Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2011
  • Chapter
  • Advances in Group Processes

Changing Identity, Changing Language

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Jeffrey T. Polzer
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

Environmental jolts and shifting membership challenge a group's efficacy and survival. Group identity is critical for a shared interpretation of and response to these challenges, but external and internal changes may require corresponding changes in a group's core identity. In a qualitative study of longshoremen in San Pedro, California, we observe an evolution in group identity as we track communication spoken and printed in the hiring halls, on the docks, and during casual social interactions. The emphasis in the shared language gradually shifts from safety and solidarity to safety, collaboration, and economic power. The newly developed language supports and shapes the longshoremen's identity and provides an interpretive guide for how to react to and benefit from disruptive external events.

Keywords

Change; Spoken Communication; Performance Efficiency; Problems and Challenges; Safety; Identity; California

Citation

McGinn, Kathleen L., and Jeffrey T. Polzer. "Changing Identity, Changing Language." In Advances in Group Processes. Vol. 28, edited by Shane R. Thye and Edward Lawler, 125–145. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing, 2011.
  • Read Now

About The Authors

Kathleen L. McGinn

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

Jeffrey T. Polzer

Organizational Behavior
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • March 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Río Curicó Teaching Note: Video Short I

    By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Julian Zlatev
    • December 2022 (Revised March 2023)
    • Faculty Research

    Teaching Note for Endesa Chile: Raising the Ralco Dam & Río Curicó: A Six-party Negotiation Exercise

    By: Julian Zlatev, Kathleen McGinn, Katherine Chen and Rachel Drapper
    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Foreword

    By: Jeff Polzer
More from the Authors
  • Río Curicó Teaching Note: Video Short I By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Julian Zlatev
  • Teaching Note for Endesa Chile: Raising the Ralco Dam & Río Curicó: A Six-party Negotiation Exercise By: Julian Zlatev, Kathleen McGinn, Katherine Chen and Rachel Drapper
  • Foreword By: Jeff Polzer
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College