Shattering the Myth of Separate Worlds: Negotiating Non-Work Identities at Work

Lakshmi  Ramarajan; Erin M. Reid

Article | Academy of Management Review | October 2013

Shattering the Myth of Separate Worlds: Negotiating Non-Work Identities at Work

Abstract

How much of our self is defined by our work? Fundamental changes in the social organization of work are destabilizing the relationship between work and the self. As a result, parts of the self traditionally considered outside the domain of work, i.e., "non-work" identities, are increasingly affected by organizations and occupations. Based on an interdisciplinary review of literature on identity and work we develop a model of how people negotiate non-work identities (e.g., national, gender, family) in the context of organizational/occupational pressures and personal preferences regarding this identity. We propose that the dual forces of pressures and preferences vary from inclusion (e.g., incorporating the non-work identity within the work identity) to exclusion (e.g., keeping the identities separate). We suggest that the alignment or misalignment of these pressures and preferences shapes peoples' experience of the power relationship between themselves and their organization/occupation and affects how they manage their non-work identities. We describe how people enact different non-work identity management strategies—namely assenting to, complying with, resisting, or inverting the pressures—and delineate the consequences of these strategies for people and their organizations/occupations.

Keywords: Identity; Diversity; Strategy; Jobs and Positions; Work-Life Balance;

Format: Print

Find at Harvard Read Now

Citation:

Ramarajan, Lakshmi, and Erin M. Reid. "Shattering the Myth of Separate Worlds: Negotiating Non-Work Identities at Work." Academy of Management Review 38, no. 4 (October 2013): 621–644.

In 2018, New York Times writer Nicholas Kristof and his wife, former Times writer Sheryl WuDunn (HBS ’86) who worked in finance, were planning for their next book. The couple’s earlier books had given rise to social movements around gender equity and poverty issues. They hoped the next book would be equally powerful. What should the book focus on? What additional content should they create to make sure their writing had an impact?

In 2018, Mellody Hobson, President of Ariel Investments, the largest minority-owned investment firm in the United States, was considering how best to divide her time and use her position and personal characteristics to push for positive change at her firm and in society at large.

Faculty & Research

Shattering the Myth of Separate Worlds: Negotiating Non-Work Identities at Work

Abstract

Citation:

About the Author

More from the Author