Organisational Identity (i.e. OI) could be described as an employee theory of who the organisation is. The concept is seen as one of the most problematic concepts to define. One of the main reasons for that is its close relation to the concepts of culture and image, as they are seen as defining each other. As expressed in previous research there is a need for theoretical clarification and investigations in practice in this area. We aim to contribute to an OI concept clarification and theoretical understanding by investigating OI in a single case at a Swedish company; Sapa Heat Transfer. The aim is fulfilled by a focus on research questions concerning how different employee groups perceive the organisational identity at this company, how the organisational identity can be described at the company and how the sum of these answers may develop the organisational identity concept further. In order to investigate OI at Sapa Heat Transfer we have used four qualitative methods; one to one informational interview with key personnel, observations, desk research and focus groups, where focus groups was the main data collection method. A key for this triangulation was to generate a deep contextual understanding in order to facilitate a separation between identity, culture and image making a definition of the OI possible. Our findings show the organisational identity at SHT as being built on four cornerstones; Responsibility, Engagement, Willingness and Energy. The OI at SHT is to be considered as weak rather than strong regarding the OI strength. There is a strong culture resulting in an "industrial mentality" regarding the employees. Our results are showing that the culture might appear as OI, i.e. false OI, if the present OI is weak. There might be multiple OIs at the company, which we are rejecting. Instead our results are showing an existence of multiple cognitive perspectives, functioning as cognitive platforms creating the employee perceptions of the OI. At SHT the perspectives are demonstrated to be developed by vocations, positions, departments, units/divisions and/or work groups. The individual perspective taken is dependent on the employee perceived belongingness. An alignment of all existing employee perspectives will define the true OI at a company. Further, the OI perspective framework presented could facilitate a separation between OI and culture if a time perspective is applied, since our results is indicating culture to be connected to a past time perspective and OI seems to be related to a present. Our results are presenting OI as changeable within limits, developed within a culture frame, possible to make explicit but at the same time occurring mainly unconsciously. Finally, our results have defined a need for a complementing category, regarding behaviouristic characteristics, among the categories presented as potential OI content characteristics within the Balmer and Greyser (2002) framework.

Both as leader and employee you need a perception of the organisational identity. The purpose of this thesis is to identify leaders’ perception of using communication to develop and implement the organisational identity with the employees and also to identify how the internal work with the organisational identity can contribute in making the employees good ambassadors for the organisation. Data has been gathered through qualitative interviews with four leaders at a future large organisation. By connecting and analysing the empirical findings with relevant theories we came to the conclusion that the leaders’ percept the communication as vital and that they consider creating the foundation of the organisational identity as their responsibility. They value co-creation and an open communication with the employees. We make the conclusion that ongoing communication is essential for including employees in the development of the organisational identity and in making these good ambassadors.

Orientation: Acculturation strategies are utilised to overcome the challenges posed to an individual employee's culture by the reigning organisational culture. Research purpose: The purpose of this research is to conceptualise young, black, African, female (YBAF) employees' ethnic identities, to describe the everyday challenges that they encounter in South African corporate organisations, and to explore the strategies that this particular group employs in order to acculturate in the work place. Motivation for this study: After the democratisation of South Africa in 1994 organisations were demographically transformed. Tension between the (Westernised) individual culture and the (African) collective culture challenged the successful implementation of an inclusive organisational culture. Research design, approach and method: Employing a qualitative inquiry strategy, traits of a netnographical design and internet-based research were combined to warrant the electronic focus-group discussions and email interviews as data collection methods to gauge the lived experiences of one specific in-group within the organisation. Main findings: The findings are discussed according to the in-group's ethnic identity, the cultural challenges they experienced in the organisation, and the acculturation strategies that they employed. The following strategies emerged from the data in this study: managing language as an important acculturation agent; utilising corridor talk by means of obtaining essential information; sharing and voicing beliefs of own cultures with colleagues to ensure mutual respect; actively countering current stereotypes and prejudice in the workplace, employing shifting as a positive strategy to acculturate; and recognising whiteness as an unconscious and privileged position that needs to be dealt with sensitively and effectively in organisations. Practical/managerial implications: The identified acculturation strategies in this study could assist employers in induction programmes or on-boarding processes and possible interventions to facilitate acculturation of new employees in organisations. It could be possible to develop a general guideline or manual from the findings of this research that would be relevant to everyday practices in the workplace. Contribution/value-add: The academic value of this study lies in the identification, description and evaluation of one particular in-group: the YBAF employees, which is coined for the first time in this research. This study voices these employees' challenges and experiences in a corporate South African environment. / Mini Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Human Resource Management / MCom / Unrestricted

