Emergent Group Identities And Their Impact On Organizations

Leadership and associated power issues lie at the core of group life in a variety of contexts. Even the most informal of groups typically have some form of leadership in their organization, and the understanding of leadership and power from a psychological standpoint can inform a greater understanding of group dynamics both inside and outside of the workplace. Leadership and Power is a synthesis of contributions from eminent social psychologists and organizational scientists that addresses these issues from a fresh perspective. In recent years, these themes have been re-examined through the lens of social categorization approaches that highlight people′s social identity and social roles as group members, as well as the processes that influence perceptions of and expectations about people and groups. The book is wide-ranging; chapters cover such diverse issues as: interpersonal versus group-oriented styles of leadership; leadership of totalist groups; political leadership; and gender and leadership. It represents a state-of-the-art overview of this burgeoning field that will be important to a host of disciplines. Elements of cross-referencing to highlight thematic links as well as effective chapter conclusions will make the text appealing to advanced students taking courses in social and organizational psychology, management and organization studies, not just scholars interested in these themes.

Constructing Identity in and around Organizations is the second volume in Perspectives on Process Organization Studies, a series which explores an emerging approach to the study of organizations that focuses on (understanding) activities, interactions, and change as essential properties of organizations rather than structures and state - an approach which prioritizes activity over product, change over persistence, novelty over continuity, and expression over determination. The constructing of identities - those processes through which actors in and around organizations claim, accept, negotiate, affirm, stabilize, maintain, reproduce, challenge, disrupt, destabilize, repair or otherwise relate to their sense of selves and others - has become a critically important topic in the study of organizations. This volume attempts to amplify - and possibly refract - contemporary debates amongst identity scholars that question established notions of identity as "essence", "entity," or "thing". It calls for alternative approaches to understanding identity and its significance in contexts in and around organizations by conceptualizing it as "process" - that is, being continually under construction. Based in diverse theoretical and philosophical traditions and contexts, contributions by leading scholars to this volume offer new perspectives on how individual and organizational identities evolve and come to be constructed through ongoing activities and interactions.

Check out sample chapters by clicking on "additional materials" on the left. The Handbook of Group Research and Practice emphasizes the connections among basic research and theory, applied research, and group practice to demonstrate how theory and research translate into methods for working with groups. It is an excellent resource for students, academics, and practitioners in the fields of psychotherapy, psychology, sociology, management, communications, social work, education, and science and technology Key Features: Offers a multidisciplinary and international perspective from international contributors Provides a historical overview of the development of research and group practice Identifies contemporary issues with an emphasis on the research agenda in the field Describes seven different theoretical perspectives on how groups function Addresses both traditional and new methods of studying group research Advances current efforts to increase the understanding of how groups are employed and operate to solve pressing social and individual problems The Handbook of Group Research and Practice is a unique interdisciplinary resource written by world-renowned researchers and practitioners who work with teams and groups in a variety of settings. As a result, this Handbook provides students, academics, and practitioners with the most comprehensive understanding about the latest findings and issues in group research and practice to date! Talk to the author! www.gdqassoc.com

Identity and the Modern Organization presents a lively exchange of ideas among psychology and management scholars on the realities of modern organizational life and their effect on the identities that organizations and their members cultivate. This book bridges the domains of psychology and management to facilitate a multi-disciplinary, multi-level

Presenting a follower-centered perspective on leadership, this book focuses on followers as the direct determinant of leadership effects because it is generally through follower reactions and behaviors that leadership attempts succeed or fail. Therefore, leadership theory needs to be articulated with a theory of how followers create meaning from leadership acts and how this meaning helps followers self-regulate in specific contexts. In this book, an attempt is made to develop such a theory, maintaining that the central construct in this process is the self-identity of followers. In developing this theoretical perspective, the authors draw heavily from several areas of research and theory. The most critical constructs do not come directly from the leadership literature, but from social and cognitive theory pertaining to follower's self-identity, self-regulatory processes, motivation, values, cognitions, and emotions and perceptions of social justice. Leaders may have profound effects on these aspects of followers and it is by analyzing such indirect, follower-mediated leadership effects that most ideas regarding leadership theory and practice are developed. Due to its broad theoretical focus, this book is relevant to a number of audiences. The authors' principal concern is with the development of leadership theory and the practice of leadership making the book relevant to audiences in management, applied psychology, and social psychology. They have tried to clearly define key constructs and provide practical examples so that the book could be accessible to advanced undergraduate students. However, the diversity of the underlying theoretical literatures and the complexity of the framework developed also make the book appropriate for graduate courses in those disciplines, and for readers with a professional interest in leadership theory or practice.

This new volume is the first to bring together social and organizational psychologists to explore social identity theory in organizational contexts. The chapters are wide ranging - they deal with basic social identity theory, organizational diversity, leadership, employee turnover, mergers and acquisitions, organizational identification, cooperation and trust in organizations, commitment and work, and socialization and influence within organizations. This book is an integrative platform for a closer relationship between social psychologists and organizational psychologists who study social identity processes in organizations.

A discussion on the social complexity approach, where dialogue and stories allow for the degrees of freedom needed for the opportunities of emergence to take root. The authors focus on the experience of coherence and how such experiential lessons differ from the establishment and maintenance of categories and labels.