Introduction
Organisations have recently encountered forces from some sources that encompass rivals, shareholders, and clients, which have caused them to adopt a “lean on mean” policy. For workers, this move has caused rationalisation and cutting back every expression demonstrating real or potential unemployment. Irrespective of the expression selected, this tendency has made many employees to reconsider concerns of dedication, faithfulness, and the identity of workers.
The usual mental treaty was typically relational with shared confidence supposedly at the core of the union between workers and employers (Gioia et al. 2010). In line with this comprehension, workers at National Health Service in the United Kingdom showed faithfulness and dedication whereas employers provided job security, future of the profession, as well as training and development.
The sense of the new psychological treaty argument affirms that there exists a decrease in the dedication and fading away of identity with bosses. The notion of reduced identity has also been studied in academic literature, which discloses that identity in organisations is associated with motivation, confidence, dedication, and nationality (Zachary et al. 2011).
Due to identity in organisations, there could be a great improvement in performance. In academic research, there are two different points of views, viz. the view of multiple identities and that of trade off. This paper discusses these two competing perspectives in the context of National Health Service and explores the function of identity dynamics at occupations, stating their significance, and elucidating them theoretically.
Organisational identity
At the level of an individual worker in the National Health Service, the termination of organisational mooring lines denotes the lack of logic, belonging, and management, and thus the optional focal points for identity have turned out to be higher-flying. There are implications that workers presently focus on the externalities of organisations with adherences to the line of work or the internalities of organisations in the form of occupation or project teams.
Therefore, apparently the concern of identity has recently turned out to be more intricate with dissimilar concentrations on identity (Clark et al. 2010). Research vividly offers varying concentrations on identity and loyalty with the occupation or career.
Additionally, numerous academic advancements exist in the National Health Service though there is a lack of empirical activities specifically concerning the subject of nested identities. Two different points of view can be obtained from abiding academic research (Ravasi & Phillips 2011).
One of the viewpoints presents multiple identities and affirms that varying concentrations of identity do not require being in a contest, but are in agreement with one another.
People might identify with their direct co-workers, identify with the standards of their bosses, and as well feel dedicated towards their occupation (Ashforth, Rogers & Corley 2011). A good example that can demonstrate this assertion is the case of a physician who may closely identify with co-workers in the healthcare sector, identify with the standards and goals of the National Health Service (NHS), and have loyalty and links with the health profession.
A different viewpoint proposes that trade offs associations exist amid various centres of identity (Grimes 2010). In this regard, when a person identifies with his or her medical co-workers it is at the cost of the career and organisation. In an attempt to revisit the medical correlation, if a physician identifies with his or her medical professional co-workers, it complies with the fact that the state of identity with the NHS and medical career reduces.
Role of identity dynamics at work
Delineating and considering identity in National Health Service
Identity in the National Health Service has become a significant theoretical lens to discuss the association involving a worker and boss and in addition, it has been identified as a cognitive association between the description of the organisation and the description of self. Essentially, powerful identities in organisations come up when people integrate the discernment of the standards of the employer into their own point of view (Schreyögg & Sydow 2010).
Therefore, personal and organisational standards are well suited. A progression like that comes up from two approaches. One of the approaches is the similarities with a boss where people choose to join organisations whose standards equal their own established convictions (Edwards & Edwards 2012). The second approach is emulation where the individual convictions of a person vary in the course of employment to turn out to be strongly matched with those of their boss.
The theoretical foundation of the work in the sector focuses on the theories of social identity and self-categorisation. Organisational identity assesses the progression of the way workers describe themselves via their association with the boss (Dutton, Roberts & Bednar 2010).
The practice of identification in the National Health Service fundamentally hails from social evaluations between employees and their characteristic groups. Therefore, identity is outlined by the awareness of employees that they belong to particular social groups in conjunction with a number of psychological and value importance to them of their group devotion.
Concisely, people describe themselves by getting into social sets that carry significance to them; for instance, physicians could describe themselves as partaking in a health profession whose objective is to assist in taking care of individuals in the society (DeRue & Ashford 2010). Additionally, physicians will participate in the health career, which is an impressive profession, and thus in this manner boost their confidence and self-identity.
In a bid to elucidate the identity of a person, a second practice of social evaluations arises between groups. Individuals in a similar social group are viewed to be compatible (Balmer 2008). In this regard, dissimilarities with other individuals are augmented, thus resulting into the uniqueness and attractiveness of the groups of compatible individuals.
The insinuation of the practice of social identity is that people describe themselves via group membership and assign to features of the group, and thus the more powerful the identity, the more the mind-sets and conduct of a person are controlled by the standards of the group. Organisational identity is a precise demonstration of social individuality (Arendt & Brettel 2010). Organisational identity has normally been associated with three interrelated aspects namely:
- Constructive organisational fit
- Emotional dedication
- Internalisation
The difference between organisational identity and the outlined aspects is that organisational identity is self-definitional (Scott 2007). Therefore, employees possess organisational standards and convictions instead of merely embracing them.
