1. Work, Meaning, and Multiple Identities

2. Framing
Growing interest around the inter-relationships among identity / identification, meaning, and work
Understanding how we make it all work: multiple roles, multiple identities, multiple meanings
Designing new study with several colleagues at U of Illinois (such as Teresa) – want general and specific feedback

3. Goals
To examine how organizational practices, individual differences in work orientation, and organizational affiliation contribute to distinct types of identification.
To examine the effect of these distinct types of identification (4) on organizational outcomes.

4. Model: The “Big Picture”
Organizational
Practices
work
social context
Experienced
Meaningfulness
in working
at work
Patterns of Identification
Professional Identification
Work Orientation
job
career (A) & (B)
calling
Low
High
Organizational
Commitment
Professional
Identifier
Non-
identified
Low
Organizational Identification
Org. Citizenship
Behaviors
Org.
Identifier
Dual
Identifier
High
Affiliation
proximity
temporal factors
administrative control
social linkages
Job Satisfaction

5. Proposed Context
Medical context (2 health care systems – 1 religiously affiliated)
Numerous professional groups
Different backgrounds, training, certification, status orientation, job perceptions, ideologies
Different levels of identification with profession and organization

6. Identification Patterns
Organizational & Professional
Assume that Identification is not “fixed pie” (can simultaneously identify with numerous targets)
Professional identifiers (e.g., cosmopolitans)
Organizational identifiers (e.g., locals)
Non-identifiers (within workplace)
Dual identifiers

7. Organizational Practices
Work: changing what members do, changing the nature of the job tasks
meaningfulness in working
stronger link to professional identification?
Social Context: changing various aspects of the social context (e.g., culture, work relationships)
meaningfulness at work
stronger link to organizational identification?

8. Work Orientation Job: economic focus
predictive of ‘Non-Identifiers’?
Career A: achievement focus – advancement within an organization
predictive of ‘Organization Identifiers’?
Career B: achievement focus – advancement across organizations
predictive of ‘Professional Identifiers?’
Calling: fulfillment, transcendence
predictive of ‘Dual Identifiers’ or ‘Professional Identifiers’?

9. Affiliation Proximity Temporal Factors Administrative Control
Social Linkages
Interaction is Co-located vs. Not co-located
Full time vs.
Part time
Not paid vs. Paid
firm vs. other payroll
Contact with organizational others is high or low
Continuous vs. Interrupted
Size of network
internal
external
Short-term vs. Long-term
Exclusive vs. Not Exclusive
Adapted from Pfeffer and Baron (1988)

10. Affiliation Still working on specific hypotheses for affiliation
In general, we believe that lack of proximity, and working alone will have a larger influence on organizational identification than professional identification

11. Experienced Meaningfulness
Want to assess:
meaningfulness in working
meaningfulness at work
No “set measures” that we know of – likely be the focus of qualitative analysis
Need to determine whether or not to “split” different aspects of meaningfulness at work (e.g., ‘culture’ and ‘relationships’)

12. Organizational Commitment
Might different types of commitment be related to different identification patterns (and work orientations)?
Continuance – non-identifiers (and job-oriented)?
Affective – organizational and dual (and career A)?
Normative – professional and dual (and career B and calling)?

13. Other Outcomes
OCB’s: e.g., task conscientiousness, helping others, participating in organizational politics, positive attitudes
Job Satisfaction

14. Need Specific Feedback About…
Career A and B
Does this distinction make sense
Will we get differences between career B and callings?
“Non-traditional” outcome variables
Can we do more than OCBs and job satisfaction?
Logic of predictions?
Missing aspects of affiliation?
Capturing meaningfulness in and at work?
Look for “transcendent” practices?

15. Thank you!

16. Meaningfulness in and at Work (Pratt & Ashforth 2003)
Meaningfulness in Working Practices
Meaningfulness at Work Practices
Role:
What Am I Doing?
Membership:
Where Do I Belong?
Identity:
Who Am I?
Meaningfulness: Why Am I Here?

17. Organizational Practices
Meaning in Working
Meaning at Work
Job redesign
Building cultures, identities, ideologies
Employee
involvement
Transformational, charismatic or
visionary leadership
Path-goal
leadership
Recruitment
Selection
Socialization
Building communities
Nurturing
callings
Providing a cosmology
Promoting psychological safety
Enacting with integrity
Transcendence