NOTES STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS IN ORGANIZATIONS (SCiO)
LECTURE 7 : IDENTIFICATION
lecture notes:
There is an important difference in identification and identity. Identity is can be a personal identity
or social identity. They are highlighting oneness in a group. (We have multiple groups in life.) These
identities are relatively stable, there are not always salience.
The process of identification: certain expects from your identity come to life.
site note: identity is remaining staying the same
identification: the act of identifying. a process where the identity gets verified. a process of
sensemaking. (there is no endpoint of identification)
they are motivating people to do work, lead to loyal behavior. (otherwise you lose parts of yourself
you think you are).
Organizational identification: the perception of oneness with or belonginess to an organization,
where the individual defines him or herself in terms of the organization of which he or she is a
member.
Images are created outside of the organization and that determines how the roles in an organization
are formed. they want to shetter the definition of organization being a container.
there are different layers: culture or communication (processes within organizations - pragmatist
view ch 6 OR CCO perspective - purist approach) they need boundaries. societal discourse that
doesn’t deal with organizations at all > these professional discourses define how we see a certain
image. society states that how a role should be.
identification and organizational change> people who have a stronger organizational identification
can see a change as a threat to their identity. change agents should develop another strategy to
change.
Ashcraft (2007)
roles are the responses of the people who occupy these tasks. this process is being explained in the
case example of the pilots.it links to culture, because they have underlying assumptions in jobs.
there are also great artifacts. there were two perspectives of flying: 1. flying is
dangerous/heroism/independence/adventure (masculine), artifacts: rough playbloys. 2. flying is an
art (feminin), value: elegance, art, sensitivity, artifacts: ladybirds.
> it cannot be the two perspectives. the union are starting to reconceptualize the identity > father
figures perspective, be safe and scientific.what you see happening: that determines roles the ennact
(being responsible in the cockpit)
Ashcraft, K. L. (2007). Appreciating the ‘work’ of discourse: Occupational identity and difference as
organizing mechanisms in the case of commercial airline pilots. Discourse & Communication, 1(1),
9-36.
“Shared space or physical site of labor is not a necessary nexus of work identity and culture. “
Discourse/communication both within and beyond organizational boundaries helps establishing and
maintaining commercial airline pilots’ occupational identity.
- dislocating organization movement
- re-work movement
, - role of gender discourse
- Occupational identities evolve.
The analysis demonstrates how contemporary pilots draw on the deliberate historical construction
of airline pilots as elite, fatherly professionals to make sense of their work, explicitly invoking gender
discourse as a rational and emotional warrant for their labor and, in so doing, implicitly articulating
sexuality, race and class discourses.
occupational identity: a key mechanism for accomplishing and reinstating the division and hierarchy
of labor.
an ongoing rhetorical endeavor - occurring across time and space, across macro-and
micro-messages, across institutions and actors, and in response to lived exigencies and material
possibilities - that functions to organize job segregation in large part by marshalling discourses of
differences.
discourse: a (semi-) coherent system of representation that crafts a context for language use.
generating a particular and socially recognizable version of people, things and events.
communication: dynamic, situated, embodied and contested process of activating and acting upon
systems of meaning and identity by invoking, articulating, and transforming available discourses.
article to shatter the container metaphor by devoting sustained attention to where and how else
organizing happens : dislocating organization.
image (of a job): larger, public discourses of occupational identity, manifest in popular, trade, and
even mundane conversational representations of the essence of a job and those who perform it.
role (of a job): the micro-practices of enacting a job and making sense of the work we do.
the latter (communication) negotiates the former (discourse).
image is more stereotype and role is more real life.
Horizontal segregation refers to differences in the number of people of each gender present across
occupations.
The term vertical segregation describes men's domination of the highest status jobs in both
traditionally male and traditionally female occupations.
exclusion vs. inclusion.
gender discourse cannot work alone as a form of control or as a mechanism for organizing exclusion.
I contend that discourses of difference collide to function as integral players in the organization of
occupational identity.
Identities are eternally in process, constantly reproduced and altered in dynamic interaction. -
identities have histories.
former identity of pilots:
men: manliness, endowed with physical and sexual prowess, rugged individualism, debonair
courage, and lust for adventure.
, female: ladybirds. artistic, graceful and sensitive activity.
