Content area
Full Text
Introduction
While various disciplines acknowledge the potential of multiple influences on behavior, the human sciences generally anchor behavior within the individual. From this perspective, the individual is the arbiter of his or her own behavior and the primary source of the expertise that drives organizational performance ([37] Swanson and Holton, 2001).
The field of Human Resource Development (HRD) places individuals at the center of organizational performance and claims that organizations get things done through people and depend on human expertise to perform ([36] Swanson, 1996). While the degree of importance of individuals to organizations is variable and debatable ([7] Collin, 1996), the importance of the individual to the organization, manifested in the form of satisfaction, loyalty, and commitment, is often assumed to affect performance ([2] Alvesson, 2000; [3] Ashforth and Mael, 1989; [34] Stets and Burke, 2000; [35] Stryker and Serpe, 1994).
[27] Mowday and Sutton (1993), in their review of workplace issues regarding individual and group behavior in organizations over the past few decades, identify emerging interest in cognitive and affective influences on behavior in the context of the organization. Specifically, they identified factors at the organization, group, and individual levels. Generally, people do the work of organizations in group settings ([13] Hodgkinson, 2003; [16] Hogg and Terry, 2000). Thus, the way groups operate affects organizational performance.
This article first reviews the theoretical underpinnings of social identity and its explication as found in social identity theory. Included in this explanation is the complementary theory of social categorization, which developed to elaborate the process of forming a social identity. Following this is a discussion of the implications of social identity for training and development.
The simple question of why people do the things they do is quite complex. One way to examine this question may be in the assumption that individuals do what they do because of who they believe they are - their identity. Furthermore, individuals are comprised of multiple selves or identities ([3] Ashforth and Mael, 1989; [9] Fiske and Taylor, 1991; [17] Hogg et al. , 1995; [18] James, 1891; [20] Jenkins, 2004; [25] Miner, 2002). Recognition of the pluralistic nature of the self appeared early in the field of psychology. Late in the 19th century, [18] James (1891) identified four...