Work Identity: A Neurophilosophical Perspective 3031377338, 9783031377334

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Work Identity A Neurophilosophical Perspective Billy Adamsen

Work Identity

Billy Adamsen

Work Identity A Neurophilosophical Perspective

Billy Adamsen Zealand Academy of Business and Technology Slagelse, Denmark

ISBN 978-3-031-37733-4 ISBN 978-3-031-37734-1 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37734-1

(eBook)

The translation was done with the help of an artificial intelligence machine translation tool. A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: © Alex Linch, shutterstock This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Paper in this product is recyclable.

To my sons Ludvig Adamsen and Albert Adamsen Always be aware of your work identity and remember: “If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater or lesser person than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble”. With Love Dad

Foreword

When I wrote the first notes on work identity almost 15 years ago, I had no idea this topic would become so important in my research and work as a professor, stress coach, and HR counsellor. As I began researching, I added more notes, and many pointed in different directions. One note, in particular, had questions such as, “Why do students have a hard time understanding their work identity?” “Why do I have trouble explaining what work identity is?” and “Is talent a part of work identity?” These questions caught my attention; honestly, I couldn’t answer them. This note bothered me, and as a researcher and expert in the field, I should have been able to define and answer such questions. That note became the starting point for my research on work identity and an intense search to understand what it is and how it affects our behaviour and thinking in different work contexts. My research has brought me into contact with researchers from many scientific disciplines, business leaders, and employees in various industries, each of whom contributed valuable input, ideas, and assumptions about work identity. They have provided me with a deep insight and

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understanding of what work identity is, and today I can answer some of the questions that I could not answer 15 years ago. My understanding of work identity made me realise the need to develop a professional work identity test, Work Identity Pro,1 that could measure work identity as an identity in itself, how strong or weak it is compared to other identities, and describe it in its crystallised form. Developing such a test and experiencing how basic research can be applied in practice and turned into a concrete psychological test has been very exciting for me to experience. It has also been enriching to experience how the feedback from various study participants helped adjust and improve it. Many thanks to all those who have been involved in my research from the beginning, spending time commenting, documenting, and supporting it. When my initial notes and thoughts on work identity and talent were turned into hypotheses, analyses, and theories, Professor Paul Griseri, editor of the British journal Philosophy of Management, found it interesting and scientifically highly relevant, encouraging me to continue with my research. The same goes for my colleagues, Professor Steen Scheuer and Associate Professor Torben Andersen from the University of Southern Denmark, who gave me the opportunity to continue with my research and present the first research results at an international management and HR conference in 2015. I am grateful to my editors at Palgrave Macmillan for their interest in my research and wanting to publish and invest in my books. Professor Stephen Swailes of Huddersfield University deserves thanks for inspiring conversations along the way and for the critical publications we wrote together. I also appreciate the input and critical thoughts on various statistical methods from my old colleague and lecturer, Gintautas Bloze. The comments and feedback I received from Dr. Michael Winterdahl, Head of the Brain Imaging and Kinetics Group at Aarhus University, and Professor Vincent Descombes from the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences were greatly appreciated. Although the Danish theologian Jan Lindhardt is no longer with us, I still remember our conversation about work identity and work life back in 2010/11, which 1

Link to the test Work Identity Pro: https://www.arbejdsidentitet.dk/ in multiple languages.

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can be traced in my scholarly work on work identity. I am very thankful for that. Finally, a heartfelt thank you goes to my two sons, Ludvig Adamsen and Albert Adamsen, for listening patiently when I talked or rather lectured them about work identity and for sharing their own thoughts with me about their work identity and its importance for their performance. Last but not least, I must highlight my spouse, Dr. Anne Adamsen. Without her love, patience, and intellectual support, especially during the pandemic, and our many early morning reflections and inspiring talks over coffee at 5am, this book would not have been finished. I hope that after reading this book, you will be left with the impression that my research was worth supporting and that you have gained some wisdom about work identity and how it affects work behaviour, although there is still much left to discover. Link to Professor Adamsen LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin. com/in/billy-adamsen-ph-d-19150556/. Valby, Copenhagen, Denmark Tyringe, Hässleholm, Sweden

Billy Adamsen

About This Book

The book is structured into nine chapters. First, I will share real stories about work identities in different social contexts. Then, I will describe my students’ reactions to these stories during my lectures, followed by their interpretation and understanding of work identity. The aim is to differentiate and identify work identity from other identities in work practice, using these stories as a starting point to define and explain what work identity is and how it affects our work behaviour. In the second chapter, I will narrate a real corporate story about the American telecommunications company, Pacific Bell in the 1980s. This choice is based on the organisational changes they implemented in the 1980s, reflecting societal changes in transitioning from modernity to late modernity. There was a shift from focusing on work and work identity to focusing on individual and personal identity. This chapter will explain how the language of work in companies, particularly Pacific Bell, changed from a fundamental, unambiguously work-oriented language to a more abstract management-oriented one. These changes led to communication gaps between managers and employees and organisational inefficiencies.

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About This Book

In the third chapter, I will explore our subjective experiences with identity and work identity. Based on the scientific progress in neuropsychology and neurophilosophy, I will explain how the brain and mind are made of the same matter. The chapter will highlight how our (conscious and unconscious) sense of ownership, sense of agency, and judgement are crucial to our understanding of identity. In addition, I will discuss how it is possible to have multiple identities and why certain identities are more aligned with the self than others. This presentation will provide us with a more adequate understanding of identity and work identity, what they mean to us, and how they influence our behaviour, especially work behaviour. In the fourth chapter, my focus will be on work identity itself. As an ontological entity, work identity has been overlooked in psychology, social psychology, and sociology, leaving us with a superficial idea. This chapter will explore work identity and try to define it. It will describe how work identity consists of two kinds of identities: the conscious narratively interpreted work identity and the unconscious lived and experienced work identity. Furthermore, the chapter will explain how each identity—and the work identity itself—is tied to our “self ” in a complex, multifaceted psychological and social process that combines unconscious and conscious elements. In the fifth chapter, I will review how work identity has been studied and tested over time. American psychologists and pioneers such as Frank Parsons, Henry Murray, and John L Holland have presented different critical theories about work identity, work, person, and work environment (work behaviour and capability), and other methodologies and tests/checklists on how to examine an individual’s work identity and how it matches a work environment. The chapter will also critically evaluate John L Holland’s theory of Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI), which is the foundation of most work identity tests and checklists. In the sixth chapter, I will show how my criticism has led me to discover an extra dimension to the work identity theory and John L. Holland’s “Vocational Preference Inventory test” (VPI) that concerns work identity itself and a way to measure this extra dimension. Through the development of a specific quantitative work identity test, termed Work Identity Pro (professional), I found a way to measure and compare

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work identity to personal identity to determine how strong or weak they are in relation to each other and which of the two is preferred (prominent) in a work situation. Secondly, this chapter describes how lived and experienced work identity and the narratively interpreted work identity are constructed and what behavioural and cognitive modalities characterise each of the two identities. The Work Identity Pro test should be viewed as a complementary test to John L. Holland’s “Vocational Preference Inventory test” (VPI). The Work Identity Pro test has been applied to 250 students and employees aged 20 to 55 years old at the Zealand Academy of Technology and Business, as well as public and private companies in Denmark over a six-year period (2015–2021). Along the way, we further developed the test by adding specific questions to each identity and its modalities. As a result, the test now consists of 249 questions divided into five tests regarding our work identity and language of work. In the seventh chapter, I will describe the method and statistics behind the Work Identity Pro test. In the eighth chapter, I will describe and highlight some exercises that can contribute to a better understanding of your work identity. In the ninth chapter, I will summarise and conclude.

Introduction

My many years of research in psycholinguistics and the use of language at work are the starting point in my approach to work identity. I wondered what was the meaning of the term “identity,” especially “work identity?” Is there any semantic difference between “identity” and “work identity,” or are they the same? Do we have just one identity that always characterises us no matter our situation and enables us to be ourselves in a work situation, or are we different, having multiple identities? Once we understand the descriptive meaning of “identity” and “work identity,” we can ask specifically about work identity itself: How are these identities ontologically different? How is a work identity constructed, what does it consist of, and how does it work? How do different identities influence our thoughts and actions in different social contexts, especially work identity in a work context? I will show how a work identity is composed of two kinds of identities: a lived and experienced work identity and a narratively interpreted work identity. The lived and experienced work identity gives us an unconscious sense of what we are capable of and can do. It provides us with a sense of ownership and agency while working. The narratively interpreted work

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identity makes us aware of what matters to us in a work context and gives us a consciousness of work, a sense of judgement, and a sense of being the proactive subject (creator) of our behaviour, actions, thoughts, and values in a workplace. It is a conscious sense of a certain kind of work being “me” or “not me.” Looking at work identity from a sociological perspective, I will show how transitioning from modern to late modern society has changed our understanding of and relationship to work. Work today seems much more about ourselves than about work itself, much more about “me” and my personal identity than about “we” and our collective work identity. I want to show how this has led to a blurring of the boundary between work and private life and how it has destabilised the work-life balance. Furthermore, it has led to the loss of our work identity and the sense of belonging at work and to a situation where it has become much more challenging for us to function, engage, perform, and deliver at work. A similar transformation of our language of work and its use occurred in the same development period from modern to late modern society. It has changed from being a fundamental work-oriented language unambiguously referring to work at any level of the organisation to an abstract management-oriented language of work, ambiguously describing work at any level of the organisation. This transformation has caused increased communication failures at work, misunderstandings, and time spent on clarification and interpretation.

