A Model for Organizational Identity: Exploring the Path to Sustainability during Change

Mergers and other change events dramatically transform organizational life, often altering an organization’s essential nature—its identity. In an effort to more effectively manage the change process, it is important to understand the impact of change and those aspects that, ifchanged, put the organization’s identity at greatest peril. This study qualitatively explored these issues by examining the content of identity and the effects of change in a commercial aviation company that was undergoing a merger. Drawing upon Albert and Whetten’s definition of organizational identity, a model of organizational attributes emerged that consisted of core attributes and application attributes. The data illustrate that the organization’s core attributes—its central purpose and distinctive philosophy—constitute organizational identity. The second category of application attributes—priorities, practices, and projections—have varying degrees of fluidity and may be altered without losing the central, distinctive, and enduring essence of the organization. The article concludes with propositions for future research.