Wendy K. Smith
University of Delaware
Bowing Before Dual Gods: How Paradoxical Frames Sustain Multiple Conflicting
Organizational Identities
Marya L. Besharov
Cornell University
Alberta Institutions Conference
June 2015This research benefitted from funding from the University of Delaware General University Research Grants, University of Delaware Center for International Studies, Cornell University Institute for the Social Sciences, and University of Minnesota Center for Integrative Leadership.
Arts organizations (Glynn, 2000;
Glynn & Lounsbury, 2005)
Health care organizations(Reay & Hinings, 2009;Pratt & Rafaeli, 1997)
Universities(Albert & Whetten, 1985;
Kraatz & Block, 2008)
Microfinance(Battilana & Dorado, 2010;
Zhao & Wry, 2015)
Social enterprises(Pache & Santos, 2013;
Tracey et al., 2011)
Rise of Hybrid Organizations
Combine competing organizational identities, forms, and logics within a
single organization(Battilana & Lee, 2014)
Organizational Identity
“Who we are” and “what we do” as an organization(Albert & Whetten, 1985; Gioia et al., 2013)
• Orients members and guides strategic action (Pratt, 2000; Dutton & Dukerich, 1991; Gioia & Thomas, 1996)
• Hybrids combine multiple, competing identities within a single organization (Albert & Whetten, 1985; Foreman & Whetten, 2002)
Multiple Organizational Identities
Two Perspectives:
Stable and Enduring
• Source of internal tensions
• Often structurally separated
(Besharov, 2014; Elsbach, 2001; Foreman & Whetten, 2002; Glynn, 2000; Golden-Biddle & Rao, 1997; Pratt & Foreman, 2000; Pratt & Rafaeli, 1997; Voss, Cable, & Voss, 2006)
Fluid and Transitional
• Source of identity change
• Often become integrated
(Clark, et al., 2010; Corley & Gioia, 2004; Gioia, Schultz, & Corley, 2000; Dutton & Dukerich, 1991; Fiol, 2002; Gioia et al., 2010; Kreiner et al., In Press; Nag, Corley, & Gioia, 2007)
But, in “holographic” hybrids, multiple identities are neither completely separated, nor completely
integrated(Albert & Whetten, 1985)
Research Question:
How do organizations sustain competing identities over time, without fully integrating or structurally separating those identities?
Methods: Overview
• Qualitative Case Analysis (Yin, 1984; Siggelkow,
2007)
• Single case
• Longitudinal (10 years)
• Extreme, “unusually revelatory” case (Eisenhardt & Grabner, 2007)
• Runs labor intensive IT outsourcing business (e.g. digitization, web tagging)• Seeks to stop the cycle of poverty by hiring the most disadvantaged
Research Site: Digital Divide Data
Research Site: Digital Divide Data
Social• Over 2000 people hired• Over 650 “graduates” • >10x average salary
Business• $4.7M in revenues • Covering operational costs
since 2009
Data Collected
Multi-source triangulation (Jick, 1979)
• Interviews (34)Founder/CEO, board, managers, employees, external advisor
• Observation (7 days)Board and senior manager meetings
• Archival documents (over 3,000)
All board packets, minutes, business plans, news articles, marketing materials
Data AnalysisStage Output
1. Develop thick descriptions to generate initial insights (Langley, 1999)
Thick case description 3 key insights
o Contradictory yet interrelated identitieso Strategic tensions between identitieso Identity meanings and enactments shift
2. Identify and describe key strategic episodes (Maitlis, 2005)
Detailed accounts of 18 strategic episodes (58 single-spaced pages)
Focus on hiring and growth episodes (10)
3. Code episodes to develop core constructs (Gioia, Corley, & Hamilton, 2013)
Data structure
4. Integrate data and literature to build a theoretical model (Eisenhardt, 1989)
Model of how paradoxical frames sustain multiple, conflicting organizational identities
How Paradoxical Frames Sustain Multiple Conflicting Identities
Experimenting with Identity Enactment
Hitting Identity Guardrails
Multiple Identity Flexibility
Confronting Identity Tensions
Paradoxical Frames
Multiple Identity Commitments
Multiple Identity Commitments
“Jeremy and I need to make a living, but we can make a living in a lot of ways. The reason that we are in this is
because we see this as an opportunity to help people out of poverty... We don’t want to be just another company.”
– Board member
Contradictory Frames
“The social mission makes it very difficult. The goal line here is not to make tons of money and get the founder to the south of France. The goal is to provide as many jobs
and to touch as many lives as possible within the context of our being able to generate enough money… Boy that is
really complicated.” – Board member
Interdependent Frames
“So many young people will go through [training programs run by NGOs], but they won’t have the chance to actually do
it in the workplace…. [At DDD,] there’s a real client that wants to see quality work delivered. If we were just a learning program, it wouldn’t work.” – Board member
How Paradoxical Frames Sustain Multiple Conflicting Identities
Confronting Identity Tensions
Paradoxical Frames
Multiple Identity Commitments
Confronting Identity Tensions
Who do we hire?“How can you run DDD with people typing 8 words per minute?”
How do we grow?Thatched hut dream or thatched hut nightmare?
Confronting Identity Tensions: Ten Key Episodes
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2007 2009 20102000
Disadv. vs. skilled Disadv. vs. skilled
Disadv. vs. skilled (Laos)
Disadv. vs. skilled
Rural vs. urban
Rural vs. urban
Rural vs. urban Scale social mission vs. improve operational efficiency
Graduate vs. promote to middle management
High vs. low
income countries
Gro
wth
Hiri
ng
Experimenting with Identity Enactment
• 5 friends from US/Canada spend 1 month in Cambodia to launch DDD
• Partner with CVCD to provide free English lessons/computer training
• Sponsor experimental training program at CVCD and hire top performers
Hitting Identity Guardrails
• “Do you realize this company is bankrupt in less than three months?”
• Low quality, slow turnaround, unsuccessful RFP bids
How Paradoxical Frames Sustain Multiple Conflicting Identities
Experimenting with Identity Enactment
Hitting Identity Guardrails
Multiple Identity Flexibility
Confronting Identity Tensions
Paradoxical Frames
Multiple Identity Commitments
“Part of the secret sauce may be having some flexibility around these issues…”– Board member
How Paradoxical Frames Sustain Multiple Conflicting Identities
Experimenting with Identity Enactment
Hitting Identity Guardrails
Multiple Identity Flexibility
Confronting Identity Tensions
Paradoxical Frames
Multiple Identity Commitments
Experimenting with Identity Enactment
Hitting Identity Guardrails
Multiple Identity Flexibility
Confronting Identity Tensions
Paradoxical Frames
Multiple Identity Commitments
Theoretical Contributions
Competing identities sustained through identity flexibility• Extends work on identity labels and meanings (Gioia et al., 2000) to multiple identity context
Experimenting with Identity Enactment
Hitting Identity Guardrails
Multiple Identity Flexibility
Confronting Identity Tensions
Paradoxical Frames
Multiple Identity Commitments
Theoretical Contributions
Competing identities sustained through identity flexibility• Extends work on identity labels and meanings (Gioia et al., 2000) to multiple identity context• In multiple identity context, flexibility enabled by paradoxical frames and identity guardrails
Experimenting with Identity Enactment
Hitting Identity Guardrails
Multiple Identity Flexibility
Confronting Identity Tensions
Paradoxical Frames
Multiple Identity Commitments
Theoretical Contributions
Organizational identity as a key means of managing hybridity • Past research suggests creating an integrated identity (Battilana & Dorado, 2010)• Our study uncovers an alternative – identities are interrelated yet remain distinct