Contents

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Stories of Different Identities 1.1 The Self-Employed Craftsman 1.2 The Receptionist Student 1.3 The Case Handler Tour Guide 1.4 The Lawyer Partner 1.5 Spontaneous Comments on the Different Identities

2 When Our Relationship to Work Changed and Our Work Identity Vanished 2.1 The Prevalence of the ‘Singular Work System’, the Confusing New Language of Work and the Pursuit of an I-Oriented Work Identity 2.2 The Singularization of Work and the Confusing New Language Sicken and Confuse the Individual 2.3 When Work Identity Became Identity Work References

1 1 2 3 4 4 9

21 24 28 31

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Contents

Identity and the Experienced Sense of Being Who We Are 3.1 The Seven Senses of Man Preparation of the Action Neurophysiological Model 3.2 The Experienced Feeling 3.3 Understand Yourself as a Minimal Self and Interpreted Self 3.4 Our Personal and Social Identities 3.5 Identity Hierarchies and Salient Identities References

35 38 42 43 44 46 50 56 61

4 What Is Work Identity? 4.1 Work Identity as Social Collective Identity 4.2 The Narratively Interpreted Work Identity 4.3 The Experienced Work Identity References

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A Century of Work Identity Testing 5.1 Frank Parsons and a Checklist for Choosing Work 5.2 Henry Murray’s Focus on the Inner Needs of Work Identity 5.3 John L. Holland’s Work Identity Test References

6 The Need for a New Work Identity Test—Work Identity Pro 6.1 Description of Work Identity Pro Test Module 1: Your Working Language—Can It Be Understood or not? Test Module 2: Personal Identity vs. Work Identity: Are You Self- or Work-Oriented? Test Module 3: Your Experienced Work Identity and Your Sense of What You Are Good at Test Module 4: Your Narratively Interpreted Work Identity and Your Narrative About What You Are Good at

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Test Module 5: Does Your Work Identity Fix or Develop You?

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Methodology, Data and Explanation of Results

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Exercises with Questions for Results

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Conclusion

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Glossary

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Bibliography

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Index

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About the Author

Billy Adamsen is Associate Professor and Head of Talent Lab at Zealand Academy of Technology & Business, Denmark. He has published on a variety of subjects including management, talent management, work identity and work-related stress, cognition and organisation, the psychology of language and political management. In addition to his academic experience, he has worked as a certified stress and work identity coach and as manager and director in national and international companies, as well as having been special advisor for the Danish Prime Minister and Minister for Economics & Business Affairs.

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List of Figures

Fig. 3.1

Fig. 3.2

A reinterpreted and expanded version of Braun et al. (2018) and Gallagher (2000). The figure shows how an action is first thought and prepared by your minimal self unconsciously, and then consciously decided and put into practice Neurophysiological model showing how the sensory-motor process and cognitive processing and development take place, and how the experienced sense is reinforeced

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Fig. 3.3

Fig. 4.1

Fig. 4.2

Fig. 5.1

Fig. 5.2 Fig. 5.3

List of Figures

The model is inspired by Vincent Descombes’ ideas and shows the binomial social identity nomenclature and how social identity can be both abstract and concretely normative. It has an ab stretched social sub-identity that is shaped and developed by a wider and larger group of norms and which help us to determine (categorize) each other. But it can also be or develop into a more concrete collective sub-identity, shaped and developed by a real and more specific group. The circle in the model shows the work identity as a social collective sub-identity and dynamic moving up or down The figure shows the work identity as a work-based social identity consisting of seven inseparable social-collective sub-identities The model shows the relationship between our experienced feeling (sense of ) and work identity and between our ‘experienced work identity’ and ‘narratively interpreted’ work identity. It also shows how different forms of knowledge (memories) and ways of thinking and understanding are linked to work identity, and how this leads to different interests, actions and outcomes Model inspired by Wlodzislaw Duch’s neurodynamic model of Kurt Lewin’s equation B = f (P, E). It shows how every physical and experienced level is interconnected and how every transformation/ neurophysiological and psychological state (here and now) is interconnected and influences cognition and behavior. The dynamic energy field arises and can be registered in the neural network, where information/ facts are linked and (directly) cause actions It shows the eight basic psychogenetic need domains that Henry Murray identified Inspired by the many different version of a Holland Hexagon model that has been designed over the years, this one shows the six personality types and is surrounded by the six types of work environments/work tasks

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List of Figures

Fig. 6.1

Fig. 6.2 Fig. 6.3

Fig. 6.4

Fig. 6.5

Fig. 7.1

It shows the finale results of the language of work test as it appears for the test person in the electronic Work Identity Pro test. It shows which of the two languages of work your prefer in a work situation It shows the balance/imbalance between your personal and work identity at work It shows the six behaviour schemas in your experienced work identity and which of them you have a sense of what you are good at It shows your narratively interpreted work identity and how much aware you are of the six work-based social-collective sub identities and what it means to you. What you know you are good at, and what kind of organisation/values/culture that matter to you It shows the follow-up or control test for assessing work identity and our experienced sense of it. The results of Sense of ownership (SoO) and Sense of agency (SoA) leave you with an impression of the strength and coherence of the work identity. The results of the Fixed and Extended test shows how development-oriented your work identity is It shows the threshold values in the test scale from which it is possible to decide if an identity/sub-identity is salient, prominent or neutral

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1 Stories of Different Identities

When I lecture on work identity, I always begin with anecdotes about individuals from various professions. I delve into their work performance and explore how they maintain a healthy work-life balance. These stories serve as a foundation that I will continue to reference and analyse throughout the book.

1.1

The Self-Employed Craftsman

One of the stories I tell is about a person who was 38 years old and unmarried but who lived with his girlfriend. He was trained as an electrician and carpenter and was self-employed. Before becoming selfemployed, he was employed by a medium-sized multiservice company, doing both electrical and carpentry work. There were 30 employees, and the employees were divided into professional teams. He worked in a team of six, doing electrical and carpentry work. They worked from early morning until late afternoon, and he loved working in teams and having many alternating tasks. He was both thorough and skilled at his work. He had high professional morale, was hugely committed and proud of © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Adamsen, Work Identity, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37734-1_1

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what he could do. He felt very much in control. He later decided to become self-employed and set up his own small business with a few employees. It worked well, ran smoothly financially and quickly gained a reputation for being a thorough and professional business. When not at work, he spent time with his girlfriend and was keen to follow the local football team and go to many of their home matches, sometimes alone and other times with his girlfriend. He also played soccer with some old school friends twice a week. He loved the camaraderie they had. When you visited his home, you certainly couldn’t tell he was trained as an electrician and carpenter. The electrical installations in the home did not look very safe, as some of the sockets were literally hanging out of the wall and were not properly installed. The banister on the stairs to their first floor was loose and he was always telling his friends not to hold on to it. Just to be on the safe side.

1.2

The Receptionist Student

The second story is about a 29-year-old man who has completed a vocational secondary education and enrolled in a few higher education courses in administration and service, but did not finish. He believed that the teachers did not understand the true essence of service, and the courses were not academically relevant. During his training, he worked as a receptionist in both private and public companies. Currently, he is employed as a receptionist in a medium-sized municipality, which he enjoys. He strongly believes he can make a difference by improving the reception service to serve the citizens better. However, some of his ideas are controversial. For example, he believes playing music on his cell phone connected to a portable speaker is good customer service. He also likes to listen to music while working, despite repeated requests from his colleagues and manager to stop. He sees music as an essential part of providing quality service to citizens and refuses to change his behavior. He remains determined to keep playing music despite being warned during staff meetings and by his manager that his contract may be terminated if he continues. Additionally, he does not make an effort

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to learn which employees work in which departments, resulting in him often referring citizens to the wrong people in the wrong departments.

1.3

The Case Handler Tour Guide

The third story is about a 39-year-old married woman who has no children and is an engineer by profession. She worked for two different private sector companies and another municipality before joining a medium-sized municipality’s Environmental Sustainability Building office three years ago. Although she has a lot of experience in administration and specifically in case handling related to the approval of newly constructed and sustainable buildings, she did not find her job fulfilling and didn’t feel like it was a good fit for her. Moreover, she felt that she was not very efficient and often spent more time on each case compared to her colleagues. When her colleagues criticised her for being slow, she felt that they were being unfair and personal. She felt that they did not appreciate her for who she was. She did what she had to do at work, no more and no less, and it was important for her that she always went home at the exact time when she was off. When many cases needed to be handled fast, she often felt she could not cope with that many cases in such a short time. Sometimes she responded to the pressure by getting sick, and a couple of times, it caused her to be sick with stress. Outside of work, she was actively involved in a small travel club that organised tours to different destinations around the world every year. She was one of the tour leaders and was responsible for planning new destinations, coordinating logistics and implementing each trip every two years. Although it involved a lot of work and challenges, she loved it and often lost track of time due to her commitment. Her fellow travel club members knew that they could rely on her to plan a well-organised and enjoyable trip. She took great pride in her work for the travel club and her excellent reputation among its members.

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1.4

The Lawyer Partner

The fourth and final story is about a 42-year-old female lawyer associated with a major law firm. She had quickly become a partner and part of the firm’s management. As soon as she became a partner, everything in her life revolved around the firm, and she was referred to as ‘Ms. Firm’ because the firm always came before everything else. She always acted in the company’s interest, had little privacy, and had no time for dating or starting a family. Then, one day, the firm was sold, and as she had a considerable share through her partnership, she became quite wealthy. Shortly after the sale was completed, she experienced something she had never experienced before: a personal crisis. Suddenly, she could not see any meaning in anything, not even in life. She had also become unexpectedly emotional and sometimes felt scared and shaky, which she found very unpleasant. A little over a year after the sale, she had not yet moved on or found a new job. Her tremors had increased, and she felt that nothing at all mattered. She went to the doctor, who referred her to a psychiatrist, who told her that her tremors were anxiety attacks and that she had depression. Three years after her diagnosis, she had slowly started working again, but only part-time, in a large, reputable law firm in Copenhagen, Denmark, and she was enjoying it immensely. She had also joined a travel club for globetrotters, and she had been on many journeys since becoming a member of the club. She met many interesting people, some of whom she had become friends with. One of them was a woman of the same age with whom she had started going to church every Sunday. Something she felt was incredibly pleasant and rewarding. They would go to the cafe after the service, have a cup of coffee, talk about the sermon, and sometimes their next trips.

