Responding to imposed job redesign : the evolving dynamics of work and identity in restructuring professional identity

Professionals are increasingly prevalent in organizations and are required to change their professional practice in response to requirements from employers. It is therefore important to understand how professionals respond when they are required to conduct work that does not match with their identity. We investigated this situation in an English public services organisation where a major work redesign initiative required professionals to engage in new tasks that they did not want to do. Based on our findings, we develop a process model of professional identity restructuring that includes the following four stages: (1) resisting identity change and mourning loss of previous work, (2) conserving professional identity and avoiding the new work, (3) parking professional identity and learning the new work, and (4) retrieving and modifying professional identity and affirming the new work. We contribute to the literature by showing how parking one’s professional identity facilitates the creation of liminal space, which enables the restructuring of one’s professional identity. Our model also explicates the dynamics between professional work and professional identity, showing how requirements for new professional work can lead to a new professional identity

Qualitatively capturing institutional logics

There is an ever-increasing volume of studies investigating institutional logics, and yet qualitative methods for studying this phenomenon are not clear. In this essay, we examine how qualitative scholars convince their readers that they are actually studying institutional logics. We identify three different, but non-exclusive techniques that have been employed: pattern deducing, pattern matching, and pattern inducing. For each of these approaches, we explain the ontological assumptions, methodological techniques, challenges, and benefits. In addition, we provide examples of how specific studies have analyzed and presented qualitative data to improve theory about institutional logics.</jats:p

Constructing and sustaining counter-institutional identities

How do individuals and collectives construct and sustain identities that run counter to dominant institutions? We develop the notion of counterinstitutional identity as involving individual and collective constructions of ‘who we are’ that are in strong opposition to dominant values and principles in the field, diverge from roles that are established through socialization and training, and involve practices that are proudly construed in direct contrast to field norms. We draw on findings from a comparative case study of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams to theorize about the identity work of groups and individuals that enables and constrains counter-institutional identity constructions. We develop a cross-level process model of encapsulation in which authoritative texts (or prescriptive documents) play a role in sanctioning and enhancing counter-institutional identities. The model shows how rigorous positioning against ‘who we are not’ (an “identity foil”) through practices of oppositional identity work are combined with practices of relational identity work that reinforce counter-institutional identities by positively valuing ‘who we are’ as superior to the foil. These practices are crucial to understanding how and why counter-institutional identities are created and sustained

The role of space and place in organisational and institutional change : a systematic review of the literature

We present a systematic review of empirical articles investigating the role of place and space within the organisational and institutional change literature. In taking stock of the change literature, our aim is to better understand the nature and degree of scholarly engagement with concepts associated with place and space to inform a future research agenda. Our systematic review identified 290 empirical articles published between 1979 and 2020 that attended to organisational or institutional change and also engaged with space or place. Our analysis generated four archetypal perspectives that represent qualitatively different ways of viewing the role of place and space in how organisations and institutions change: functional perspective, situated perspective, experiential perspective, and mutually constituted perspective. We synthesise the four perspectives into a typology that reveals different levels of attention to change as process and to place and space as lived or physical phenomena, and cast light on different assumptions about the relationships between change and place or space that can guide future research

Family routines and next-generation engagement in family firms

By focusing on the impact of different types of family routines and how they change, this commentary builds on concepts regarding the influence of perceived parental support and psychological control on next-generation engagement in family firms. Drawing on the organizational routines literature and the family studies literature, I propose that attention to family routines, and how these routines change (or not) over time can reveal additional insights regarding next-generation engagement in the family business

Organizational impact of evidence-informed decision making training initiatives : a case study comparison of two approaches

Background The impact of efforts by healthcare organizations to enhance the use of evidence to improve organizational processes through training programs has seldom been assessed. We therefore endeavored to assess whether and how the training of mid- and senior-level healthcare managers could lead to organizational change. Methods We conducted a theory-driven evaluation of the organizational impact of healthcare leaders’ participation in two training programs using a logic model based on Nonaka’s theory of knowledge conversion. We analyzed six case studies nested within the two programs using three embedded units of analysis (individual, group and organization). Interviews were conducted during intensive one-week data collection site visits. A total of 84 people were interviewed. Results We found that the impact of training could primarily be felt in trainees’ immediate work environments. The conversion of attitudes was found to be easier to achieve than the conversion of skills. Our results show that, although socialization and externalization were common in all cases, a lack of combination impeded the conversion of skills. We also identified several individual, organizational and program design factors that facilitated and/or impeded the dissemination of the attitudes and skills gained by trainees to other organizational members. Conclusions Our theory-driven evaluation showed that factors before, during and after training can influence the extent of skills and knowledge transfer. Our evaluation went further than previous research by revealing the influence—both positive and negative—of specific organizational factors on extending the impact of training programs