To study and better understand people's working lives and organizational involvement in the context of their whole lives and in the context of the societal culture in which they have grown up and now live, it is helpful to bring together three key concepts of narrative, identity work and the social construction of reality. Such a move can be connected to the abandonment of widely used but limiting concepts, such as that of`managerial identity'. The essentially sociological nature of this move also provides an antidote to the equally limiting tendency towards the `narrative imperialism' which is associated with the idea of the `narrative self'. The value of the suggested theoretical framing and its linking of narrative, identity work and social construction is demonstrated by the close analysis of a large private autobiography of a former manager. This individual's identity work simultaneously uses discursively available narratives and creates new narratives (many small stories being embedded in one large life story), all within the framework of history, social structure and culture.
Abbott, A. Againstnarrative: A preface to lyrical sociology. Social Theory, 2007, 25(1), 67-99.
2.
Ainsworth, S. & Hardy, C.Discourse and identities. In C. Hardy , C. Oswick & L. Putnam (Eds), The SAGE handbook of organizational discourse. London: SAGE, 2004, pp. 153-74.
3.
Alvesson, M. & Karreman, D.Taking the linguistic turn in organizational research, challenges, responses, consequences. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 2000, 36, 136-58.
4.
Alvesson, M. & Willmott, H.Identity regulation as organizational control: Producing the appropriate individual . Journal of Management Studies, 2002, 39(5), 619-44.
5.
Beech, N. & Sims, D.Narrative methods for identity research. In A. Pullen, N. Beech & D. Sims (Eds), Researching identity: Concepts and methods. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, pp. 288-301.
6.
Berger, P.L. & Luckmann, T.The social construction of reality. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971.
7.
Bergmann, G.New foundations of ontology. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992.
8.
Bruner, J.Life as narrative. Social Research, 1987, 54, 13-32.
9.
Czarniawska, B.A narrative approach to organization studies. London: SAGE, 1998.
10.
Czarniawska-Joerges, B.Autobiographical acts and organizational identities. In S. Linstead, R. Grafton Small & P. Jeffcutt (Eds), Understanding management. London: SAGE, 1996, pp. 157-71.
Down, S.Narratives of enterprise: Crafting entrepreneurial self-identity in a small firm. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2006.
13.
du Gay, P.Organizing identity. London: SAGE , 2007.
14.
Eakin, P.J.Selfhood, autobiography, and interdisciplinary inquiry: A reply to George Butte. Narrative, 2005, 3, 307-11.
15.
Gabriel, Y.Storytelling in organizations: Facts, fictions, fantasies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
16.
Gabriel, Y.Myths, stories and organizations: Premodern narratives for out time. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
17.
Gergen, K.E.An invitation to social construction. London: SAGE, 1999.
18.
Giddens, A.Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age. Cambridge: Polity, 1991.
19.
Goffman, E.The presentation of self in everyday life. Harmondsworth : Penguin, 1958.
20.
Goldthorpe, J.H., Lockwood, D., Bechhofer, F. & Platt, J.The affluent worker: Attitudes and behaviour. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1968 .
21.
Grant, D., Hardy, C., Oswick, C. & Putnam, L.Introduction: Organizational discourse: exploring the field. In C. Hardy, C. Oswick & L. Putnam (Eds), The SAGE handbook of organizational discourse. London: SAGE, 2004, pp. 1-36.
Kallinikos, J.Work, human agency and organizational forms: An anatomy of fragmentation. Organization, 2003, 11, 149-75.
24.
Kreiner, G.E. & Hollensbe, M.L.Where is the `me' among the `we'? Identity work and the search for optimal balance. Academy of Management Journal, 2006, 49(5), 1031-57.
25.
MacIntyre, A.After virtue. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1981.
McAdams, D.P.The stories we live by: Personal myths and the making of the self. New York: William C. Morrow, 1993 .
28.
McAdams, D.P.Personal narratives and the life story. In L. Pervin & O. John (Eds), Handbook of personality: Theory and research, 2nd edn. New York: Guilford Press, 1999, pp. 478-500.
29.
McAdams, D.P., Josselson, R. & Lieblich, A.Identity and story: Creating self in narrative. New York : APA Books, 2006.
30.
Newton, T.Theorizing subjectivity in organizations: The failure of Foucauldian studies ? Organization Studies, 1998, 19, 415-47.
31.
Pearsall, J. (Ed.). The new Oxford dictionary of English. Oxford: Clarendon Press , 1998.
32.
Phelan, J.Who's here? Thoughts on narrative identity and narrative imperialism. Narrative, 2005, 13, 205-11.
33.
Plummer, K.The call of life stories in ethnographic research. In P. Atkinson, A. Coffey, S. Delamont, J. Lofland & L. Lofland (Eds), Handbook of ethnography. London: SAGE, 2001, pp. 395-406.
34.
Putnam, L.L. & Boys, S.Revisiting metaphors of organizational communication. In S.R. Clegg, C. Hardy & W. Nord (Eds), Handbook of organization studies. London: SAGE, 2006, pp. 541-76.
35.
Rhodes, C. & Brown, A.D.Narrative, organizations and research. International Journal of Management Reviews, 2005, 7, 167-88.
36.
Ricoeur, P.The narrative function. In J.B. Thompson (Ed.), Paul Ricoeur, hermeneutics and the human sciences: Essays on language, action, and interpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983, pp. 274-96.
37.
Sacks, O.The man who mistook his wife for his hat and other clinical tales. London: Duckworth, 1985.
38.
Sennett, R.The corrosion of character: The personal consequences of work in the new capitalism . New York: Norton, 1998.
39.
Sims, D.Between the millstones: A narrative account of the vulnerability of middle managers' storying. Human Relations, 2003, 56, 1195-211.
40.
Somers, M.R.The narrative constitution of identity: A relational and network approach . Theory and Society, 1994, 23, 605-49.
41.
Strawson, G.Against narrativity. Ratio, December 2004, 17, 428-52.
42.
Sturdy, A., Brocklehurst, M., Winstanley, D. & Littlejohns, M.Management as a (self) confidence trick: Management ideas, education and identity work. Organization, 2006, 13(6), 841-60.
43.
Sveningsson, S. & Alvesson, M.Managing managerial identities: Organizational fragmentation, discourse and identity struggle. Human Relations, 2003, 56, 1163-93.
44.
Taylor, C.Sources of the self. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989.
45.
Thomas, W.I. & Znaniecki, F.The Polish peasant in Europe and America. New York: Dover Books, 1958 (originally published 1918-21).
46.
Watson, L.C. & Watson-Franke, M.Interpreting life histories: An anthropological inquiry. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1985.
Watson, T.J.How do managers think? Morality and pragmatism in theory and practice. Management Learning, 1996, 27(3), 323-41.
49.
Watson, T.J.The emergent manager and processes of management pre-learning. Management Learning, 2001b, 32(2), 221-35.
50.
Watson, T.J.Ethical choice in managerial work: The scope for managerial choices in an ethically irrational world. Human Relations, 2003, 56(2), 167-85.
51.
Watson, T.J.Managing identity: Identity work, personal predicaments and structural circumstances . Organization, 2008a, 15(1), 121-43.
52.
Watson, T.J.Sociology, narrative and discourse. In F. Bargiela-Chiappini (Ed.), The handbook of business discourse . Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008b, pp. 226-38.
53.
Watson, T.J.Social construction of reality. In Y. Gabriel (Ed.), Organizing words. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008c, pp. 270-1.
54.
Weber, M.Politics as a vocation. In H.H. Gerth & C.W. Mills, From Max Weber: Essays in sociology. London: Routledge, 1970, pp. 77-128.