1.5

Spontaneous Comments on the Different Identities

I told these four stories to the students in my class about work identity (Job & Career). After hearing the four stories, I requested the students to share their thoughts on the behavior of the individuals at work

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and during their leisure time. The students had no problem providing feedback, and I received comments such as: The electrician/carpenter knows what he can do and is proud of it. The engineer woman should get a job in a travel agency. My home also looks like the electrician/carpenter’s home. I do not have time to fix it when I am not working and studying. I need to relax when I am home – do something other than working. That lawyer should have spent more time on herself than on the firm. Someone should shake up that receptionist or give him a lesson.

When I asked the students to explain why they thought the four people were behaving this way at work, their responses included the following: When you’re at work, you know you have to be professional and meet requirements and deliver a service. You don’t have to do that when you’re at home or with your mates at football . If you like your work, you are often good at it and fully committed. The engineer woman does not like what she is doing, so she does not get involved . She is not good at it either. Nevertheless, she is involved in something in her spare time. She seems to be very good at managing and coordinating tours (travel), so maybe she should work with that instead. That would make sense. That receptionist is focused too much on himself at that job. You cannot be. You have to adapt to your workplace and then push yourself into the background when you work. But as long as it’s about him, he thinks the work is exciting , and as soon as it’s not, it’s not exciting anymore, and then there’s something wrong with it. Both the electrician/carpenter and the lawyer seem to be very aware of their professionalism and their professional behavior, what they are good at and can accomplish. I guess that is why they both have a successful direction. Nevertheless, the lawyer could learn something from the electrician/carpenter , because she seems to have forgotten to live her life outside of work. If you only focus on work, you’ll eventually realise that you’ve never had a life outside of it.

The interesting thing about these comments and explanations is that they all describe the concept of work identity in their own words, despite the students not having a clear understanding or definition of it. “Both the

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electrician/carpenter and the lawyer seem to be very aware of their professionalism and their professional behavior, what they are good at and can accomplish.” The engineer lacks a clear sense of her identity in relation to her work. This may be why she seems dissatisfied and not particularly skilled: “The engineer woman does not like what she is doing, so she does not get involved. She is not good at it either.” In contrast, the receptionist’s behavior and way of thinking in a work situation is problematic. He prioritises his personal identity over his work identity, which creates issues for his job performance: “That receptionist is too focused on himself at that job. You cannot be. You have to adapt to your workplace and then push yourself into the background when you work.” The students also understand the importance of creating a boundary between work and personal life in order to function effectively in both areas. As one student noted, “The lawyer could learn something from the electrician/carpenter, because she seems to have forgotten to live her life outside of work. If you only focus on work, you’ll eventually realise that you’ve never had a life outside of it.” The students recognise that having a professional work identity and being oneself outside of work requires awareness of this boundary. Another interesting observation from the students’ comments is that many of them implicitly distinguish between different types of identities. For instance, some students differentiate between identities that they associate with work and those that they associate with a person’s behavior in their free time. I drew the students’ attention to this distinction and asked them what they thought about it. Interestingly, some of the comments I received were: “Ahhh, so is this our work identity you’re talking about here? ” or “Well, that’s because we know that our personal identity is different from the identity we have at work, which must be our work identity? Or what? ”. In response to their comments and questions, I explained that these stories illustrate how different identities are activated in different situations. We can see how our work identity sometimes overlaps with our personal identity and how they both influence our behavior and way of thinking. It is important for us to define and understand what identity and work identity truly mean and how they differ from each other. Although my students already make these implicit distinctions, it is clear

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that they have doubts about what identity and work identity truly are. This is a common issue for many of us as we struggle to fully comprehend our different identities. For example, when I am with my friends and I refer to myself as “I am,” am I referring to the person that I truly am or the person that I pretend to be? Are we talking about an “I-identity” and a “Personal identity” when we refer to two different identities? Then there’s the identity that we associate with our work, which we sometimes refer to as our “ professional identity,” “organizational identity,” or “work identity.” These are all identities that we do not fully understand the difference between and have difficulty describing and explaining. In Chapter 3, I will explore the concept of identity further in order to answer these questions. But before we get to that, I want to share another real story from the corporate world about our relationship to work and how it has changed.

2 When Our Relationship to Work Changed and Our Work Identity Vanished

The story of the American telecommunications company Pacific Bell takes place in the 1980s and is illustrative of the changes that occurred in the labour market and our work culture during the transition from modern to late modern society. When the monopoly of the telecommunications company AT&T ended in 1982, it led to more free competition in the American telecommunications market, and many new telecommunications companies emerged. Pacific Bell was one of these companies. Interestingly, The New York Times reported that if you were planning to invest in any of the new telecoms, Pacific Bell was not one of the companies it recommended (Spicer 2017). The reason was that revenues were falling, the organization was not functioning properly, the workforce lacked skills and creativity, and the company was in open warfare with the authorities in California. Therefore, if Pacific Bell was to become an attractive investment in the future, the company’s management had to address these problems (Spicer 2017). Pacific Bell’s management was well aware of this at the time and decided that it was no longer only organizational change in the traditional sense that was needed but an entirely new organizational culture, a new work structure and system, and an entirely new kind of work identity (Spicer 2017). © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Adamsen, Work Identity, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37734-1_2

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For decades, the company had enjoyed a virtual monopoly on telephone services in California, but now it was facing a problem. The industry was about to be deregulated, and Pacific Bell would soon be facing tough competition. The management team responded by doing all the things managers usually do: restructuring, downsizing, rebranding. But for the company executives, this wasn’t enough. They worried that Pacific Bell didn’t have the right culture, that employees did not understand “the profit concept” and were not sufficiently entrepreneurial. If they were to compete in this new world, it was not just their balance sheet that needed an overhaul, the executives decided. Their 23,000 employees needed to be overhauled as well. (Spicer 2017)

The management contacted Charles Krone, a successful business consultant in California at that time and an expert in organizational change. He was a different kind of expert who was strongly inspired by the GreekArmenian philosopher and mystic George I Gurdjieff in his work on business and employee development. Gurdjieff had the idea that organizational culture should be all about the individual and supporting the employees in their search for consciousness to become aware of their own roles and functions in the organization. This could release the employees’ true potential, unfold their repertoire, and make them accomplish more and work more efficiently to a certain extent (Uspenskii 1977; Dalcher 2018). Only one thing is true in what you said: That you can know consciousness in yourself. Observe that I said that you can know it only when you have it. And when you have not got it, you can know that you have not got it, not at that very moment, but afterwards. I mean when it comes again you can see that it has been absent a long time, and you can find or remember the moment when it disappeared and when it reappeared . (Uspenskii 1977: 116) You must realise that each man has a definite repertoire of roles which he plays. He has a role for every kind of circumstance in which he ordinarily finds himself in life, but put him into even only slightly different circumstances and he is unable to find a suitable role and for a short time, he becomes himself. The study of the roles a man plays represent a very necessary part of self-knowledge. (…) To see the roles, to know one’s repertoire, particular to it limitedness, is to know a great deal. But the point is that, outside his repertoire, a man feels very uncomfortable should something push

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him temporarily out of his rut, and he tries his hardest to return any one of his usual roles. (Uspenskii 1977: 239–240)

Krone believed that part of the reason for the problems at Pacific Bell was that employees were inefficient, lacked creativity and were unable to deliver products and services that met the demand. The organization was stuck in an old production culture with a bureaucratic mindset, a work system with static hierarchies, and narrowly defined work roles and functions in which employees were confined to their desks and unable to move around and unleash their true potential and creativity. This was an organizational and mental state that Gurdjieff would describe as a kind of ‘waking sleep’: To awake, to die, to be born. These are the three successive stages (…) But these three possibilities of man, to awake and not to sleep, to die, and to be born, are not set down in connection with one another. Nevertheless, this is the whole point. If a man dies without having awakened, he cannot be born. If a man is born without having died, he may become an ‘immortal thing’. Thus, the fact that he has not died prevents a man from being ‘born’; the fact of not having him awakened prevents him from dying; and should he be born without having dying he is prevented from ‘being’. We have already spoken enough of the meaning of being born. This relates to the new beginning of a new growth of essence, the beginning of the formation of individuality, the beginning of the appearance of one indivisible ‘I’. (Uspenskii 1977: 217–218)

Consequently, something had to be done—the employees had to awaken and find their individuality. Charles Krone recommended that Pacific Bell move away from the old bureaucratic system-oriented work culture with its narrow view and understanding of performance, and instead adopt an organizational culture inspired by Gurdjieff ’s philosophy and his ideas of awakening. For this reason, Pacific Bell needed to start with the ‘rebirth’ of their employees as individuals and their understanding of themselves in a work situation. This would involve increasing their awareness of the many roles and functions they could adapt to in different circumstances. In doing so, Pacific Bell could move away from viewing work as something that has a meaning in itself towards

