Do organizations influence the race and gender identities
of their employees? Data collected in four organizations
suggest they do. The initial focus of this research
was the effect of organizational policies and practices,
but early data collection signaled the importance of
interactions with others. As a result, interactions
involving identity are the unit of analysis in this
research. I identified three different kinds of interactions:
spotlighting interactions which highlight an aspect
of an individual's identity, testing interactions which
confirm or deny an identity projected by the individual,
and shaping expression interactions which influence
how an individual enacts an identity.
I then placed these interactions in a broader process
model which depicts how organizations influence identity.
The model suggests multiple pathways of organizational
influence. First, organizational characteristics can
have a direct effect on identity. Second, organizations
have a mediated effect by influencing interactions among
individuals. They do this by making certain kinds of
interactions more likely and by influencing subsequent
sensemaking about the interaction.
This analysis indicates that interactions are not just
individual experiences; they are at least partly organizational
products. They can be an important diagnostic tool,
used to surface the subtle cultural dynamics which lead
some employees to feel less comfortable or less valued.
Therefore, interactions are both an organizational responsibility
and an opportunity for collective learning.
OB
42 pages
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