Particular discourses of gender, race, sexualtity and clas were invoked and tweaked to establish
commercial flying as the inherent predisposition and province of a privileged few, to achieve a clear
division and hierarchy of airline labor, and to effectively police the boundaries and status of a
profession.
How, when reflecting upon their work, pilots maneuver discourses of difference to invoke their
image heritage and imbue it with contemporary relevance.
A closer read of the interview data suggests that pilot communication summons gender discourse to
perform several functions:
1) reifying the Captain’s mythic potency;
2) lending sense, order, and grandiosity to the pains and rewards of pilot work;
3) enabling rational and emotional responses conducive to (and sometimes hindering of) effective
role performance; and
4) policing Captains to ensure compelling ‘natural’ performances, thereby
5) denying the rhetorical character (and associated vulnerabilities) of pilot identity.
> these functions point to discourse/communication as a maintenance or inertial force in the
reproduction of occupational identity and segregation and as a constitutive or generative
mechanism, which produces individual experiences of work in relation to collective histories, and
which yields new rationales for pilot masculinity in an era of gender egalitarianism.
Becoming the man: it’s all about making Captain. > all participants reified and romanticized rank and
hierarchy.
From FO to Captain: biding time as naive boy to become father-knows-best.
To promote the systematic study of how discourses of difference function to organize occupational
identity and, thus, to (re)produce occupational segregation. > In particular, the analysis presented
here suggests that task content alone is not a sufficient determinant of a job’s gender coding.
Discursive struggle is a primary mechanism that enables the institutional and material conditions of
gendered occupational closure.
As should be clear from my analysis, arguing for a more constitutive or generative view of
communication/discourse in the job segregation literature does not mean promoting a
symbol-centric lens blind to material concerns.4 On the contrary, I seek to advance an approach
characterized by heightened sensitivity to the ongoing, dialectical relationship between ‘things’
discursive and material
Ashforth, B. E., Harrison, S. H., & Corley, K. G. (2008). Identification in organizations: An
examination of four fundamental questions. Journal of management, 34( 3), 325-374.
What is identification?
It outlines a continuum from narrow to broad formulations and differentiates situated identification
from deep identification and organizational identification from organizational commitment.
LECTURE 7 : IDENTIFICATION
lecture notes:
There is an important difference in identification and identity. Identity is can be a personal identity
or social identity. They are highlighting oneness in a group. (We have multiple groups in life.) These
identities are relatively stable, there are not always salience.
The process of identification: certain expects from your identity come to life.
site note: identity is remaining staying the same
identification: the act of identifying. a process where the identity gets verified. a process of
sensemaking. (there is no endpoint of identification)
they are motivating people to do work, lead to loyal behavior. (otherwise you lose parts of yourself
you think you are).
Organizational identification: the perception of oneness with or belonginess to an organization,
where the individual defines him or herself in terms of the organization of which he or she is a
member.
Images are created outside of the organization and that determines how the roles in an organization
are formed. they want to shetter the definition of organization being a container.
there are different layers: culture or communication (processes within organizations - pragmatist
view ch 6 OR CCO perspective - purist approach) they need boundaries. societal discourse that
doesn’t deal with organizations at all > these professional discourses define how we see a certain
image. society states that how a role should be.
identification and organizational change> people who have a stronger organizational identification
can see a change as a threat to their identity. change agents should develop another strategy to
change.
Ashcraft (2007)
roles are the responses of the people who occupy these tasks. this process is being explained in the
case example of the pilots.it links to culture, because they have underlying assumptions in jobs.
there are also great artifacts. there were two perspectives of flying: 1. flying is
dangerous/heroism/independence/adventure (masculine), artifacts: rough playbloys. 2. flying is an
art (feminin), value: elegance, art, sensitivity, artifacts: ladybirds.
> it cannot be the two perspectives. the union are starting to reconceptualize the identity > father
figures perspective, be safe and scientific.what you see happening: that determines roles the ennact
(being responsible in the cockpit)
Ashcraft, K. L. (2007). Appreciating the ‘work’ of discourse: Occupational identity and difference as
organizing mechanisms in the case of commercial airline pilots. Discourse & Communication, 1(1),
9-36.
“Shared space or physical site of labor is not a necessary nexus of work identity and culture. “
Discourse/communication both within and beyond organizational boundaries helps establishing and
maintaining commercial airline pilots’ occupational identity.
