Organizational identification : Curtin Singapore - Essay Example

Conversely, organisational identification and organization identity are two terms that vary but that variation is not often recognized. In fact, “corporate identity is the words and symbols a company uses to set itself apart from other companies so people will recognize it” (Perry 2008, 58). One definition of the term ‘organisational identity’ given in 1985 by Albert and Whetten reads, Organizational identity is what is taken by employees to be the central attributes of the organization.

what makes the organization distinctive and therefore unique from other organizations in the eyes of the employees, …what is perceived by employees to be enduring, continuing, regardless of objective changes in the organizational environments (Witting 2006, 1). 2.0 An Exploration of Organization Identification However, organisational identification has been defined as “the perception of oneness with or belonging to an organization” (Mael and Ashforth 1992, 104),”commitment to an organization’s policies, strategies, beliefs, and values” (Sluss and Ashforth 2008, 807), and “a sense of belonging …acknowledgement of similarities” (Ashforth et al 2008, 325). . As well, organisational identification has “multiple foci (one’s own career, organization, occupation) and different dimensions (cognitive, affective, evaluative, and behavioral)” (White 2005, 41).

There are many factors that effect, influence, and may even serve to predict the level of organisational identification that an employee may have. One such variable is culture. A study of factors that affect organisational identification reported that there were three cultural value that served to predict levels of organisational identification; “(a) long-term orientation, (b) collective, and (c) uncertainty” (Carson 2009, 29). CEOs, owners, and managers are often interested in the concept of organisational identification because it can have but positive and negative effects on their company.

Higher levels of organisational identification has been shown to lead to greater job involvement; boosting a company’s effectiveness (Yu 2009, 17). In fact, these higher levels have a positive impact on “cooperation, effort, participation, and organisationally beneficial decision making, intrinsic motivation, task performance, and information sharing and coordinated action” (Ashfoth et al 2008, 325). It has been observed that because of a lack in organisational identification, employees tend to be more concerned with their own best interests instead of the interests of the organisation (Polzer 2004, 71).

This is particularly serious for companies in the service industry. The level of customer focus of an employee depends heavily on the level of their organisational identification (Wieseke 2007, 1).Yet there are things that a company can do