The Concept of Identity within the Working Environment - Literature review Example

The article, ‘Managing Identity: Identity Work, Personal Predicaments and Structural Circumstances’ by Watson is highly pertinent to the study of human behaviour within the context of defined social structure and organization. The article is an investigative ethnographic research study. It makes concerted efforts to find the ethnographic compulsions that impact human personality and behaviour. The varying aspect of an individual’s personality vis-à-vis different social context is important paradigm that promotes construction of multiple social identities. The wide ranging implications of social identities greatly facilitate in prediction of human behaviour. Therefore, claiming identities within organizational setup become vastly relevant not only for the organizations but also for the wider welfare of the workforce. The study is a thematic disclosure of refining the concept of identity within the working environment for personal and professional development. The author’s ethnographic study of social identity within the organizational structure broadly addresses the important implication of differing human responses to defined situations. The social identity provides man with a distinct attribute and facilitates establishment of social status that physically represents him. The primary social identity of a man is gender specific and is followed by a distinct name by which he is known in the world. But a person is often bestowed with multiple social identities, some of which may acquire more forceful and intimidating perspective under certain given circumstances. Thus, the personal and professional identities of the individuals give important indication of his or her actions in critical situation which may significantly impact organizational outcome. Though Watson’s study had observed two individuals (Leonard Hilton and Kay Rhodes) within an organization for 12 months period, the study had figuratively spanned 15 years of documentary evidences of changing behavioural pattern from the autobiographical account of Hilton. Thus, the research findings are based on Watson’s interpretations of identities of these two characters that he has linked to the theoretical aspects of human psychology. The study assumes great significance because the concept of multiple identities has been used to interpret individual’s desire to deliberately promote identities for personal and professional gain. The study has tried to broaden the area of research by incorporating the imperatives for changing social identities rather than narrowing down to specific identities within the implicit paradigm of social structure. The need to evolve with the changing dynamics of socio-cultural and political compulsions is an important aspect of the study. The contextual elements and the factors that influence human interaction and provoke varied responses are the critical issues that designed to add value to the research theme. Hence, its focus on the ethnographic methodology is indicative of the author’s desire to elicit important information from the real life situations and provide a broader world view of the same. Indeed, the study elaborates the role of individuals under diverse settings. It has emphatically established that human behaviour is dependent of external factors of social organization. It also draws attention to the human nature that is intrinsically linked to cause and consequences of social structure. It shows how it to conform to the broader guidelines of the same. Watson’s investigative ethnographic research is recommendable because of the wide ranging role of social identities with societal framework. Social identity has been an ongoing process that is continuously transforming in order to serve dual purpose of maintaining and strengthening uniqueness of one’s identity with values and beliefs that have withstood the test of the time. At the same time, some have been discarded as they have outgrown their utility in the changing times. Hence, Watson’s study promotes the concept of social identity in a given parameter of social norms that is flexible and incorporates the changes to remain competitive. At the same time, it also raises vital issues of social controls that are exerted by various societal paradigms and organizational compulsions that necessitate change. Most importantly, the study also highlights the critical role of ‘self’ within the broader framework of organizational culture. Turner (1987) says that a person’s identity of ‘self’ may encompass multiple identities which have different ‘levels of self’ when his feelings, thoughts and actions are influenced by different social contexts vis-à-vis personal, family or national. Watson also insists that it is important to identify the links for ‘the ‘self’ aspects of identity and the discourses to which they relate. This ‘missing link’ is an ‘external’ or discursive notion of publicly available ‘personas’ or social-identities’ (p8). The most pertinent inference of this theory is that people’s sense of their worth or who they are is derived from the positive distinctness of ‘we’ rather than ‘I’. The research corroborates with the fact that construction of social identities is often influenced by hordes of issues, which are defined by individual ideology, group representation, professional competencies, intercultural compulsions etc. These factors facilitate understanding and access to networking with organizations so as to order to avail the emerging opportunities for their personal and professional growth. Various social scientists assert that the core of identity intrinsically enacts the role as per the meaning and expectations associated with that role and its performance. They also become the guideline for set behaviour (Burke 1991; Burke and Tully 1977; Thoits 1986). The study emphatically looks into the pattern of interaction and collaboration that influence social identity. The major weakness of the research is its lack of variety within the investigating sample. Observation of two individuals does not justify the generalization of the findings. While Watson’s intention to investigate the wider implications of social identities are vital imperatives to justify the ethnographic study, but the methodology adopted cannot correctly reflect the paradigms for change in behaviour and development of new social identities. It is an extremely important issue and become highly relevant in the fast changing paradigm of social equations which pose more challenges to the people. Indeed, the changing dynamics of socio economic and political variables have emerged as the most influential factors that are increasingly impacting the role models of social identity. The ethnographic research primarily studies individual in real life situation so that factors that impact the