Doctoral Degrees (Sociology and Social Anthropology)

Permanent URI for this collection

https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/675

Browse

Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Sociology and Social Anthropology) by Author "Crafford, Anne"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Identity in organisations : a methodological study
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015-04) Crafford, Anne; Mouton, Johann; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthropology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examined organisational identity from a substantive and methodological point of view. With the burgeoning interest in the organisational identity construct, there have been a multitude of perspectives and meanings associated with the term. These perspectives formed the basis of three juxtapositions used to evaluate the nature of knowledge generated by various research designs used to study organisational identity. These designs included survey design, content analysis, case study design, ethnography, narrative analysis and discourse analysis. I concluded that the choice for a particular research design does constrain or make possible the generation of different types of knowledge regarding OI. The effect of design type has long been suspected and argued for, and this study provides further substantiation for this view. The choice of research design is not a neutral one but plays an integral role in the nature of the knowledge generated, and should be taken seriously as part of the research process. Also from a methodological perspective, the aim was to explore whether an Internet-based, open-ended qualitative survey could provide a suitable description of organisational identity, and whether it would be possible to develop identity narratives from these responses. Data was gathered in a South African based multi-national engineering firm, the result of a recent merger of two engineering firms. Based on the responses to the survey, I was able to develop descriptive narratives of each of (what had been termed) the heritage organisations, each narrative comprising a series of inter-related identity statements capturing various facets of organisation identity. Three broad narratives for each heritage organisation dealt with the nature of the organisation and its position in the market, the importance of the profession and clients, and the value of people in the organisation. Given the pervasive nature of technology, and that work in many corporate and professional settings is conducted via the internet, an internet-based qualitative survey allows information regarding organisational identity to be gathered fairly easily. The research undertaken in this study thus adds to the body of knowledge surrounding the use of a web-based qualitative survey in accessing organisational identity, and suggests that this form of data gathering in the organisation can be successful, provided that participants are computer literate and have access to the Internet. The organisations in question were chosen as merger partners due to their similarity, and using the descriptive narratives developed from the survey, I was able to examine the question of distinctiveness in similar organisations, which has not yet been addressed. Despite the similarities, the identity of both organisations was arguably distinct, and this could be traced to two factors. The first was an element of social actor, in this case the size of the organisation, which coupled with other factors influenced organisation identity in very specific ways. Secondly, distinctiveness arose from the construction of meaning around specific elements of the social actor by members of the organisations. Thus, much like personal identity, organisational identity is associated with similarity and difference (Buckingham 2008).