- dislocating organization movement
- re-work movement
, - role of gender discourse
- Occupational identities evolve.
The analysis demonstrates how contemporary pilots draw on the deliberate historical construction
of airline pilots as elite, fatherly professionals to make sense of their work, explicitly invoking gender
discourse as a rational and emotional warrant for their labor and, in so doing, implicitly articulating
sexuality, race and class discourses.
occupational identity: a key mechanism for accomplishing and reinstating the division and hierarchy
of labor.
an ongoing rhetorical endeavor - occurring across time and space, across macro-and
micro-messages, across institutions and actors, and in response to lived exigencies and material
possibilities - that functions to organize job segregation in large part by marshalling discourses of
differences.
discourse: a (semi-) coherent system of representation that crafts a context for language use.
generating a particular and socially recognizable version of people, things and events.
communication: dynamic, situated, embodied and contested process of activating and acting upon
systems of meaning and identity by invoking, articulating, and transforming available discourses.
article to shatter the container metaphor by devoting sustained attention to where and how else
organizing happens : dislocating organization.
image (of a job): larger, public discourses of occupational identity, manifest in popular, trade, and
even mundane conversational representations of the essence of a job and those who perform it.
role (of a job): the micro-practices of enacting a job and making sense of the work we do.
the latter (communication) negotiates the former (discourse).
image is more stereotype and role is more real life.
Horizontal segregation refers to differences in the number of people of each gender present across
occupations.
The term vertical segregation describes men's domination of the highest status jobs in both
traditionally male and traditionally female occupations.
exclusion vs. inclusion.
gender discourse cannot work alone as a form of control or as a mechanism for organizing exclusion.
I contend that discourses of difference collide to function as integral players in the organization of
occupational identity.
Identities are eternally in process, constantly reproduced and altered in dynamic interaction. -
identities have histories.
former identity of pilots:
men: manliness, endowed with physical and sexual prowess, rugged individualism, debonair
courage, and lust for adventure.
, female: ladybirds. artistic, graceful and sensitive activity.
Particular discourses of gender, race, sexualtity and clas were invoked and tweaked to establish
commercial flying as the inherent predisposition and province of a privileged few, to achieve a clear
division and hierarchy of airline labor, and to effectively police the boundaries and status of a
profession.
How, when reflecting upon their work, pilots maneuver discourses of difference to invoke their
image heritage and imbue it with contemporary relevance.
A closer read of the interview data suggests that pilot communication summons gender discourse to
perform several functions:
1) reifying the Captain’s mythic potency;
2) lending sense, order, and grandiosity to the pains and rewards of pilot work;
3) enabling rational and emotional responses conducive to (and sometimes hindering of) effective
role performance; and
4) policing Captains to ensure compelling ‘natural’ performances, thereby
5) denying the rhetorical character (and associated vulnerabilities) of pilot identity.
> these functions point to discourse/communication as a maintenance or inertial force in the
reproduction of occupational identity and segregation and as a constitutive or generative
mechanism, which produces individual experiences of work in relation to collective histories, and
which yields new rationales for pilot masculinity in an era of gender egalitarianism.
Becoming the man: it’s all about making Captain. > all participants reified and romanticized rank and
hierarchy.
From FO to Captain: biding time as naive boy to become father-knows-best.
To promote the systematic study of how discourses of difference function to organize occupational
identity and, thus, to (re)produce occupational segregation. > In particular, the analysis presented
here suggests that task content alone is not a sufficient determinant of a job’s gender coding.
Discursive struggle is a primary mechanism that enables the institutional and material conditions of
gendered occupational closure.
As should be clear from my analysis, arguing for a more constitutive or generative view of
communication/discourse in the job segregation literature does not mean promoting a
symbol-centric lens blind to material concerns.4 On the contrary, I seek to advance an approach
characterized by heightened sensitivity to the ongoing, dialectical relationship between ‘things’
discursive and material
Ashforth, B. E., Harrison, S. H., & Corley, K. G. (2008). Identification in organizations: An
examination of four fundamental questions. Journal of management, 34( 3), 325-374.
What is identification?
It outlines a continuum from narrow to broad formulations and differentiates situated identification
from deep identification and organizational identification from organizational commitment.