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a view of work that is solely about the individual’s personal understanding, interpretation, and attitude towards work, and realizing their own potential. In order to create and implement this entirely new organizational culture with a strong focus on individuality, consciousness, awakening, walking sleep, potential, and creativity, Charles Krone introduced a completely new language of work—a new management language that could express and refer to these new values and understandings of individuality and work. It was a language influenced by and characterised as a new age language with abstract, ambiguous words for attitudes and beliefs in spirituality, reincarnation (rebirth), holism, occultism (waking sleep), and the right way of living and working. Pacific Bell managers and employees were sent on long courses to learn this new language of work and the basic Gurdjieff-inspired ideas and values of the new individual-oriented organizational culture. However, Pacific Bell spent between $40 and $147 million on these organizational changes and follow-up initiatives without succeeding as expected (Dalcher 2018): […] Krone’s methodology was based on a mélange of systems theory, socio-tech thinking, Sufi mysticism and the writing of 20th Century Armenian Mystic George I. Gurdjieff who believed that most humans spent their days in ‘waking sleep’ and that is only by shedding ingrained habits of thinking that individuals could liberate their inner potential. Krone’s work was supposed to teach people to think more precisely, but it was jargon-laden and off-putting. Pacific Bell contracted with two associates of Charles Krone for $40 million worth of leadership development and personal-growth training to acculturate the workforce and embed the new culture. Some reports suggest that the full figure was closer to $147 million. Staff at Pacific Bell were instructed in new concepts such as ‘the law of three’ (a thinking framework that helps to identify the quality of mental energy that people have), and discovered the importance of ‘alignment’, ‘intentionality’ and ‘end-state visions’. (…)‘This new vocabulary was designed to awaken employees from their bureaucratic doze and open their eyes to new higher-level consciousness. But it had some unfortunate side effects. First, according to one former middle manager, it was virtually impossible for anyone outside the company to understand

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[it]. Second, the manager said, this new language led to a lot more meetings, and the amount of time wasted nurturing this higher consciousness meant that everything took twice as long.” (Dalcher 2018: 2–3; see also Spicer 2017: paragraph 13, line 13–23)

I guess we can say, without insulting anyone, that it went completely wrong. It became opaque and unclear as to who did what, how and why; while at the same time, employees could no longer communicate and understand each other because of this new, abstract management language. Much of their time was simply spent clarifying what the new language and words referred to, so they could figure out what needed to be done, who specifically needed to do it, and who had the awareness and potential to do it. As a result, Pacific Bell was never able to get on track and perform and deliver as expected, and in 1996 ended up being acquired by Southwestern Bell Corporation (SBC). Charles Krone’s idea and corporate strategy for getting Pacific Bell back on track may seem a little far-fetched compared to what other, more traditional organizational experts of the time would have suggested. They would have focused more on the bureaucratic work system and tried to fix it, on roles/functions and performance, rather than on culture, the individual’s state of consciousness, and creativity. However, if you look at the strategy Charles Krone suggested from a slightly larger sociological perspective, I don’t think he was way off, and it was not that ‘farfetched.’ In many ways, Charles Krone’s thinking was a contemporary reflection of and influenced by the new understandings of our relationship to work, the labour system, and the labour market. His actions can be seen as a reaction to the cultural and societal changes that came with transitioning from modern to late modern society. Up through the 1980s, the academic debate about this transition was in full swing among sociologists and political scientists worldwide. Sociologists and political scientists, such as Anthony Giddens, Pierre Bourdieu, Ulrich Beck, JeanFrançois Lyotard, Andrew Sayer, Robert Putnam, Richard Sennett, and others, were all elaborating on the consequences of this new culture of capitalism, the detraditionalisation of societies, the individualisation of the labour market and the labour system, the ‘brazilianisation of work’

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and ‘the end of work’ as we know it, and what it all meant (Adamsen 1996, 2016; Kirk & Wall 2011). The German sociologist Andreas Reckwitz shows how the labour system and the labour culture in this particular period were already changing and evolving. It evolved from being an inflexible bureaucratic labour system with authoritarian, rigid organizational structures, well-defined roles/functions, and a labour culture with a focus on professional tradition, collectivity, and collective identity, to a more dynamic and flexible singularised work system, with an individualised and nontradition-oriented (detransitionalised) culture without a focus on the tradition of the profession, on collectivity, and collective identities. Conversely, it had a strong focus on employees as personalities, their personal identity, profile, competencies, potential, and performance: The situation is quite different with the singularised work system of late modernity, which has had an increasingly strong impact on the knowledge and cultural economy since the 1980s, and thus on the entire field of skilled work. In this new system of valorisation, the subject of work not only becomes visible in all its singularity, but forms itself in accordance with it and is shaped as such by companies and networks. The worker has become an employee, valued and exploited as a special personality. Distinctiveness is no longer a disturbing element or a circumstance that is passed over in silence, but something that is systematically promoted. No longer is a simple performance of duty or an average performance expected, but an exceptional performance that ‘makes a difference’. (Reckwitz 2019: 187. Translated from Danish)

In retrospect, this is my interpretation of what Charles Krone really had in mind and took into account in his work with Pacific Bell. He aimed to future-proof the organization by shifting the management/employee focus from the work process to individuals with their own consciousness, personality, creativity, and potential. As Andreas Reckwitz put it, workers should “become an employee, valued and exploited as special personalities” (Reckwitz 2019: 187). Since the 1980s, Western societies have largely developed as many sociologists predicted. In an extensive meta-study, researchers Henrik C. Santos et al. (2017) showed that individualization has left its mark

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not only on Western societies but on all societies around the world. The labour system and culture, as well as the organization itself and its culture, have all undergone a similar transformation, shifting from primarily focusing on work from a collective and objective perspective to a singular and subjective perspective. The traditional collective professional identity passed down from generation to generation used to be the salient identity at work, determining our relationship to work and its meaning. It has now disappeared and been replaced with our personal identity and the meaning of life (Kirk & Wall 2011). This has left us all alone at work, trying to figure out our professional identity and create one that reflects our capabilities. Until that happens, we have no choice but to be ourselves at work, in a mental state of uncertainty, perplexed with a tendency to confuse who we are with what we can do and the meaning of life with the meaning of work. Consequently, it has blurred the boundaries between our working life and our life outside work: Changing organisational culture was a first step in reconstituting individual and corporate identities. Concretely, it meant the elaboration of new programmes embodied in mission statements, visions and new value systems facilitated by a plethora of consultancy interventions, aimed at reinventing both the identity of the corporation and of the subjects within it. […] Their aim was to foster innovation and implement ‘total quality management’ as the goals of empowerment and participation. ‘Culture’ was presented as a cure for the rift between organizations and employees by flattening hierarchies, widening participation and restructuring traditional frameworks of authoritarian control. […] They are captured under a variety of names: emotional intelligence (measured by ‘Emotional Quotients’), organizational spirituality and spiritual intelligence (measured by ‘Spiritual Quotients’), the ‘worklife balance’, self-realisation and self-actualisation, programmes for health at work, ‘wellness at work’, and ‘happiness at work’. […]. Thus, the entire meaning of human life becomes in varied guises the preoccupation of management, which presupposes the cultural legitimacy of blurred boundaries between working life and life outside work. (Costea et al. 2008: 667–669)

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Today, we know what a strong professional work identity means for individuals because “research indicates a link between professional identity and an individual’s well-being across different professions. It has been suggested that the development of a strong professional identity protects individuals against burnout and contributes to their improved engagement, retention, and adaptation to their work” (Szulik & Cachia 2021: 252). On the other hand, we also know the consequences of not having a strong professional identity at work, but instead having a personal identity and being the “indivisible I” at work. When our work life and life outside of work merge in the new fluid work environment where boundaries disappear, our personality becomes our professional identity, which research indicates has serious psychological consequences for us as employees and individuals (Skinner et al. 2018; Szulik & Cachia 2021). Recently, HR managers and business consultants have described some of the leading factors and traps that negatively affect employees: […] the leading factor in determining our self-perception, we can easily fall into numerous traps of this always-connected age: checking messages around the clock; missing time with our families and friends; giving up on other activities we may be passionate about; and skipping opportunities to engage with and give back to our communities, just to name a few. […] When things go wrong at work, the results can feel emotionally devasting. Having a project fail, missing a promotion or being laid off can quickly trigger depression […]. (Levs 2020: paragraphs 5 and 6, lines 20–27; see also Davis 2019)

In Chapter 3, I will further explore the implications of the individualization of the labour system and culture, the disappearance of our work identity, and the consequences for employees’ mental state and behavior at work. In the meantime, let me return to Charles Krone and round off my thoughts on his actions at Pacific Bell. It is obvious that he did much of what needed to be done and what many companies around the world have since done. Even today, there are researchers/consultants similar to Charles Krone who point out that “bureaucracy is a depersonalised system – work is done through roles, not people. When this approach to organizing is put into practice, the workplace becomes sterile and dispiriting, and people

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tend to do only what is required of them. In such situations, the way forward is to emphasise community: to highlight the opportunities and joys of working in a socially vibrant environment ” (Birkinshaw 2019). The interesting question that arises is why things ended up as badly as they did for Pacific Bell and why changes like that can still go wrong today. There is probably more than one answer to this question. My answer, however, points to the fact that Charles Krone somehow overlooked the necessary feature for all labour systems (organizations) and labour cultures (organizational culture) to function and be efficient, namely the “Fundamental Rule of Work.” This rule of work is governed by universal (objective) principles of what is necessary for the organization to function, work efficiently, and perform what is necessary. Much in the same way as a “mechanical apparatus obeys the same Newtonian principles of entropy and enthalpy as a biological mechanism” in order to function (see Styhre 2007: 13), the bureaucratic work system obeys the “Fundamental Rule of Work.” It has been like that since the days of the first systems of work emerged in early civilizations such as ancient Sumer, in China under the Qin dynasty, in European societies in the Middle Ages, and in industrialised societies right through to modern and late modern societies, companies, and organizations. Hence, it is important to understand that bureaucratic work systems are “by no means strictly mechanical systems as conceived of in the antibureaucracy literature, rather, are better conceived of in zoomorphic terms, as organism structured in accordance with certain mechanical principles, yet capable of responding to and dealing with external changes. Biological organisms are structured in accordance with certain mechanical principles, suggesting order, rules and what may be called ‘routines’ – for instance, the metabolism is structured around temporal events – but does not fail to maintain a close attention to the external world ” (Styhre 2007: 12– 13). Additionally, bureaucracy and the bureaucratic work system are so powerful because they create and generate “operational values” in the workplace (Mai 2016: 248). With the ‘Fundamental Rule of Work’ and bureaucratic systems, a ‘Fundamental bureaucratic language of work’ emerges from the ‘Fundamental language’ itself ’. This necessary language of work consists of objective, concise, and precise concepts that enable us to unfold an

