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Lecture 9- An Ideal Worker and the Professional Identity - Coggle Diagram
Lecture 9- An Ideal Worker and the Professional Identity
Learning Objective 1- An Ideal Worker and the Professional Identity
Who is an Ideal Worker?
Employees today are expected to prioritise work ahead of everything else
‘Ideal worker’ is one who is totally committed to and always available to fulfil their work duties
Employees who embrace this expectation are the one who are more likely to be richly rewarded
What is a Professional Identity?
Role identities typically comprise of goals, values, beliefs, norms, interaction styles, and various time horizons that are associated with a given role
Two Main Forms of Professional Identities
Expected Professional Identity (what is expected by employers)
Organisations expect their employers to conform to this
Experienced Professional Identity (what is expected of yourself)
Conflict arises when a worker’s experienced professional identity does not meet the expected professional identity
How do Organisations control employees' professional identity?
Organisational mechanisms of identity
structure of work
successful performance of professional role been contingent upon always prioritising work demands over other life demands
performance evaluation
reinforcing structure of work by rewarding those who fill requirements
HOW DO EMPLOYEES COPE WITH CONFLICTING PROFESSIONAL IDENTITIES
HOW DO PROFESSIONALS COPE WITH CONFLICT?
They do so by either passing or revealing
Professionals cope with conflicting identities by ‘straying’ from the expected identity
CONGRUENCE VERSUS CONFLICT
However, a large percentage of professionals experience conflict between the two identities
Historically, researchers and practitioners focused on women, especially those with young children as being the main cohort of professionals who would experience conflict
if an employees expected, and experienced professional identities are in sync and congruent they are unlikely to experience conflict
TOOLS FOR STRAYING
Working on internal projects to reduce travel time
Focusing on cultivating a local client base
Seeking assistance in restructuring work
revealing
Personally altering the structure of work
passing
Applying for reduced workloads
Seeking parental and/or carer’s leave
Hiding or sharing personal information
revealing
passing
Integrated identity management strategies for multiple audiences
combining passing and revealing
Factors influencing passing and revealing when interacting with audiences
closeness of relationship
perceived access to formal accommodations
audience status
extremity of conflict experienced
spillover of perceptions across audiences
efforts to pass or reveal to one audience can spill over and influence perceptions held by other audiences
revealing to close colleagues often results in informal re-structuring of work
revealing to high-status audiences often results in revealing to broader audiences across the organisation
passing to high status audiences tends to facilitate passing to equal-or low-status audiences
Gender Differences
Research Shows:
Women less likely to engage with identity management strategies that allows passing to high-status audiences- more likely to reveal
Men are equally likely to do both
Often attributed to Women being more likely to utilise formal accommodations provided by employer (such as parental leave) than men
EXTERNAL PERCEPTIONS & PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
High performance ratings given to:
Those who use passing (especially to senior-status audiences) identity management strategies to cope with conflict
Those who embrace the expected professional identity
High performance rating = improved career path
Low performance rating given to
hose who use revealing (especially to senior-status audiences) identity management strategies to cope with conflict