This master’s thesis studies four Faith-Based Humanitarian Organizations (FBO) in the international humanitarian sector: World Vision International (WVI), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) and Tzu Chi Foundation (TCF). Using a theoretical framework based on organizational identity, the research examines from the FBOs own views the causes behind their origins, the impact of external factors on their identities and strategies, their current self-perception, and provides insights for future faith-based humanitarian work. Through the qualitative methods, digital archival design and online semi-structured interviews with senior staff, the study’s findings shows that each FBO was started as a response to a specific humanitarian tragedy and was driven by religious motivation. Since the origin, the FBOs have adapted their organizational identities and operational strategies to external factors. WVI and CRS have gone from church-based to community-based approaches, IRW has worked to demystify Islam in humanitarian work, and TCF maintained a consistent Buddhist-based approach through for example a TV channel and academic symposiums. The research identifies the crucial need for FBOs to balance their religious identities with secular humanitarian principles, focusing on localization, community engagement, interfaith cooperation, and strategic presentation of religious identities. To build on this thesis, future research can focus on investigating and comparing more FBOs, their roles in disaster preparedness and communication strategies.

SAMMANFATTNING I organisationers och inte minst biblioteks sätt att förhålla sig till förändring och utveckling kan genom den litteratur som presenterats flera olika krafter i denna process urskiljas. I ett växande medvetande om omvärlden och dess accelererande dynamik och inverkan på biblioteksorganisationens framtid, har en vilja för större öppenhet gentemot denna utvecklats. Tjänster i form av service till användarkollektivet tas på större allvar. Organisationsstrukturen förändras och bryts ner och i och med det kommer problem och frågeställningar i dagen som rör såväl verksamhetens teknik, arbetsuppgifternas innehåll som ledarskap och maktfördelningen. Trots vilja till förändring och implementering av nya idéer, finns de traditionella förhållningssätten kvar nere i organisationen. Bakom en organisationsförändring döljer sig ett syfte, ett mål med verksamheten, samtidigt som organisationen lever och utvecklas i en omvärld med normer och värderingar som basen för dess mål. Biblioteksorganisationens medvetenhet om mål och värderingar bakom verksamhet och uppgifter har visat sig vara ganska svag. Många medarbetare och bibliotekarier ser organisationens blotta existens som ett värde i sig som inte bör ifrågasättas, medan ledare och beslutsansvariga har ett mer rationellt förhållningssätt till dessa begrepp. Inte sällan kan här skönjas en konfliktyta mellan värderationalism och målrationalism i den Weberska betydelsen. Därför får organisationen svårt att skapa en kontinuerlig målförståelse ner genom organisationen, från det övergripande syftet med nära relationer till bakomliggande värderingar och ner till de mer operativa delmålen. Detta får följder vid implementering av datorstödda bibliotekssystem, som idag 94 representerar det tekniska systemet i organisationen. Utformningen av detta system har stor betydelse för måluppfyllelse. Utformningen av datorfiler och bibliotekssystem har utgått från ett tänkande som går långt tillbaka i tiden. De bygger på en konsoliderad teknik. Katalogsystem i samverkan med andra bibliotek har varit det som utgjort grunden för universitetsbibliotekens datorisering. Användarnas behov har definierats genom bibliotekets egna behov och sätt att betrakta dem. Man har ofta betraktat dem som ett kollektiv och tjänsterna har generaliserats i sin utformning. Just användarna, deras antal, krav och önskemål, har blivit en av de komponenter i omvärlden som utvecklats till den starkaste drivkraften och utmaningen för biblioteken förändring och syn på sig själv. Emellertid har biblioteken en tendens att bortse från olika användargruppers specifika beteendemönster och behov som går att finna inom olika fakulteter och forskningsområden. Användarna å sin sida har ofta mycket traditionella och konventionella förväntningar på vilken service de vill och kan få vid biblioteken.