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unambiguously descriptive, expository, and assertive language of work. It is crucial for our understanding of reality, the bureaucratic system, work itself, its operational value, and what is required to accomplish tasks (such as skills). Years ago, the Danish philosopher David Favrholdt sought to elaborate further on what a fundamental language is and its significance for our understanding of reality. He exemplified this with a fairytale. Similarly, I would like to paraphrase his fairytale to illustrate further the necessity of having a ‘Fundamental bureaucratic language of work’ for organizations, organizational culture, and work to function efficiently (Favrholdt 1999: 135/261). Reality, with its organization and work, said to man: I exist, but as something immensely complex. I consist of things moving in time and space, of molecules, of atoms (humans), of force fields, structures and relationships, all in constant interaction with everything. If you want to know me, you have to describe me. If you want to, you must form a set of concepts to cover all aspects of my great complexity. When you have formed the necessary concepts, I must tell you - in unambiguously terms - how to apply them in relation to each other, so that you can describe all the relations, functions and regularities with which I am created and live by. If you do not form the necessary concepts, you cannot describe me. If you form the necessary concepts but do not apply them correctly, you cannot describe me either. But if you do and use the concepts as I told you, you can describe reality, the organization and work and what it takes to get it done. (Favrholdt 1999: 263 f.)

Thus, it becomes quite obvious that without a bureaucratic work system governed by the ‘Fundamental Rule of Work,’ the organization’s functioning, the cooperation between managers and employees, and the potential for optimal performance are hindered (Goffee & Jones 2013). Additionally, the efficiency of work and the attainment of desired results (operational value of work) are compromised. Bureaucracy is powerful because it generates ‘operational values,’ which ‘are created in the workplace’ […] The ‘operational values’ are related to the activities in which bureaucracy is spread out in the family, school, and

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polity. The institutions of family, school, and polity are places to diffuse the bureaucracy to individuals. […] Despite the linkage with individuals, the operational values are not necessarily similar to the needs of each individual in an organization. The ultimate goal is how the organization can implement the bureaucratic goals. Even when the personal needs of an organization are opposite to the bureaucratic goals of an organization, the bureaucratic goals are still given the first priority. (Mai 2016: 248)

Without a fundamental bureaucratic language of work, the necessary concepts to describe the reality of work, the organization, and its relationships are lacking. In essence, the reality of business cannot be effectively conveyed. One cannot, like Charles Krone and George I. Gurdjieff , create a private personal language of work (referred to as a ‘Singular language of work’) or a ‘Singular management language’ independent of the ‘Fundamental bureaucratic language of work’ (or the ‘Fundamental language’) without encountering problems. All languages, including those used in the context of work, need to originate from the ‘Fundamental language,’ and specifically, all languages of work must originate from the ‘Fundamental bureaucratic language of work’ in order to make sense of and accurately describe reality. As explained by David Favrholdt in the fairytale, “Around the world, people went about creating concepts, and in all the different cultures, each with their own language (Bantu, Swahili, Malay, Chinese, Eskimo, Greek, etc.) they created words that stood for the concepts of ‘thing’, ‘time’, ‘place’, ‘person’, ‘experience’, ‘movement’, ‘speed’, ‘eye’, ‘ear’, ‘hand’, ‘body’, ‘action’, ‘thinking’, ‘memory’, and many others. It turned out, that by using concepts in accordance with the fundamental language and in a certain way that they had not themselves made up, they could describe reality; tell each other how many days it takes to go from such a river to such a mountain. How many hours it takes to move a certain thing from one place to another, what happened yesterday, how many fish they caught the day before yesterday” (Favrholdt 1999: 263. Once again, I have paraphrased his fairytale). While Charles Krone and George I. Gurdjieff may have viewed the ‘Fundamental Rule of work’ (the bureaucratic work system) and the ‘Fundamental bureaucratic language of wor k’ as less significant than individuality and the subjective language of work (referred to as a ‘Singular

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management language’ or ‘Singular language of work’), it is important to recognise that the former always takes precedence over the latter. The ‘Fundamental Rule of work’ and the ‘Fundamental bureaucratic language of work’ cannot be ignored or replaced. The bureaucratic work system always precedes the singular work system. Whether the ‘Fundamental Rule of work’ and the ‘Fundamental bureaucratic language of work’ have been relegated to the background of an organization or exist as hidden rules within an institutional structure or organizational culture, they remain as necessary conditions for the functioning of the singular work system. This parallels the idea that reality (nature) always precedes humanity, an essential realization: However, the importance of bureaucratic organizational structures has shifted. They now appear as a background institutional structure, allocating for example financial, spatial and human resources to project teams, establishing external contacts and providing support at the administrative level. The institutional logic of the general has here become a condition of possibility for the logic of the particular to unfold. (Reckwitz 2019: 182)

It is unclear why Charles Krone ignored the truth of the reality of work and tried to replace the ‘Fundamental Rule of work’ with the rules of the individual, or in other words, replace it with the ‘Rule of the Singular ’ governed by the principle of the randomness of the individual. It is like intentionally disregarding Newton’s law of universal gravitation, and we all know what would happen if we did that. It occurred to Charles Krone as well.

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The Prevalence of the ‘Singular Work System’, the Confusing New Language of Work and the Pursuit of an I-Oriented Work Identity

Various managers and consultants have tried to change the reality of work since the days of Charles Krone. They did not ignore the truth about and the reality of work but suggested that it could and should be changed or suppressed. They encouraged the board/management to integrate the ‘singular work system’ with the ‘bureaucratic work system’ to transform their organization if they wanted to adapt to the late modern labour market, culture, and value and exploit employees as special personalities. Managers and consultants continue to suggest such reorganization today for the same reasons: to personalise work and meet the demands of an employee’s ‘indivisible I ’ and to be able to ‘value and exploit the employees as a special personality’ too (Reckwitz 2019: 187). Professor Julian Birkinshaw from the London Business School made that crystal clear when he emphasised how the bureaucratic system is incapable of personalizing the organization and work itself: “Bureaucracy is a depersonalised system – work is done through roles not people. When this approach to organizing is put in practice, the workplace becomes sterile and dispiriting, and people tend to do what is required of them and no more” (2019). Most companies in different sectors of the economy seem to have listened and gone ahead, singularizing (individualizing) their work system and organizational culture. Researchers observe that this seems to be the pattern of numerous reorganizations today (Reckwitz 2019). In the quaternary sector of the economy, which is the intellectual or knowledge-based economy, and in the tertiary industry, which is the private and public service sector of an economy, the ‘singular work system’ with its ‘Rule of Singular ’ has become more prominent than the ‘bureaucratic work system’ with its ‘Rule of Law’ and ‘Fundamental bureaucratic language.’ The employee as an individual (as a personality) is the focal point of the ‘Singular work system,’ and the quality of the service depends on the person (personality and skills) providing it (Hayes 2022).

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However, when an organizational transformation like that occurs, where a bureaucratic work system singularises and becomes more personalised, the work environment also changes radically. It absorbs the ‘Indivisible I ,’ the personality and privacy of the employee, and becomes more fluid. An overlap between work and private life follows, and the boundaries between working life and our life outside work disappear. Previously traditional hierarchical organizational structures, as it appears in the ‘bureaucratic work system,’ become flatter. Traditional boundaries between managers and employees break down, and roles and functions are no longer clearly defined and primarily point towards work but also the individual profile, potential, competencies, and performance. It points towards ‘what you are,’ your personal identity, and less to ‘what you can,’ your work identity. In many companies in the industry’s secondary sector, the manufacturing industry, “Singularization” has left its mark, making work systems more flexible and flatter and linking roles and functions to the employee’s profiles, potentials, and competencies. However, it has not replaced the “bureaucratic work system” with the “Singular work system.” In the primary sector of the industry, which concerns the extraction of raw materials or natural resources from land, such as farming, fishing, and oil production, “Singularization” has not had the same influence on the work system as it has in the secondary, tertiary, and quaternary sectors and occupations. Nevertheless, it has made the work systems more flexible, linking roles and functions to the employee’s profiles, potentials, and competencies—his/her personal identity. Today, in all branches of the economy, the organization and its management, especially Human Resources, have rigidly directed their focus towards the “indivisible I ” of the employee, on his/her personality, and developed a narrowed focus on how to optimise the fit between the personality and the job (person-job fit). By following selection and placement strategies that optimise person-job fit, an organization can populate its workforce with motivated and committed employees. Selection and vocational -choice frameworks are also based on this underlying principle [and] assume that individuals will respond more

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favourably to jobs that are congruent with their personalities. (Lounsbury et al. 2008/2023: 351–353)

Conscious theories and personality tests in modern HR, recruiting, and development, such as the Myers-Briggs test (personality types) or the NEO-PI test (personality traits), have become widespread and frequently used in identifying the personality of an employee. Furthermore, these tests can persuade an employee that their profile, personality traits, personality type, and personal identity match the environment and the job, influencing how they function, perform, and deliver at work. This persuasion implies a cultivation of the employee in singularity and an introduction to an entirely new “Singular management language” consisting of metaphysical arbitrary psychological/mystical concepts about the “indivisible I ,” singularity, and “the Singular work system.” A language that influences the “Fundamental bureaucratic language of work” in such a way that it alters it to an ambiguously “Singular language of work” consisting of arbitrarily defined concepts/words/statements, which content/meaning is difficult to understand: “A century of management fads have created workplaces full of empty words and equally empty rituals. (…) They include familiar favourites such as ‘doing a deep dive’, ‘reaching out ’, and ‘thought leadership.’ There were also some new ones I hadn’t heard before. The ‘aha effect ’ (realizing with ‘protected characteristics’ (anyone who wasn’t a straight white guy), ‘the something,’ ‘getting our friends in the tent ’” (Spicer 2017). This supports Charles Krone’s perspective that in order for an organization to successfully transform and adapt to late modernity, it was necessary to take certain actions. However, it is important to note that the personalization of work through singularity comes at a cost for the organization and its employees. This can be seen through the experiences of organizations like Pacific Bell, where both the organization and its employees felt the consequences of singularity. While the costs may not be as extensive as in the past, they are still present.