Research on identity
Currently, the idea of organisational identity has focussed on two major themes. One of the themes is the roots of identity and the other is the connotations of organisational identity (Weber & Dacin 2011). Research has revealed that particular aspects boost organisational identity in the National Health Service with the likelihood that the identity of employees with their boss is higher if:
- Members of a group are compatible with them
- Organisational standards are similar to personal standards
- Term increases
- The personal characteristics imply a higher inclination to identify with the organisation (Tlili 2008)
- There is little or no conflict involving group identities
As aforementioned, many studies have examined the results of organisational identity. Research on organisational identity has also revealed that organisational recognition constructively relates to job satisfaction and motivation and it negatively relates to turnover objectives as well as real turnover (McLeish & Oxoby 2011).
Theoretical explanations
The Rising Organisational Identity Programme
As emphasised earlier, some variations to the employment affiliation have cropped up and brought about restored identification with career and workgroups (Powell 2007). A significant topic that has not been adequately studied is the character of the affiliation between career, group identity, and identity of the organisation (Rooney et al. 2010). Future research should aim at demonstrating whether identities are corresponding and matching or whether strong recognition with the career could occur at the cost of other kinds of identity.
The argument of multiple identities
In self-identity studies, it has been suggested that a person will be a member of numerous social groups with all of them partaking in the general sense of identity. Nevertheless, “these identities will not bear identical meaning or value and could be organised subconsciously in a nested structure; therefore, employees may embrace multiple identities” (Ahlgren & Tett 2010, p.25).
In the case of a National Health Service, multiple identities could arise from affiliations with the organisation, co-workers, career, or departments. In an excellent situation, standards and convictions of these unique societies will be corresponding and mutually buttressing (Edwards & Peccei 2010). Therefore, an employee will identify with various kinds of identities like those with the group, career, and organisation.
The argument of trade off
The connection involving career and organisational identity
Due to the lack of a strong relationship within National Health Service, workers have deliberately taken up optional basis of identity. The standard organisational term has decreased, but workers stay in the same occupation for elongated terms and thus identify with lasting social group, viz. their career (Christian 2011).
In brief, a higher trade off involving career and organisational identity exists. With regard to the downsizing incident, career identity has become more powerful while organisational identity has become weakened. The inconsistencies of recognition for industrial scientists have been studied with professional principles being in disagreement with the ones embraced by their bosses (King, Felin & Whetten 2010).
This conflict of identities is anchored in the idea that employees are administered by two sources. One of these sources is the managerial standards and cultural principles of the organisation. The second source is the principles of occupational societies, as well as “collegial management”.
This fixation to a professional society is based on the perception that since “trained consultants are believed to have interiorised the principles of the career, professions support right to govern their own activity” (Alvesson 2012). Due to hiring trained workers in the National Health Service, workers anticipate a particular degree of independence and the organisation supposes that they will carry on with the occupation at hand.
Therefore, the conflict turns out to be a query of reliability between the influences of position in an organisation against the influence of technology, knowledge, and ability. The aforementioned inconsistency presupposes that there will be a clash between organisational and occupational identity (Akerlof & Kranton 2005). Nevertheless, the philosophers of organisational identity propose that the affiliation between career and organisational identity in the National Health Service has brought about unconstructive and constructive affiliations.
The affiliation involving group and organisational identity
Contending literatures disprove enhanced identification with career, but aim at renewed concentration on groupings in organisations. Few practical researches have evaluated these groups, and one of them is the practical research by Haslam in 2004.
Haslam (2004) reveals that workers identify more powerfully with their groups as compared to identification with their bosses and in fact, the group is a more powerful forecaster of constructive employee approaches. Haslam’s affirmation hinges on the allegation that identity is more enhanced in smaller groups for they are more probable of structuring distinct societies with common principles due to maintained interaction (Smith 2011).
Conclusion
Organisational identity has turned out to be a significant topic in organisations, and specifically National Health Service, in the modern age due to the creation of unions and acquirements and the supremacy of organisations where it is progressively hard to understand organisational confines.
The view of reduced identity has also been studied and unveils that identity in organisations is connected with motivation, confidence, dedication, and nationality. Due to identity in organisations, there could be a great advancement in the performance of National Health Service.
In academic studies, two different points of view exist and they consist of the view of multiple identities and the view of trade off. This paper demonstrates that with the increase in organisational identity, there is a corresponding increase in the group and career identities. Similarly, when organisational identity is poor, group as well as career identity will as well be poor (Edwards 2009).
Therefore, at the extremes seems to be enhanced occupation-associated identity or poor occupational associated identity. This outcome reveals the authority of characteristics mainly supported by the strong constructive association between the requirement for identity and command of organisational identity.