outcome of human interaction can be identified for future references. Watson had observed individuals for twelve months against their work environment. The personal aspects of the same were ignored. His research findings encompass modules of Hilton’s biography that he believed to be true. Indeed, the inputs gained from the biographical account of fifteen years of Hilton in his work environment considerably influence Watson’s interpretations. But at the same time, the researcher has failed to mention whether autobiographical documents corroborate with his personal observations of Hilton and Kay. One of the essential facets of the study is its overview of positivism and post modernism. Watson belief in the positivism is apparent in the research epistemology of the research. The scientific knowledge and discourses are used to claim and justify the research objectives. Indeed, the investigative format draws conclusion based on empirical observations of the social elements of individuals. Positivism tends to gain or verify knowledge on the basis of testing the solution on the problem itself. Watson in his study has tried to apply the theories of various social scientists on the behavioural trends and psychological responses of the persons to deduce reasons that best describe the changing social identities. Watson has also used the imperatives of post modernists’ theory that environmental factors considerably impact the responses of the persons. He has extensively used Mills’ views that people need to ‘grasp what is going on in the world, and to understand what is happening in themselves at minute points of the intersection of biography and history within society’ (Mills, 1970: 14). This is the crux of Watson’s research. He believes that changing socio-cultural dynamics of the time hugely impact the social identities at different levels of interaction that are broadly determined by the situations. Thus, human behaviour is intrinsically linked to a cause. It needs to be analyzed by one’s social conditioning and past experiences. The case study of Holton and Rhodes becomes the decisive proposition to establish linkages between the emerging new social identities and the environment within which it performs predetermined actions. Watson’s study has given invaluable insight into the multiple social identities of a person that are part of one’s overall personality. Watson has used investigative ethnographic study to infer the reasons for construction of multiple identities of a person within the paradigm of predetermined social structure. It is true that the concept of ethnographic study supports behavioural science. Indeed, it is a major platform that believes that human interaction is a social compulsion and uses natural environment to study the objects. Observation, interview and documentary evidences become its major planks to identify the factors and elements that provoke responses amongst the people. The case studies used by Watson have contributed to the knowledge of multiple identities. But the study itself cannot be applied generally because it lacks conclusive evidence that is reached through testing of hypothesis on a larger sample than the two tested by Watson. Watson has reached to conclusion not on the basis of the case studies but on the heresy of the autobiographical account of Hilton and by his application of other scientists theories related to the human psychology. The ethnography of Watson and Hilton vastly differs in its environment and elements of social controls that influence their behaviour. Watson inhibits in a social environment that is liberal, more knowledge oriented and highly prone to the changing dynamics of socio cultural and political flexibility. Watson’s actions and reactions are also guided by the knowledge that he believes satisfied the curiosity and meet the emerging challenges of the changing time. Interestingly, he deliberately uses the precepts and concepts of knowledge as important tools. The main purpose is to widen the scope of utilization of the existing resources and to understand the mysteries of human nature. He therefore, fundamentally relies on implicit and explicit use of knowledge which serve as strong motivators for change. Hilton’s ethnography, on the other is based on his professional expertise as engineer but at the same time, he has been bestowed with ‘managerial identity’. The most interesting aspect of Hilton’s ethnography is the vagueness of managerial identity that is not even realized by Hilton as part of his professional entity. It is only after 15 years of service that it dawns on him that he is a manager! But what is important is that despite not exercising his authority as manager, he is endowed the competencies and skills of managerial leadership that easily comes to the fore during workplace conflicts. Thus, the subtle but important personality traits of Hilton become his major assets in his work environment. The responses of Hilton can therefore be primarily contributed to his multiple social identities as an engineer and as manager that helps him to evolve as a person. The psychology of human behaviour tries to explain why and how the events take place and subsequent pattern of human behaviour under certain condition involving emotional and metaphysical reaction. Watson has used the tenets of other researchers in his study to rationalize human behaviour vis-à-vis environment. The case study of Hilton and Rhodes give credence to his hypothesis. It also provides invaluable information about the factors that offer different social identities and influence human psyche under different circumstances. The multiple social identities of man are vital ingredients of an individual’s persona which are signficantly impacted by hordes of issues. The study has provoked genuine curiosity regarding the various environmental elements that influence various aspects of social identity of a person. One can therefore, conclude that the article has raised pertinent issues for the social scientists. It has shown that in the emerging globalization, multiple identities need to be looked from new perspectives for optimal organizational outcome. (words: 1953) Reference Burke, Peter J. and Judy Tully. (1977). The Measurement of Role/Identity. Social Forces 55:881-97. Burke, Peter J. 1991. Identity Processes and Social Stress. American Sociological Review 56:836-49. Thoits, Peggy A. (1986). Multiple Identities: Examining Gender and Marital Status Differences in Distress. American Sociological Review 51:259-72. Turner, John C., Michael A. Hogg, Penelope J. Oakes, Stephen D. Reicher, and Margaret S. Wetherell. (1987). Rediscovering the Social Group: A Self-Categorization Theory. New York: Basil Blackwell. Watson, T. J., (2008). Managing Identity: Identity Work, Personal Predicaments and Structural Circumstances. Organization, 15(1),:121-143. Read More