The Formation Process of Organizational Identity

Ethnomethodology of Self-introductions in Workshops

Abstract

This study examines the processes by which organizational identity is formed during self-introductions in a workshop event. Ethnomethodology and empirical conversation analysis are employed. Previously, the formation processes of organizational identity have been studied from two perspectives: social actor and social constructivism. Although different theoretical foundations and definitions distinguish these two perspectives, they apparently focus on the same phenomenon, which is the formation process of organizational identity. Previous studies have pointed out the relationship between organizational identity and individual actions, such as situational dependency and interaction; however, the ways that an organization’s members negotiate and form organizational identities through their actions is not clear. For example, action was excluded as an incidental factor in the modeling process. Therefore, this study focuses on members’ actions, and it analyzes the relationships in the conversation data of video recordings. The analytical results found that the facilitator forms an organizational identity in the opening explanation and embeds questions related to organizational identity into the self-introduction. The participants understand others’ behaviors and present their organizational identities through self-introductions. An organization’s members negotiate and form their organizational identities through sense-giving and sense-making processes.