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2.2

The Singularization of Work and the Confusing New Language Sicken and Confuse the Individual

At the core of singularity theory is the belief that an employee’s personality is directly linked to their engagement and performance at work. It is believed that “who you are” is more important than “what you can do” in a work environment. It is the ‘indivisible I ’ that makes a difference. However, this belief is not entirely accurate. The causal connection between personality and individual performance at work is problematic. Even if one is incredibly introverted and shy, one can still perform well in a service job where outgoing behavior is required, as long as they have the necessary skills and training. The renowned Oxford professor Robin Stuart-Kotze emphasises that an individual’s personality does not entirely determine their behavior at work: Personality testing is widely used in recruiting, with the underlying assumption that it will predict how people will behave in a job, and therefore will determine their performance. But if personality was the key to performance, then how can you explain the success of three people with very different personalities? […] It’s what you do that matters, not what you are and who you are. The Oxford Dictionary defines behavior as the way in which one acts or conduct oneself. Behaviours are the actions you take and the decisions you make. You can control these things; you can decide what to do and when to do it. And because you can decide what to do in any situation, you can determine your performance. (Stuart-Kotze 2009: 3–5)

This causal relationship between ‘what you do’ and ‘your performance’ will always be more plausible than the one between ‘what you are’ and ‘your performance.’ Throughout this book, it is important to keep this discovery in mind as it is a fundamental premise for understanding the relationship between work identity, performance, engagement, and ownership of work. The personalization of the work system and the constant focus on the individual can negatively affect the efficiency of companies, employee

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performance, and well-being. This impact can be compared to the negative repercussions that followed Charles Krone’s personalization of Pacific Bell. Studies show that when companies personalise their working system, the working language becomes filled with abstract and semantically ambiguous words and concepts. This leads to the development of the “Singular management language”/”Singular language of work”, which becomes empty of content or filled with arbitrary meanings. This makes words, concepts, and statements relative and arbitrary to the reality of work (Spicer 2013; Adamsen & Swailes 2019). Linguists and philosophers even refer to this as language being emptied of content and characterised as a ‘bullshit language’ (see Frankfurt 2009; Cohen 2002; Spicer 2017, 2020). Examples of empty expressions with ambiguous content might include the term ‘potential.’ When using a word like ‘potential’ instead of the fundamental linguistic word ‘qualification,’ confusion arises as to what is actually being talked about. ‘Qualification’ specifically refers to an experience or characteristic a worker must have to perform a job. Similarly, when sociocratic organizations are using the word ‘circles’ instead of ‘area’ or ‘department’, which in a work environment actually means district or department, it is unclear whether it refers to the distance between different points or the place an employee is in a work environment. The same ambiguity arises when using ‘performance’ instead of ‘achievement’. ‘Achievement’ is a fundamental linguistic word referring to the result of a work effort, the act of performing, whereas ‘performance’ is ambiguous and may refer to one’s appearance, execution or physical abilities. The meaning of ‘profile’ is also unclear and ambiguous in a work context. Is it some distinctive feature of a person, a (behavioural) pattern that fits a role and function, or certain personality traits like optimism or responsibility? The description becomes almost meaningless when reading descriptions of a job, role, and function written in such abstract singular language. For example, if the profile of a manager is that she should be ‘a phenomenal leader who has an infectious level of energy’, what does that mean in a fundamental (bureaucratic) language context? If the profile of the next employee is that he is ‘self-driven and a self-starter’ or that she is ‘proactive and can keep many balls in the air,’ what exactly do they have

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to do? It becomes unclear what is actually expected in terms of behaviour other than being ‘phenomenal.’ Not only is it incomprehensible, but it also becomes entirely unclear what is expected from the employees. In his research, the English professor of organizational psychology, André Spicer, found that when a job, function, role, and work system are described using “Singular management language”/“Singular language of work”, the value and meaning of the work become ambiguous and the work tasks become less clear. Some tasks can be uniquely defined and described, while others cannot (Spicer 2017, 2020). This development has led to more of these nondescript tasks being bundled up and associated with new types of jobs in many companies, especially in the tertiary and quaternary professions. These jobs have little operational value and their meaning, if any, can only be described using “Singular management language”/“Singular language of work” (Spicer 2017, 2020; Graeber 2019). American anthropologist David Graeber calls these jobs and tasks ‘bullshit jobs and tasks’ and estimates that up to half of the jobs that exist today are ‘bullshit jobs’: If 37 percent to 40 percent of jobs are completely pointless, and at least 50 percent of the work done in nonpointless office jobs is equally pointless, we can probably conclude that at least half of all work being done in our society could be eliminated without making any real difference at all. Actually, the number is almost certainly higher, because this would not even be taking into consideration second-order bullshit jobs: real jobs done in support of those engaged in bullshit. (I’ll discuss these in chapter 2.) We could easily become societies of leisure and institute a twenty-hour workweek. Maybe even a fifteen-hour week. Instead, we find ourselves, as a society, condemned to spending most of our time at work, performing tasks that we feel make no difference in the world whatsoever. (Graeber 2019: 62)

The singularization of the work system and the “Singular management language”/“Singular language of work” not only creates and legitimates random new jobs with limited operational value, but also causes ineffectiveness in the organization and performance, as discussed earlier (Spicer 2017, 2020). Just as in the case of Pacific Bell, when our understanding of work becomes detached from the bureaucratic system of work and

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‘The Rule of Law,’ and language becomes abstract, arbitrary and unclear, we spend much more time figuring out what something means, how something should be done, and what skills are required/presupposed. This leaves less time for actual work. Staff and managers must also spend time finding and making sense of the various ‘bullshit jobs’ so that the position/role/function can be explained and attributed to operational value, which can take a long time to work out (McLaughlin 2017). Imagine how much time a consultant hired in a company as a ‘programme manager’ without knowing what the program is about and assigned to a ‘circle’ with a ‘development team’ has to spend to find tasks that can be linked to the role and function of ‘programme manager.’ Moreover, additional work may be required if it turns out that the programme manager was not qualified to take on the random work tasks allocated to a programme. With its “Singular management language”/“Singular language of work”, the singularised work system also leads to cognitive problems or difficulties in understanding what managers and employees can do. While the focus is now on the individual, the personal, the inner and the ‘indivisible I’, the “Singular management language”/“Singular language of work” does not make it easier to understand what is ‘special’ about us, what our ‘potential’ is, and how this applies to our job, role, and function. We struggle to understand what enables us to function, perform and deliver, or translate the ‘indivisible I’ into an equivalent fundamental language expression. Instead, we have started accepting the ‘indivisible I’ in all its emptiness as a fundamental language expression. This is not appropriate, as exemplified by the empty statement ‘to be able to think out of the box,’ which has become a qualification and a fundamental linguistic statement. We need to understand what this statement means and what we can do when we ‘think out of the box.’ When we have difficulty understanding what we can and cannot do, we also find it hard to develop ourselves and create a work identity that suits the work and the work environment we want to be in. Without a work identity, we cannot develop the work behavior that is a prerequisite for functioning, performing, and delivering well at work.

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2.3

When Work Identity Became Identity Work

When we lack a work identity, we lose our internal orientation, our ‘work compass’, that helps us understand where we stand and which direction to move towards to achieve our goals. Instead of being in a place where our skills match a role or function, we are often in a process of creating or discovering our work identity, which requires more time spent on identity work—becoming more aware of what we can do and how it fits with our work tasks. The difference between having a work identity and being in identity work is that the former allows us to act, perform and achieve, while the latter involves searching for what we can do and may achieve while underperforming. Moving from a state of being to a state of becoming means transitioning from a clear understanding of what we can and should do, why we can do it, and what it takes to do it, to a state of uncertainty regarding our abilities and responsibilities. When we spend more time on identity work than on our work identity, we face difficulties functioning, performing, and delivering. This is because, during this time, we are not aligned with our work and work environment, but instead at odds with them. Researchers refer to this as a subjective contradiction that creates tension and conflicts between our personal and professional selves: [Identity work] refers to the ‘subjectivities […] caught up in contradictions, struggles, tensions, fragmentations and discords’ (p. 124). Identity work thus involves a careful balance and resolution of the tensions between the self and the general demands of the work context in which the individual’s identity is negotiated. (Adams & Crafford 2012: 2)

Studies have shown that when a significant amount of time at work is spent on identity work due to a weak or non-existent work identity, individuals may become more emotionally vulnerable, unstable, and impressionable. This may lead to issues with self-esteem and confidence, questioning whether the job is right for them and if they have the necessary skills (Adams & Crafford 2012). As a result, individuals may feel

