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Organizational Identification
MNGT 5590, Fall 2018
Management and Leadership
in the Graduate School
Webster University
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The Role of Organizational Identification
Organizational identification (OID) is a model with the employee and the company share
the same goals and values. Organizations are complex entities. They have different departments, values,
visions, ideas, and personalities that make each one of them unique. There is nothing wrong with these
with being different. In truth, they are part of what makes each organization unique from the next.
However, understanding that while organizations are different, the individuals within an organization,
are different from each other as well. Individuals are unique and have their own ideas of the
environment around them and of business. It should be the overall objective of the organization to
enfold that uniqueness, yet still have their employees identify with how the organization does business.
Organizations have values, goals, visions, and desires just like anyone else.
Organizational identification (OID) is the degree with which the organization and the people in
the organization share the same values, goals, ideas, and visions. As the people in the
organization share the values of the organization; the organization begins working more like
a well-rehearsed football team as opposed to different groups staffed by different
individuals.
Envision, for a moment, a baseball team. A great team would have the coaches and
players all working together for a common goal, which is to win the game. Envision the team
as the organization and each player as an employee. What would happen if each player had
their own unique values or goals for the team. What if the player had different ideas for the
team instead of what the coaches wanted? If the players and the coaches are not working in
unison, the win is much more unlikely. This is an unlikely model.
This is precisely why OID is so important. Organizations want their employees to
identify with the organizational goals and values so they have a better chance of being
successful. When employees identify or agree with these aspects of the organization, they
have more pride about their work and the organization that they work for. The employees
display more job satisfaction. The teams Organization Identification will manifest itself in in
customer service and product quality.
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Communication and Social Identity Theory in OID
Social Identity Theory (SIT) is well established in organizations. Hogg and Terry found
that SIT is very helpful in explaining a number of variables that are relevant. There is increasing
numbers of researchers who are applying the SIT to organizational contexts, specially to OID.
Social Identity Theory is able to shine a light upon the principles of identity and identification as
it relates to the whole organization.
Communication with others, is a key component into how employees feel like belonging (in
groups), or not (outgroups), to various departments, groups, teams, organizations.
Little has been done to connect SIT with OID. The author attempts to bring together the
ideal of communicating in SIT and organizational identification research.
Hogg and Terry stated that the social group that one belongs is an important concept in
relation to how one develops a self-concept. In the end, social categories relate to the
development of the individual in social groups and in groups that they are not a part of. There
are two main sociocognitive processes. The first is to distinguish group boundaries and
membership (categorization) and second, comparisons between groups enhance the self by
favoring one’s own ingroup (self enhancement). A membership in an organization produces
important social identity for many. Referring to the self in terms of membership in an
organization is OID as a specific form of social identification (Ashford and Mael 1989).
There are two main factors that are responsible for integration of Social Identity and
communication in relationship to OID. First, communications may play a reduced role in
Situation Identity Theory. Intergroup relations is more related to categorization and self
enhancement. Communication may not be involved, social categories may very well occur
without interaction. Second, Communication scholars trace identification back to Burkes use of
the term identification to overcome divisions in hierarchies.
Ashforth came up with combing social identity theory (SIT) with self-categorizing theory
and made it known as the social identity approach. Social identity was originally developed to
explain hostility in an intergroup and favoritism in a group. Later it was applied to the
the organizational situation. The combination of organizational identification and social
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identity theory, leads to the process where individuals identify with organizations.
There are three assumptions of SIT. They are as follows:
1. People strive for the establishment or enhancement of positive self-esteem.
2. A part of the person’s self-concept -social identity-is based upon the person’s group
membership(s).
3. To maintain a positive social identity, the person strives for positive differentiation
between their ingroup and relevant out groups.
Organizational identity is a process of self-categorizations. OID begins when the member of the
group starts define their own self-concepts.
More than One Identification?
There seems to be not only a single social identity target to the employees of the
organization, but Social Identity Theory may also explain multiple social identities.
