IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/scaman/v30y2014i2p231-241.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Discursive practices of remedial organizational identity work: A study of the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration

Author

Listed:
  • Breit, Eric

Abstract

This paper examines organizational identity work among members of publicly criticized and discredited organizations. It does so by exploring the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration (NAV), an organization that has been the object of considerable persistent public critique over the years since its foundation in 2006. Based on a discursive analysis of how members of NAV have interpreted the critique and constructed senses of organizational identity, the paper highlights four types of discursive practice: ‘accepting,’ ‘condemning,’ ‘distancing,’ and ‘positively calibrating.’ These practices demonstrate how the critique was incorporated into members’ organizational identity constructions in various ways and with various outcomes, and how members navigated and articulated ambivalent conceptions of the critique, the organization, and their role as organizational members. Based on the findings, implications for the role of discursive practice in remedial organizational identity work are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Breit, Eric, 2014. "Discursive practices of remedial organizational identity work: A study of the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 231-241.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:scaman:v:30:y:2014:i:2:p:231-241
    DOI: 10.1016/j.scaman.2013.08.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956522113000870
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.scaman.2013.08.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alvesson, Mats & Empson, Laura, 2008. "The construction of organizational identity: Comparative case studies of consulting firms," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 1-16, March.
    2. Eero Vaara & Janne Tienari, 2011. "On the narrative construction of multinational corporations : An antenarrative analysis of legitimation and resistance in a cross-border merger," Post-Print hal-02312572, HAL.
    3. Dennis A. Gioia & Kumar Chittipeddi, 1991. "Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(6), pages 433-448, September.
    4. Glen E. Kreiner & Blake E. Ashforth & David M. Sluss, 2006. "Identity Dynamics in Occupational Dirty Work: Integrating Social Identity and System Justification Perspectives," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(5), pages 619-636, October.
    5. Kimberly D. Elsbach & Robert I. Sutton & Kristine E. Principe, 1998. "Averting Expected Challenges Through Anticipatory Impression Management: A Study of Hospital Billing," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(1), pages 68-86, February.
    6. Garcia, Primo & Hardy, Cynthia, 2007. "Positioning, similarity and difference: Narratives of individual and organizational identities in an Australian university," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 363-383, December.
    7. Christine Coupland & Andrew D. Brown, 2004. "Constructing Organizational Identities on the Web: A Case Study of Royal Dutch/Shell," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(8), pages 1325-1347, December.
    8. Eero Vaara & Brigit Kleymman & Hannu Seristö, 2004. "Strategies as Discursive Constructions : The Case of Airline Alliances," Post-Print hal-02311665, HAL.
    9. C. Marlene Fiol, 2002. "Capitalizing on Paradox: The Role of Language in Transforming Organizational Identities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(6), pages 653-666, December.
    10. Karen Golden-Biddle & Hayagreeva Rao, 1997. "Breaches in the Boardroom: Organizational Identity and Conflicts of Commitment in a Nonprofit Organization," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(6), pages 593-611, December.
    11. McInnes, Peter & Corlett, Sandra, 2012. "Conversational identity work in everyday interaction," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 27-38.
    12. Eero Vaara & Janne Tienari, 2011. "On the Narrative Construction of Multinational Corporations: An Antenarrative Analysis of Legitimation and Resistance in a Cross-Border Merger," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(2), pages 370-390, April.
    13. Kimberly D. Elsbach & C. B. Bhattacharya, 2001. "Defining Who You Are By What You're Not: Organizational Disidentification and The National Rifle Association," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(4), pages 393-413, August.
    14. Mats Alvesson & Hugh Willmott, 2002. "Identity Regulation as Organizational Control: Producing the Appropriate Individual," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 619-644, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sörgärde, Nadja, 2020. "Story-dismantling, story-meandering, and story-confirming: Organizational identity work in times of public disgrace," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(3).
    2. Fortin, Israël & Oliver, David, 2016. "To imitate or differentiate: Cross-level identity work in an innovation network," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 197-208.
