G Coates

Identifying with the Organisation: a Case Study Analysis of How Organisational Commitment Arises. G Coates

This book examines the interrelationship between employer and employee goals that came to light in the 1990s. This arose through the need for organisations to embrace more flexible forms of labour market, and the requisite economic need to increase productivity through fewer, more loyal, employees who identified with corporate goals and practices. This is analysed within the view of the organisation as an emergent form, grounded in the imperative of maximising the commitment of employees to the enterprise through sharing the organisations identity. Within this the concept of identity is imperative to understanding the processes through which employees are being integrated into the organisational ethos. Through the use of case study data, the research argues that the traditional (instrumental) effort-bargain of employees, has given way in the case study organisations to a more identity oriented approach. The case studies will illustrate how the identities of individual employees were both influenced by the organisation and also driven by the changing nature of work in society in general. This book will conclude that far from being divisive, this form of identity regulation is very useful and applies equally as well to managers.