How Does Paid Employment Affect Your Identity - Essay Example

Our identity also changes as our surroundings and our roles in it changes, which then translates that it is also what we chose to prioritise, what we rationally chose to fulfil, and what we may prefer to be concerned about (Martin and Barresi, 2003). In another setting, different kinds of people can come together under one larger and unified group that has similar visions and goals. Often called the organisation, it is both an entity and a concept in itself, which links together identity, power, inequality, freedom and knowledge all under a conceptual framework (Knights and Willmott, 2007).

The behaviour and interaction of people working within an organisation is called organisational behaviour. It addresses broadly the interaction of people within all types of organisations like business, government, university and service organisations (Singh, 2010). To understand how an individual would behave in a group setting, there is no magic bullet to solve all kinds of organisational kinds. Also, humans have different identities, which would make the study of organisational behaviour even more erratic and unpredictable, hence the need for a multidisciplinary approach which borrows ideas from behavioural sciences, management and other disciplines (Singh, 2010 and Knights and Willmott, 2007).

For example, an individual can be studied without considering the organization. But because the organization influences and is influenced by the individual, there is also the need to study something about the organization (Knights and Willmott, 2007). Organizations influence more or less the lives of many people. They provide rules and regulations (governments), source of income (workplace), where individuals are raised and trained (schools, universities), among others (Griffin and Moorhead, 2010).

We can also have multiple roles in different organizations (consumers, employees, suppliers, students, owners, etc.). For that, the study of organizational behaviour is deemed important. In an organization, there are employment relations, hierarchy, a division of labor, as well as a degree of permanence or continuity (Knights and Willmott, 2007). Knowing what a person’s role would be in an organization would dictate his or her roles, which would more or less be the same with persons of the same rank in the ladder.

The formation of small groups within an organization helps in affirming the roles of members within a particular rank. It also has a powerful effect on the morale, attitude, motivation and work performance of the group members (Singh, 2010). Members of a group associate themselves with their group and this shapes their attitude and behaviour with regards to the organisation. The formation of such groups, when fully harnessed by the top management, will provide the necessary workforce that would have highly effective members with high performance goals.

Thus, the participation in such organisations by individuals with different roles would help in developing and confirming their sense of identity within the group (Knights and Willmott, 2007, and Singh, 2010). In an organizational setting, many cultures and ideas are often taught to all, if not most members. For example, a culture of autonomy implemented in a certain workplace could give a sense of empowerment for their employees since they experience a sense of discretion or freedom