Reference List
Ahlgren, L & Tett, L 2010, ‘Work-based learning, identity and organisational culture’, Studies in Continuing Education, vol. 32 no. 1, pp. 17-27.
Akerlof, G & Kranton, R 2005, ‘Identity and the Economics of Organisations’, The Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 19 no. 1, pp. 9-32.
Alvesson, M 2012, Understanding organisational culture, Sage, London.
Arendt, S & Brettel, M 2010, ‘Understanding the influence of corporate social responsibility on corporate identity, image, and firm performance’, Management Decision, vol. 48 no. 10, pp. 1469-1492.
Ashforth, B, Rogers, K & Corley, K 2011, ‘Identity in organisations: exploring cross-level dynamics’, Organisation science, vol. 22 no. 5, pp. 1144-1156.
Balmer, J 2008, ‘Identity based views of the corporation Insights from corporate identity, organisational identity, social identity, visual identity, corporate brand identity and corporate image’, European Journal of Marketing, vol. 42 no. 10, pp. 879-906.
Christian, L 2011, ‘Discerning the unique in the universal: the notion of organisation identity’, European Business Review, vol. 23 no. 6, pp. 632-654,
Clark, S, Gioia, D, Ketchen, D & Thomas, J 2010, ‘Transitional identity as a facilitator of organisational identity change during a merger’, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 55 no. 3, pp. 397-438.
DeRue, D & Ashford, S 2010, ‘Who will lead and who will follow? A social process of leadership identity construction in organisations’, Academy of Management Review, vol. 35 no. 4, pp. 627-647.
Dutton, J, Roberts, L & Bednar, J 2010, ‘Pathways for positive identity construction at work: Four types of positive identity and the building of social resources’, Academy of Management Review, vol. 35 no. 2, pp. 265-293.
Edwards, M 2009, ‘HR, perceived organisational support and organisational identification: an analysis after organisational formation’, Human Resource Management Journal, vol. 19 no. 1, pp. 91-115.
Edwards, M & Edwards, T 2012, ‘Procedural justice and identification with the acquirer: the moderating effects of job continuity, organisational identity strength and organisational similarity’, Human Resource Management Journal, vol. 22 no. 2, pp. 109-128.
Edwards, M & Peccei, R 2010, ‘Perceived organisational support, organisational identification, and employee outcomes’, Journal of Personnel Psychology, vol. 9 no. 1, pp. 17-26.
Gioia, D, Price, K, Hamilton, A & Thomas, J 2010, ‘Forging an identity: An insider-outsider study of processes involved in the formation of organisational identity’, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 55 no. 1, pp. 1-46.
Grimes, M 2010, ‘Strategic sensemaking within funding relationships: The effects of performance measurement on organisational identity in the social sector’, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, vol. 34 no. 4, pp. 763-783.
Haslam, S 2004, Psychology in organisations, SAGE Publications Limited, London.
King, B, Felin, T & Whetten, D 2010, ‘Perspective—Finding the organisation in organisational theory: A meta-theory of the organisation as a social actor’, Organisation Science, vol. 21 no. 1, pp. 290-305.
McLeish, K & Oxoby, R 2011, ‘Social interactions and the salience of social identity’, Journal of Economic Psychology, vol. 32 no. 1, pp. 172-178.
Powell, S 2007, ‘Organisational marketing, identity and the creative brand’, Journal of Brand Management, vol. 15 no. 1, pp. 41-56.
Ravasi, D & Phillips, N 2011, ‘Strategies of alignment Organisational identity management and strategic change’, Strategic Organisation, vol. 9 no. 2, pp. 103-135.
Rooney, D, Paulsen, N, Callan, V, Brabant, M, Gallois, C & Jones, E 2010, ‘A new role for place identity in managing organisational change’, Management Communication Quarterly, vol. 24 no. 1, pp. 44-73.
Schreyögg, G & Sydow, J 2010, ‘CROSSROADS—Organising for Fluidity? Dilemmas of New Organisational Forms’, Organisation Science, vol. 21 no. 6, pp. 1251-1262.
Scott, C 2007, ‘Communication and social identity theory: Existing and potential connections in organisational identification research’, Communication Studies, vol. 58 no. 2, pp. 123-138.
Smith, E 2011, ‘Identities as lenses: How organisational identity affects audiences’ evaluation of organisational performance’, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 56 no. 1, pp. 61-94.
Tlili, A 2008, ‘The organisational identity of science centres’, Culture & Organisation, vol. 14 no. 4, pp. 309-323.
Weber, K & Dacin, M 2011, ‘The cultural construction of organisational life: Introduction to the special issue’, Organisation Science, vol. 22 no. 2, p. 287.
Zachary, M, McKenny, A, Short, J, Davis, K & Wu, D 2011, ‘Franchise branding: an organisational identity perspective’, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 39 no. 4, pp. 629-645.