Summary
This is an open-ended project that has used case studies – including Bang & Olufsen, Alessi, 3M, Royal Mail – to examine interrelations between organizational identity and culture in times of change. These studies are part of a broader research program investigating how organizational identities are formed (Ravasi & Canato, 2010), maintained (Ravasi & Phillips, 2011), and changed (Kjaergaard, Morsing & Ravasi, 2011). The most recent effort in this direction is a study of long-term identity change in four non-profit organizations (Cloutier & Ravasi, 2020).
Relevance
Before these studies, the relationships between identity and culture had been the subject of considerable theoretical speculation, but little empirical investigation. These studies sharpened our understanding of how organizational identities and culture change, by showing, for instance, how culture helps make sense of “who we really are” when identities are threatened (Ravasi & Schultz, 2006), how identity set boundaries to acceptable cultural changes (Canato, Ravasi & Phillips, 2013), but also how the skilful introduction of new identities can facilitate cultural change (Rindova, Dalpiaz & Ravasi, 2011).