Content area
Full Text
Abstract.
The aim of this paper is to investigate the forms, significance and effects of elite identity constructions in four consulting firms based in the UK and Sweden. The paper examines a range of strategic and symbolic mechanisms that were used by the senior members and other actors of these firms to construct an elite organizational identity. In terms of general effects, an elite social identity was found to generate a 'neoliberal' form of governance in all of the cases such that consultants could be trusted to act and behave in the interests of the firm. We argue that elite constructions facilitated: (i) the promotion of self-discipline which sustained a want to accomplish high standards of performance; (ii) the attraction and retention of consultants; (iii) the securing of an image that clients were prepared to engage with; and (iv) a degree of 'ontological security'-a relatively secure sense of self-which enabled consultants to function effectively in high-ambiguity and somewhat sceptical (with respect to clients) work contexts. In the contexts discussed here, consultants not only managed themselves, but they also intensified the commitment to live an organizational life that demanded high standards and often very long working days. Key words, consultancy firms; control; identity; knowledge work
It has traditionally been assumed that control is achieved by designing and applying appropriate structures, procedures, measures and targets; and, related to this, that any problems and shortcomings can be rectified by restructuring, training or staff replacement. These traditional means of control have their limitation in 'post-bureaucratic' work contexts because of the nature of work and the demand for flexibility. In these contexts, shared meanings, values, beliefs, ideas and symbols become key elements of normative organizational control (Barley and Kunda, 1992; Kunda, 1992; Ray, 1986; Rosen, 1985). Control here is closely connected to how managers may promote a particular form of organizational experience for consumption by employees (Kunda, 1992; Smircich and Morgan, 1982; Willmott, 1993). An increasing number of authors emphasize the way in which control is exercised through the 'manufacture' of subjectivity (Alvesson and Willmott, 2002; Deetz, 2003; Knights and Willmott, 1989; Rosen, 1985). Much of this literature tends to use the term 'identity' and identity construction when discussing this process. We follow this trend by exploring the mechanisms...