The attitudes of employees are key for ensuring the productivity and sustainability of an organisation. The present research aimed to explore obstacles and facilitators of positive team functioning in an offshore environment. Preliminary identification of obstacles and challenges to effective teamwork was achieved through an interview with two senior Human Resource managers at a large international bank, the primary location of which is in Australia. From this information, a survey was developed and distributed to members of an offshore Human Resource (HR) service centre consisting of 100 staff members, responsible for HR operations and described as an ‘extension’ or ‘captive’ team. An interview with management revealed that the effectiveness and sustainability of the current offshore team were of particular interest. Consideration of these issues and research into the effectiveness of virtual and captive teams led to a focus on organisational identity, work engagement, climate, trust, recognition from management, technology support, reliability of technology and goal clarity. Goal clarity and technology support were significant predictors of work engagement; low integration, goal clarity, technology support, reliability of technology and recognition from management were significant predictors of organisational identity. Thus, in an offshore environment, clear goals and the ability to complete those goals through use of efficient technologies are vital. This should impact the type of training given to offshore team members as well as the amount of technology support that is available to them.

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced organisations to review their working methods and adapt to the prevailing circumstances. One such change has been the need to increasingly allow employees to be onboarded and work from home. An onboarding process that is only based on digital communication has proven to be less effective and lower the understanding of the work role. Furthermore, the biggest challenge with remote onboarding is often to introduce employees to the organisation's culture and teams. This essay thus aims to describe and analyse remote onboarding in regard to the feeling of connection to the team, based on the perceptions of new employees. The research question for this thesis is thereby: - How does employees experience remote onboarding during Covid-19 and how does it affect the feeling of connection to the rest of the team? The study has an exploratory purpose and is of a qualitative approach. The empirical data has been collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 participants who have been employed during the pandemic and experienced remote onboarding. The results of the interviews have been analysed on the basis of theories about onboarding, learning and socialisation process. The results of the study show that it is valuable to reflect on how meetings in the digital context can replace the physical meetings. Regarding the design of the onboarding process, it must beensured that the interaction space usually offered on-site must be able to be replaced digitally for a new employee to get a sense of connection to the team. The discussion of the results has also shown that knowledge exchange can be linked to organisational learning, and this is closely linked to certain aspects of how a new employee can adapt to the organisational culture and have a successful remote onboarding and socialisation process.

Aim: The aim of this study is to explain how professional and organisational identity influence auditors’ perception of commercialisation in audit firms. The purpose is to see if there are possible differences between these identities and how they influence auditors’ perception of commercialisation in audit firms and if this perception is positive or negative. Theoretical approach: Theory that focuses on commercialisation in especially marketing literature and theory regarding professional identify in foremost organisational research, have been used. Empirical Methodology: A quantitative approach was used to be able to analyse auditors’ response from a questionnaire. When analysing the data, Pearson correlation matrix and multiple linear regression have been used. 374 answers from participating auditors in Sweden have been analysed. Conclusions: The empirical result of this study suggests that both professional and organisational identity influence auditors’ perception of commercialisation in audit firms positively. / Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att förklara hur professionell och organisatorisk identitet påverkar revisorernas uppfattning av kommersialisering i revisionsbyråer. Vidare vill vi se om det finns eventuella skillnader mellan nämnda identiteter och hur de påverkar revisorernas uppfattning av kommersialisering i revisionsbyråer och om uppfattningen är positiv eller negativ. Teoretiskt perspektiv: Studien utgår ifrån marknadsföringslitteratur med fokus på kommersialisering samt teori om professionell identitet från främst organisatorisk forskning. Empirisk metod: En kvantitativ metod har använts för att kunna analysera revisorernas svar från en enkät. Vid analys av data har Pearson korrelationsmatris och multipel linjär analys använts. Totalt har 374 svar från revisorer i Sverige analyserats.   Resultat: Det empiriska resultatet av studien tyder på att både professionell och organisatorisk identitet har en positiv påverkan på revisorernas uppfattning av kommersialiseringen i revisionsbyråerna.