    3. Peterson, Helen, 2016. "Merging management ideals in Swedish IT offshoring," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 97-105.
    4. Evelyne Rousselet & Sylvie Chevrier & Valérie Pallas-Saltiel, 2015. "Bricolage of identity to cope with crisis. Bank employees in times of turmoil," Post-Print hal-01176412, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sörgärde, Nadja, 2020. "Story-dismantling, story-meandering, and story-confirming: Organizational identity work in times of public disgrace," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(3).
    2. Jørgensen, Lene & Jordan, Silvia & Mitterhofer, Hermann, 2012. "Sensemaking and discourse analyses in inter-organizational research: A review and suggested advances," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 107-120.
    3. Kohtamäki, Marko & Heimonen, Jesse & Sjödin, David & Heikkilä, Vili, 2020. "Strategic agility in innovation: Unpacking the interaction between entrepreneurial orientation and absorptive capacity by using practice theory," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 12-25.
    4. Hoyer, Patrizia, 2016. "Making space for ambiguity: Rethinking organizational identification from a career perspective," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 166-177.
    5. Blake E. Ashforth & Kristie M. Rogers & Kevin G. Corley, 2011. "Identity in Organizations: Exploring Cross-Level Dynamics," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1144-1156, October.
    6. Jeffrey S. Bednar & Benjamin M. Galvin & Blake E. Ashforth & Ella Hafermalz, 2020. "Putting Identification in Motion: A Dynamic View of Organizational Identification," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(1), pages 200-222, January.
    7. Israel Drori & Amy Wrzesniewski & Shmuel Ellis, 2013. "One Out of Many? Boundary Negotiation and Identity Formation in Postmerger Integration," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(6), pages 1717-1741, December.
    8. Betty Feng, Jing & Liu, Steven Y.H. & Anne Liu, Leigh, 2023. "Cognitive antecedents of EMNEs’ dynamic capabilities: A case study of global identity at Lenovo," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    9. Helene Loe Colman & Birgitte Grøgaard & Inger G. Stensaker, 2022. "Organizational identity work in MNE subsidiaries: Managing dual embeddedness," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(9), pages 1997-2022, December.
    10. Lemmergaard, Jeanette & Muhr, Sara Louise, 2012. "Golfing with a murderer—Professional indifference and identity work in a Danish prison," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 185-195.
    11. Peterson, Helen, 2016. "Merging management ideals in Swedish IT offshoring," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 97-105.
    12. Klaus Weber & M. Tina Dacin, 2011. "The Cultural Construction of Organizational Life: Introduction to the Special Issue," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(2), pages 287-298, April.
    13. Ashish Arora & Michelle Gittelman & Sarah Kaplan & John Lynch & Will Mitchell & Nicolaj Siggelkow & Philip Gylfe & Henrika Franck & Curtis Lebaron & Saku Mantere, 2016. "Video methods in strategy research: Focusing on embodied cognition," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 133-148, January.
    14. Van Laer, Koen & Janssens, Maddy, 2014. "Between the devil and the deep blue sea: Exploring the hybrid identity narratives of ethnic minority professionals," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 186-196.
    15. König, Andreas & Fehn, Angela & Puck, Jonas & Graf-Vlachy, Lorenz, 2017. "Primary or complex? Towards a theory of metaphorical strategy communication in MNCs," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 270-285.
    16. Margaret Brunton, 2017. "Risking the Sustainability of the Public Health System: Ethical Conundrums and Ideologically Embedded Reform," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(4), pages 719-734, June.
    17. Kohtamäki, Marko & Rabetino, Rodrigo & Einola, Suvi & Parida, Vinit & Patel, Pankaj, 2021. "Unfolding the digital servitization path from products to product-service-software systems: Practicing change through intentional narratives," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 379-392.
    18. Wåhlin-Jacobsen, Christian Dyrlund, 2019. "The terms of “becoming empowered”: How ascriptions and negotiations of employee identities shape the outcomes of workplace voice activities," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(3).
    19. Len J Treviño & Jonathan P Doh, 2021. "Internationalization of the firm: A discourse-based view," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(7), pages 1375-1393, September.
    20. Wæraas, Arild, 2017. "The external presentation of organizational identity orientation: A study of employment advertisement s 1975-2015," Working Paper Series 07-2017, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, School of Economics and Business.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:scaman:v:30:y:2014:i:2:p:231-241. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/872/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.