Identity and the Management Project

The paper discusses the concept of identity in relation to management. We take our starting point in Wittgenstein’s concept language games. We argue that identity is a question of using linguistic tools to construct reality. Two elements of the language game metaphor are central here: rules and family resemblance. We argue that rules and family resemblance are central for the construction of identity because they are the link between individual and social realities. We use the concept of narrating to emphasize how individuals construct themselves as meaningful individuals in the world. Narrating is the process by which individuals seek to bridge the gap between the “ought” and the “is”: a process of integration. It seeks to integrate past, present and future; it seeks to integrate logic and values; and it seeks to integrate individual and social worlds. Narrating is conditioned on rules and family resemblance. As such, managing identity in organizations is closely linked to rules and family resemblance. Organizations manage identity through the definition of norms and values for right or wrong, appropriate or inappropriate, to name but a few. Norms and values are important as reference points for constructing identities. Managing identity has become more important because the rules-of-the-game have become more unstable. Managing identity is important if the bonds between individuals and organizations are to be sustained. But this task is contradictory and paradoxical of its very nature because the conditioning factors of these bonds, rules and family resemblances may be eroded by change.