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less ownership of their work and have less engagement and control when working. An example is the 39-year-old engineer employed in a mediumsized municipality who lacked engagement, ownership, and control in her work due to a weak work identity. Her search for meaning and commitment elsewhere created tension and conflict with her colleagues. Another example is the 29-year-old receptionist who saw that the work was not about the work, but about him and who he was (his personal identity). It was what he thought was important and what he would like—‘The Rule of Singular.’ He lacked a work identity and did not show any professionalism in his work, causing tensions with colleagues and work conflicts that could result in job loss. When individuals have a strong work identity, whether found and constructed through identity work or strengthened through training, internships, or new work tasks, studies show that they perform better at work, become more engaged, and take more ownership of their work. They feel more in control, leading to better functioning, improved performance, and, most importantly, better delivery concerning the number of hours worked. Bryan and Nandi (2018) support these findings: Our results generally confirm the role played by work identity in determining wellbeing, both as a direct factor and indirectly through its interactions with work hours. We find that, for a given level of hours, having a stronger work identity is associated with higher wellbeing, although the relationship is relatively weak for job-related anxiety (except among women working long hours). As we would expect from the standard economic assumption that work creates disutility, working long hours is associated with lower wellbeing and working part-time is associated with higher wellbeing, although for men we only find these relationships using the two affective wellbeing measures, job-related anxiety and depression (we find little effect of hours on their job or life satisfaction). But significantly, we also find that these relationships between hours and wellbeing are generally strengthened when controlling for identity implying that, consistent with theory, individuals sort into jobs with work hours that match their identities. Lastly, we find some evidence that work identity ‘protects’ partially against the adverse effects of long hours working. (Bryan & Nandi 2018: 4)

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The 42-year-old lawyer had a strong work identity early on, which made her perform and deliver well at her job. She took ownership of her profession and felt very much in control when she worked, which led to a partnership and ownership of the business. She further demonstrated commitment and managerial achievement, helping make the business commercially attractive, eventually resulting in its sale and making her quite wealthy. Similarly, the 32-year-old electrician and carpenter with a strong work identity always took pride in delivering a job well done. He was proud of what he could do, felt in control when he worked, and worked well in his team, collaborating effectively with his colleagues. This same commitment and pride helped him succeed when he started his own business. He also recognised the importance of boundaries between work and private life and knew when to take time off. However, the lawyer’s work identity became so strong that it completely engulfed her as a person, including her private life, leading to serious personal and psychological consequences later on. This can happen when a work identity becomes too strong and develops into a so-called “fusion identity.” We will return to this concept in Chapter 3, Sect. 3.6 ‘Identity hierarchies and salient identities’. In order for our identity work to lead to something and for us to create a work identity and feel better about our work, we need to be able to not only put concrete unambiguously words to it, but also to understand what a work identity actually is. For if we do not understand this, it becomes difficult to identify and differentiate it from other identities, let alone understand and explain why we put the concrete words to it that we do. We cannot simply develop and adapt our work identity to new work situations and tasks unless we fully understand and are aware of it. If we don’t, it will be harder to move on and find a new foothold and a (new) place to stand in a working environment. Although we talk a lot about identity in late modern society, it is surprising how unaware we are of what identity is, and work identity in particular. This becomes apparent when we talk to each other about identity because we tend to guess more than know a definition. It is a bit like the students did; they guessed that identity probably has to do only with us as a person, the personal identity, while work identity is probably something that has to do with our (personal) identity when we

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are at work. However, such guesses certainly do not make us much wiser about what identity and work identity actually are—rather, the opposite. Even in psychology, social psychology, occupational psychology, sociology, and much management and organizational research, researchers have struggled to define and explain unambiguously what both identity and work identity are. This can be remedied today when we have a more complete understanding of identity and are therefore able to describe, define, and explain what identity and work identity are more unambiguously than before with reference to neuropsychology, neurophilosophy, cognitive psychology and an overwhelming number of empirical studies. Let us look at what identity actually is.

References Adams, Byron G. & Crafford, Anne (2012): Identity at work: Exploring strategies for identity work. In SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, vol. 38, no. 1: 45–56. Adamsen, Billy (1996): A single case—A thought on single cases and politics. Publisher Fremad. Adamsen, Billy (2016): Demystifying Talent Management: A critical approach to the realities of talent. Palgrave Macmillan. Adamsen, Billy & Swailes, Stephen (2019): Managing Talent: Understanding critical perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan. Birkinshaw, Julian (2019): New ways of working: Getting beyond bureaucracy. In Forbes, November (7). Bryan, Mark & Nandi, Alita (2018): Working hours, work identity & wellbeing. Sheffield Economic Research Paper Series: Research Report ISSN 1749-8368. SERPS no. 2018002. Cohen, G.A. (2002): Deeper into bullshit. In Buss, Sarah & Overton, Lee (eds.): Contours of Agency: Essays on themes from Harry Frankfurt. MIT Press: 321– 339. Costea, Bogdan, Crump, Norman & Amirjdis, Kostas (2008): Managerialism, the therapeutic habitus and the self in contemporary organizing. In Journal of Human Relation, vol. 61, no. 5: 661–685. Sage Publications.

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Dalcher, Darren (2018): Why culture really matters. The hidden perils of acculturation. In PM World Journal , vol. VII, no. I: 1–7. pmworldlibrary. net/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/pmwj66-Jan2018-Dalcher-why-culturereally-matters-series-article.pdf. Davis, Jeffrey (2019): You are not your work. In Psychology Today magazine, March 26. Favrholdt, David (1999): Philosophical codex—On the justification of human cognition. Gyldendal. Frankfurt, Harry (2009): On Bullshit. Princeton University Press. Goffee, Rob & Jones, Gareth (2013): Creating the best workplace on earth. In the journal Harvard Business Review, May. Graeber, David (2019): Bullshit jobs: A theory. Penguin Books. Hayes, Adam (2022): What are tertiary sectors? Industry defined, with examples. In Investopedia, January. Kirk, John & Wall, Christine (2011): Work and identity: Historical and cultural contexts. Palgrave Macmillan. Levs, Josh (2020): The dangers of ‘workism’—Businesses thrive when employees separate their work from their identity. In Organizations & People Journal , March 2. Lounsbury, John W., Steel, Robert, Gibson, Lucy W. & Drost, Adam W. (2008/2023): Personality traits and career satisfaction of human resource professionals. In Journal of Human Resource Development International , vol. 11, 2008—issue 4. In Psychological Science, July 2014. Mai, Tam (2016): The power of bureaucracy. In Journal of US-China Public Administration, vol. 13, no. 4, April: 244–255. McLaughlin, John (2017): Ever eaten a reality sandwich or actually put your ducks in a row? Of course not. Express open wonders why we keep talking that way at work. An empirical study conducted by Businesswire, published June 15. Reckwitz, Andreas (2019): The society of singularities—On the structural changes of modernity. Hans Reitzels Forlag. Santos, Henrik C., Varnum, Michael E.W. & Grossmann, Igor (2017): Global increases in individualism. In Journal of Psychological Science, vol. 28, no. 9: 1228–1239. Sage Publications. Skinner, Barbara, Leavey, Gerad & Rothi, Despina (2018): Managerialism and teacher professional identity: Impact on well-being among teachers in the UK . In Educational Review, vol. 73: 1–16, 2021. Issue 1. Spicer, André (2013): Shooting the shit: The role of bullshit in organizations. In Journal- a M@n@gement, vol. 16, no. 5: 653–666.

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Spicer, André (2017): From inboxing to thought showers: How business bullshit took over. In The Guardian newspaper, November 23. Spicer, André (2020): Playing the Bullshit Game: How Empty and Misleading Communication Takes Over Organizations. In Organization Theory, vol. 1, no. 2. Sage. https://doi.org/10.1177/2631787720929704. Stuart-Kotze, Robin (2009): Performance: The secrets of successful behaviour. FT Prentice-Hall/Pearson Education. Styhre, Alexander (2007): The innovative bureaucracy—Bureaucracy in an age of fluidity. Routledge. Szulik, Magda & Cachia, Moira (2021): An interpretative phenomenological analysis exploring the influence of professional identity on medical doctors’ perceived wellbeing. In Psychiatr Psychol Klin, vol. 21, no. 4: 251–256. Uspenskii, Petr Demianovich (1977): In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of unknown teaching. Harcourt.

3 Identity and the Experienced Sense of Being Who We Are

According to both Danish and English dictionary, the word ‘identity’ comes from the Latin word ‘identitat’, ‘identitas’, which means ‘sameness.’ Linguistically, it derives from the Latin noun ‘entitas’ and from the Latin adverb ‘idem,’ meaning ‘the same.’ Today, when we use the word ‘identity,’ we use it to refer immediately to something or someone that is the same over time, regardless of location or circumstance. We also use it to refer to two objects being identical. In psychology, the term ‘identity’ refers to a person’s character or personality that remains relatively constant regardless of location, time or circumstances. The psychoanalyst Erik Erikson described identity as a person’s ‘sense of inner sameness and continuity over time and place’ (Kroger 2017). It is this ‘constant sameness’ that allows us to compare ourselves with others and infer that they are similar to us. Identity becomes psychosocial in nature and is ‘formed by the intersection of individual biological and psychological capacities in combination with the opportunities and support offered by one’ social context ’ (Kroger 2017). However, despite having explained identity in this way multiple times, I have never fully comprehended what ‘the same’ means in the context of identity and how it can remain consistent over time. After © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Adamsen, Work Identity, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37734-1_3

