Political Dynamics in Organizational Identity Breach and Reconstruction: Findings from the Crisis in UNICEF Germany

Jacobs, Claus Dietrich; Kreutzer, Karin; Vaara, Eero (2021). Political Dynamics in Organizational Identity Breach and Reconstruction: Findings from the Crisis in UNICEF Germany. Academy of Management Journal, 64(3), pp. 948-980. 10.5465/amj.2018.0821

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This paper elucidates the political dynamics of organizational identity breach and reconstruc-tion. Drawing on the revealing case of UNICEF Germany, we develop a process model of four phases of identity breach and reconstruction: build-up of identity tensions, revelation of identi-ty breach, identity reconstruction, and enactment of the reconstructed identity. Our analysis explains how each phase was characterized by specific political strategies employed by the managerialist and idealist organizational members, the effects of these strategies on the power balance and consensus/conflict over organizational identity, and how particular triggers explain shifts from one phase to another. By so doing, our analysis advances our understanding of or-ganizational identity breach and reconstruction as political processes and paves the way for new studies of political identity dynamics in other contexts.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	11 Centers of Competence > KPM Center for Public Management
UniBE Contributor:	Jacobs, Claus Dietrich
Subjects:	300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 350 Public administration & military science
ISSN:	1948-0989
Funders:	[42] Schweizerischer Nationalfonds
Language:	English
Submitter:	Claus Dietrich Jacobs
Date Deposited:	21 Apr 2020 14:12
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 15:38
Publisher DOI:	10.5465/amj.2018.0821
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/143380