Organizational Relationships in the Networking Age: The Dynamics of Identity Formation and Bonding

Globalization, the information technology revolution, individualization and other processes in contemporary society all impact on organizations. Organizational actors are recognizing the need to make sense of these permutations, reconstruct their identities and positions and find ways of coping with the complexity of relationships within and between organizations. This book analyses the framework of these organizational relationships and the dynamics of identity formation and bonding on several levels.

Organizational practices, managerial and professional coping strategies are all explored within the context of shifting inter-organizational relationships. The findings, which are presented by an international team of contributors, are complex and demonstrate continuities as well as discontinuities. The authors analyse the way in which organizational actors, such as managers, information technology specialists, creative professionals and academic researchers make sense of the social transformations in the networking age and their impact on organizations. The organizational settings which are studied include armies, universities, non-governmental organizations, information technology development houses, telecom operators and organizations in the food production chain.

This multi-disciplinary book will appeal to a wide-ranging audience of scholars, practitioners and consultants across various fields including organization and management studies, industrial relations, social psychology, work and organization psychology and sociology, HRM and employment relationships.

Edited by Willem Koot, formerly Professor of Organizational Anthropology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Peter Leisink, Utrecht University School of Governance, The Netherlands and the late Paul Verweel, formerly Professor of Management and Organization from a Multicultural Perspective, Utrecht University, The Netherlands