time.

scholarly journals Exploratory Study on Alignment Between IT and Business Strategies

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wahyuni Reksoatmodjo ◽  
Jogiyanto Hartono ◽  
Achmad Djunaedi ◽  
Hargo Utomo
Keyword(s):  
Study Data ◽  
Business Strategies ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Dominant Factor ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
It Infrastructure ◽  
Interpretive Case Study ◽  
Textual Data ◽  
Case Study Data

Interaction and linkages between business and information technology (IT) strategies remain a primary concern among executives. This study aims to gain an in depth understanding of how companies achieve alignment and the policy framework that underlies the efforts, particularly those that are associated with the most dominant factor that contributes to the establishment of strategic alignment, namely IT infrastructure flexibility. For that purpose, the study explored four companies engaged in the field of oil, electricity, and communication by adopting interpretive case study. Data were gathered using triangulation methods via field interviews, artifacts, document analysis, as well as direct observation. The textual data were elaborated by an intentional analysis in order to guide the study in exploring the phenomenon. The study identified elements that reflect IT infrastructure flexibilities namely connectivity, compatibility, modularity, IT staff knowledge and skills, and integration. Those elements cover both technical and behavioral dimensions of a company’s components that need to be included in the consideration during the planning phase

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