Chapter 4: Identity and Organizations: Articulations from Social Networks Studies

Organizational studies have historically faced the ontological question about the nature of the phenomenon called ‘organization.’ Some authors take the organization as an ‘entity’ (noun); on the other hand, others assume the organization can be better approached as a ‘process’ (verb). Underlying these opposed points of view, are differences concerning the way individuals and communities are articulated. In the academic field of identity, including organizational identity, there is also a tension between a static perspective that emphasizes organization as ‘entities’ and a more dynamic, processual position, open to contextual elements. In the field of organizational studies, the polarity ‘identity-diversity’ has become a central issue for researchers and managers, especially as the process of globalization accelerates. Within this broader frame of reference, two studies are presented here—one cross-sectional and the other longitudinal—using the methodology of social network analysis. They are taken as examples of a strategy to capture the dynamics of identity (at the level of the individual, the group and the organization itself) over time and/or across different contexts.