Managing Change Enquiry and Action

□ Introduction

The question of identity – ‘Who am I?’ – is a deceptively simple question. The answers are manifold and complex. Identity has traditionally been thought of as that which is essential and unchanging – that which pervades over time and in different circumstances. For example, a person who is essentially extrovert may be outgoing both at work and with friends, and may have this identifiable characteristic throughout life. Other aspects of who they are might be more transient; for example, the same person, whilst remaining extrovert, may not think about politics in the same way or associate him- or herself with the same occupational groups throughout life, because he or she is focused on, and influenced by, external sources of ideas and information.

□Change and personal identity

Although there may be aspects of the self that are relatively unchanging, in the context of organisations and work much research has focused on aspects of identity that have degrees of fluidity that are affected by change and that themselves stimulate change. At a simple level, as people move through different roles (for example, team leader, manager, director) they often take on differences in persona. With experience they look at the world in a slightly different way, and they have a different repertoire of skills to draw upon. Equally, as they have experiences, both positive and negative, they can come to think of themselves in new ways and can recognise themselves as members or outsiders of identifiable social groups.

Who people think they are has a significant impact on what they do and how they relate to others. For example, Dan Karreman and Mats Alvesson (2001) tell the story of senior newspapermen, who have a regular meeting to review the front pages and sales figures of the previous month's papers. Although they know at an intellectual level that sales relate to whether there has been a holiday or not, notable events in sport (on the back page) or key political events, such issues are absent from their analysis.