Organizational identification is the degree of shared values, goals, and objectives between a person and an organization. It can greatly affect performance and future success, but an overly strong sense of identification can lead to unethical behavior. Building a healthy level of identification involves making individuals feel personally important and reflecting their values in the organization’s actions. However, extreme identification can be detrimental if it leads to unethical or illegal behavior.
Organizational identification (OID) is the degree of values, goals, desires and objectives shared between a person and an organization. The level of organizational identification between employees and a company or between members and a group can be crucial to an organization’s success. To promote the OID, entities must take care to meet the personal needs and desires of each member. An overly strong sense of organizational identification, however, can have consequences, as members may feel pressured to participate in unethical behavior or be afraid of calling out inappropriate actions.
A person with a high OID will feel that, in general, their sense of self is tied to the organization. If a company performs well, employees can feel a sense of personal pride. Likewise, if an organization like a high school football team has a disastrous game, members high in OID may feel personally ashamed. The more an individual feels that his self-esteem and personality are linked to the group’s identity and performance, the stronger the emotional attachment and devotion to the group increases.
The OID is important to many different types of organizations as the level of identification can greatly affect the performance, daily operations and future of the group. When employees feel strongly connected to the workplace, they may be less likely to take days off or look for another job and may work harder to achieve company goals. Dedicated members are more likely to stay with the organization through difficult times rather than jumping ship at the first sign of trouble.
Building and maintaining a healthy level of organizational identification is an important task for many groups. Often, the key to improving OID is to make individuals feel that they are personally important to the group and that their personal values are reflected in the organization’s actions. Employee morale programs, job perks, a strong presence of core values, and a historical reputation for fairness and good manager-worker relations can all help to improve the level of identification between members and the group.
In extreme situations, too much organizational identification can be detrimental to a company or group. If the sense of group mentality gets too high, employees can feel extreme pressure to place the group above personal ethics or even the law. Organizations must guard against members who seek to take advantage of the strong dedication that individuals feel for the group; Allowing unethical or illegal behavior to continue out of a sense of loyalty to the company could harm the long-term future of the entire entity.
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