Abstract
It doesn’t happen very often, unfortunately, but sometimes you come across a text that makes you want to develop a specialized course in that particular topic. This is how I felt when reading Kenny, Whittle and Wilmott’s book on identity and organizations. It is thoughtful, stimulating and well-written and offers a brilliant overview of the issue of identity as it has been played out in relation to organizations over the last century, with a primary emphasis on theoretical and practical issues of the last few decades. The book is clear and accessible, while still intellectually stimulating, and sprinkled with relevant cases and examples that provide pertinent illustrations of its theoretical points. With additional pedagogical features such as a glossary, suggested readings, ‘Thinkpoints’ and cartoons that engage the reader to reflect on identity beyond common-sense understandings, the book has great potential to become a classic among identity scholars and educators.
As the authors note, ‘identity is a vital part of work and its organization’ and vice versa. We increasingly, it seems, define ourselves through the work we perform and the organizations with which we associate. And while this trend has both positive and negative consequences for individuals and organizations, it is important to recognize—as Kenny, Whittle and Wilmott do—the many different and often subtle processes through which identity is at work in social and organizational life. From ‘a predominantly social constructionist perspective’, the authors escort us through eight interesting chapters that present many of these processes in a gradual move towards the organization as the identity locus par excellence. The eight chapters are: 1) Introduction to understanding identity; 2) Theoretical perspectives on identity; 3) Diversity and identity; 4) Occupational identity; 5) Identity and organizational control; 6) Organizational identity; 7) Virtual identity and 8) The future of identity.
Although each chapter has its own merit, I especially enjoyed the clarity with which the different theoretical perspectives on identity are presented and systematized in chapter 2. The chapter covers Social Identity Theory, Psychoanalysis, Foucauldian perspective, Symbolic Interactionism, Narrative approaches and Micro-interactionist approaches respectively, highlighting in each case theoretical assumptions, methodological approach(es), founding thinkers and examples from organization studies, as well as discussions of strengths and weaknesses of each perspective. Following the presentation of these theories, a fictional case (a diary of Frances) is used to demonstrate how each theoretical perspective may illuminate different identity dimensions related to Frances’ work life. This is an excellent presentation of complex material. Given the quality of this overview, however, I was a bit disappointed by the lack of systematic cross-references in the following chapters to the theoretical perspectives laid out in chapter 2. Students confronted with, for example, a ‘performative perspective’ on identity (in chapter 3), may wonder how this fits the neatly defined and explained perspectives of the previous chapter. Although there is an occasional link back to specific theories, the lack of systematic use of the theoretical foundation makes chapter 2 seem a bit disjointed from the rest of the book.
This, however, is a minor limitation of a book that is otherwise coherent and comprehensive, crammed with excellent discussions of work-related identity issues, including diversity, gender, ethnicity, queer identities, age discrimination, class-based identities, managerial identity, degrading work, unpaid work, identity management, teamwork, (dis)identification, hybrid identities, power, virtual technologies, teleworking, online communities, flexible firms, etc.
As it appears, I am eager to recommend this book to everyone interested in contemporary organizations—and organizational identity in particular. Still, I have to point out a few, yet significant, limitations. First, I found the historical contextualization of identity much wanting. Although the introductory chapter provides a brief history of how identity has been on the management agenda since Taylor’s Principles of Scientific Management was published in 1911, the book ignores earlier—yet highly relevant—dimensions of work-related identity, including for example paternalistic relationships between factory owners and workers during most of the industrial period, ongoing attempts by major corporations, especially since the late 19th century, to present themselves as moral, responsible and indispensable institutions of society, as well as their endeavours to align members more tightly with their workplace through the systematic construction of corporate imagery (e.g. Marchand, 1998). More importantly, since the aim of this book is broader than organizational identity per se and claims to address identity from a social constructionist perspective, it would have been useful—especially to new readers in the field—had the authors given some consideration to the fact that identity as an explicit preoccupation is historically speaking a fairly recent phenomenon, intensified as it is in contemporary consumer-oriented societies.
Another limitation relates to the specific ‘gaze’ or ‘lens’ Kenny, Whittle and Wilmott bring to bear when discussing identity and identity management. In chapter 2, they explicitly acknowledge that a lens not only allows us to see things in a particular way, but also prevents us from seeing other dimensions of a phenomenon. Yet, it seems to me that they are partially blind to the limitations of their own perspective. In addition to their social constructionist perspective, they apply a critical management studies perspective throughout the book to illuminate, for example, subtle forms of control and power at play—even in organizations that subscribe to diversity, participation and individuality. And while this perspective works very well in many cases, it tends to produce what comes across in this book as almost ‘automatic’ interpretations of identity management as control processes that are always strategic, volitional and driven by economic motives. I do not question the assumption that this is often the case. Yet, I occasionally missed a more nuanced stance when reading about managerial initiatives to make workplaces more inclusive, fun or ‘human’. Are such initiatives always and necessarily driven by ‘a good business case’ perspective? And how can the authors maintain such a view without assuming a privileged perspective from where they can oversee and evaluate the ‘true’ motives of all managerial initiatives? Although Kenny, Whittle and Wilmott acknowledge that power is not a one-way street, they frequently contradict this observation when describing the actual workings of power and control, for example when culture is seen to control the ‘insides’ of employees.
In spite of these shortcomings, I truly enjoyed reading this book. As even my critical comments indicate, the book is engaging in the sense that it invites us to look at work-related identity from many different angles, to question what we take for granted and to be aware of how identity is at once liberating and constraining. Combined with a collection of classical texts on (organizational) identity, for example the reader by Hatch and Schultz (2004)—this book will make for an excellent teaching material for anyone interested in identity at both undergraduate and graduate levels.