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all, we intuitively know that our identity is not fixed, it is dynamic and changes over time. This question has also stumped psychologists. Nevertheless, thanks to insights from neuropsychology, neurophilosophy, neurophenomenology and empirical studies on self-understanding, modern psychology can offer a more compelling answer to this question. To say that something about our identity can be constant, it must be a function of something that precedes the identity and is itself constant. This something is our innate experienced sense of and familiarity with our own body, which provides us with a sense of ownership and connection to it (Tsakiris 2017; Stanislas & Changeux 2011; Gallagher 2000). For example, when we sense our arms, legs, or tongue, we feel them as our own. Similarly, when we experience our thoughts and intentions, we feel that they are ours. Likewise, when we feel cold, heat, or pain, we feel that it is happening to us. This sense of ownership and control over our bodies and experiences is what allows us to identify with our current and past selves. When we repeatedly experience and recognise this sense of ownership and control as being the same, we begin to connect it with our identity. Even if our identity changes or evolves, this underlying sense of ownership and connection to our body and experiences remains constant. It is the feeling of being who we are and experiencing ourselves in our current identity and situation. For instance, when we reach for a cup of coffee, we feel that we are the ones who are moving our arms, hands, and fingers and controlling our actions. This sense of control and ownership over our bodies and experiences is what enables us to form a stable sense of self, despite the changing nature of our identity over time. Such an experienced sense of who and what we are and can do is what neurophilosophers and psychologists call our ‘Sense of Ownership’ (SoO) or ‘Sense of Agency’ (SoA). It can be defined as “the sense that I am the one who is undergoing an experience. For example, the sense that my body is moving regardless of whether the movement is voluntary or involuntary” (Gallagher 2000: 15). Our innate sense of self enables us to differentiate between ourselves and others and, consequently, to identify similarities between our own experiences and those of others. This ability to recognise something that is ‘the same’ in us and in others—in other words, to recognise identity—is rooted in our sense of body ownership. This

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sense of ownership enables us to distinguish between what belongs to our own physical self and what belongs to the external world, making it an essential component of human self-awareness. As Preuss et al. (2018: 1) explain, “This sense is fundamental for survival and constitutes a basic aspect of human self-consciousness.” So the experienced sense of ownership (SoO) not only precedes our identity, it also becomes the necessary condition for our identity—or choice of identity. This enables us to take or feel ownership in an identity, and thus experience a constant and stable sense that I am ME (SoO) and it is ME who ACTS (SoA). When discussing identity and its consistency, we often refer to it as something that remains unchanged and stable within ourselves or our actions. Now, with the support of scientific evidence, we can provide a more precise explanation. We can state that in order for this constancy to exist, our identity (O) must be a function (f ) of our (P) experienced sense (y) of the experienced (S):   Identity equation: O = f P, y , S The identity itself (O) is equal to the individual’s (P) experienced sense (y) of the experienced (S). Over the past few decades, researchers in neuropsychology, neurophilosophy and experimental psychology have focused their research on exactly   this relationship: O = f P, y , S, and in particular on the relationship between this experienced sense of ownership (SoO) and the experienced sense of agency (SoA) within identity(ies). During the investigation of the experienced sense of control (SoA), recent findings have revealed the existence of two types of this sense (Tsakiris 2017; Moore 2016). The first type of experienced feeling of control is known as ‘Feeling of Agency’ (FoA), which is linked to lowlevel sensorimotor processes and unconscious processes (Moore 2016: 1; see also Synofzik et al. 2008). The second type is the ‘Judgment of Agency’ (JoA), which is associated with conscious thinking and higherlevel cognitive processes such as background beliefs and contextual knowledge related to the action (Moore 2016: 1; see also Synofzik et al.

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2008). The ‘Judgment of Agency’ (JoA) enables us to feel that our analysis is correct, our way of judging is the same, and that it is acceptable to act in the way we do. For instance, when a student raises their hand and puts it down quickly, a short time later, I may ask them, “Was that your hand I saw raised?” For the student to answer “Yes,” they must have experienced a sense of ownership of their hand (SoO) and an experienced sense of the action (SoA / FoA), along with the sense of having thought (JoA) and arrived at the conclusion that it was appropriate to raise their hand. The sensation of control we experience, specifically known as the ‘Judgment of Agency’ (JoA), plays a crucial role in our conscious selection of identity. It is this sense of control that enables us to determine whether a particular identity feels appropriate and right for us: Identity is a multiplicity, and one which is constantly evolving and transient. When we pay attention to one aspect of our identity, we can elevate it in primacy and importance. Sometimes that change might be permanent, and other times it might be temporary. Individuals are a complex mix of interacting characteristics. Identity is a choice between these characteristics. It is in fact countless small choices about characteristics and behaviours, all of which aggregate into our sense, and external appearance of a single, formed and coherent identity. (Ley 2015: section 15, line 91–100)

To fully understand what these experienced emotions refer to in concrete terms, and how we know today that they are so fundamentally crucial to our identities and their development, we need to dwell for a moment on our sensory motor skills and on the interplay between our senses, body and brain.

3.1

The Seven Senses of Man

Humans have seven senses, which can be divided into primary and secondary (Widmaier et al. 2019). The primary and internal senses are our sense of touch, muscle-joint sense and head-balance sense. The

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secondary and external senses are our senses of sight, smell, hearing and taste. As you can see in Figs. 3.1 and 3.2, the interaction between the primary and secondary senses, body and brain, in that as soon as our sensory receptors are affected, signals are sent via sensory nerve fibres up through our spinal cord to different locations in the brain. The brain can be divided into four areas (Hasselbalch 2011). The front part of the brain is called the cerebrum (frontal lobe) and is where our conscious thinking, analysis, organisation and planning occur. It is also where our emotional life, personality and actions are understood, and where our motor skills, memory and working memory are controlled. In the lower part of, or below, the cerebrum is the area of the temporal lobes, which take care of, process and control our memory, learning of language (words and sentences) and hearing (Gade 1998; Widmaier et al. 2019). In the middle of the brain, we find the area with the islet lobes (parietal lobes). This is where our sensory centre is located and where sensory impressions are processed and categorised, allowing us to distinguish between pain such as a kick across the leg vs. a burnt finger, pain in the stomach or back, or touch between movements and balance, allowing us to orient ourselves in a room and distinguish whether we are moving to the right or left (Gade 1998; Widmaier et al. 2019). In the back of the brain, we find the occipital lobe area, where our visual impressions are received, processed and interpreted to recognise what we see (Hasselbalch 2011). Located at the back of and below the cerebrum is the cerebellum. The function of the cerebellum is to coordinate and control our movements and balance so that they become effortless, allowing us, for example, to move our eyes from side to side, to move our legs smoothly and naturally to keep balance when running or cycling, or to lift our arm and reach for a cup of coffee (Gade 1998; Widmaier et al. 2019). Finally, the brain stem (medulla oblongata) should be mentioned. It is literally the brain stem and forms the base of the brain where it connects to the spinal cord. It is here that communication between the brain and the body takes place and the control of vital functions of the central nervous system, such as breathing, heartbeat, circulation and reflexes (Hasselbalch 2011; Widmaier et al. 2019).

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Depending on what the body senses, the signal is sent to the brain for further processing, analysis, and categorization. The so-called “multisensory mechanisms,” located in the cerebrum and the transition between the islet and temporal lobes in both the left and right hemispheres, play a crucial role in the distribution, processing, analysis, and categorization of the sensory signal. This ultimately impacts our understanding of ourselves and our capabilities (Saxe & Kanwisher 2003; Ehrsson 2012). The brain then sends a motor signal back through the motor nerve fibres in the spinal cord and out to the muscles and joints to act upon the sensory signal. In recent decades, neurologists and neuropsychologists have demonstrated that these processes should not be understood merely as biological and physical or “complex” information processes. Instead, they must include cognitive processes or “unconscious natural thinking”. This refers to thinking we are unaware of our consciousness, but we may become aware of it in some contexts (Augusto 2010; Reber 1992; Dijksterhuis & Strick 2016). Evolutionary psychologists or Evo-Devo psychologists have also shown that up to 95–99% of our body and brain’s biological, physical, and cognitive processes are unconscious, characterised as bottom-up processes. In contrast, only 1–5% of processes are conscious and can be characterised as top-down processes emanating from our consciousness (Fannin & Williams 2012; Augusto 2017; Reber 1992; Haynes et al. 2008; Cosmides & Tooby 2000; Wentzel & Wentzel 2019; Ploeger & Galis 2011; Kornhuber 1973; Gibson 1966). The Portuguese neuro philosopher Luis M. Augusto, one of the leading experts on unconscious thinking, has reached the same result in his research and can conclude: It is quite clear that we are not aware of all precepts being simultaneously processed by our perceptive and cognitive apparatus […]. It also makes sense, from the evolutionary point of view, that if consciousness is related to later developments in the human species - as it likely is, because apparently only animals possessing the neocortex (the mammalians) seem to be capable of (self-) consciousness then an unconscious form of perceiving and learning must have preceded the first steps of human evolution. (Augusto 2010: 119)

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It is estimated that our “unconscious natural thinking” is affected by and capable of processing about 11 million pieces of information every second and those that are not deselected in the hypothalamus are sent on to the hippocampus and finally to the frontal lobe, where we can cognitively process 15–20 pieces of information per second (Gormsen 2009: 50). Today, we have further evidence that often, before we become aware of something and even make a decision, we have already unconsciously analysed, prepared, and decided what to do, made an unconscious decision resulting in an overall increase in decision accuracy (Haynes et al. 2008; Vlassova et al. 2014). In experiments at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, researchers have shown that test subjects had already made a decision and prepared to act or had already acted up to seven seconds before they became aware of it themselves (Haynes et al. 2008). Researchers have also made the same observations in the context of learning, especially in our implicit learning, and decision-making (Frensch & Rünger 2003; Augusto 2010, 2017; Reber 1992; Vlassova et al. 2014). It is not always necessary for the sensory signal (information) to go through all the centres of the brain and the unconscious and conscious cognitive processes (cerebrum) before our body reacts. When the body recognises certain (danger) signals via various reflex centres, it reacts immediately and without our awareness, and motor signals are sent to muscles and joints to act. For example, when we lift a hot lid on a pot on the stove without using potholders, we react by dropping the pot lid immediately, even before thinking about it. Such reactions are known as reflex reactions. The researchers’ specific way of imagining how we act is illustrated in Fig. 3.1. The process is both unconscious and conscious and begins with an unconscious intention (thinking) to act and then prepares for the action itself. The intention also becomes conscious, and we analyse and make decisions about acting, determining what motor signals (information) need to be sent out in the body for us to act in a way that achieves what we want (Gallagher 2000; Lau & Passingham 2007). If we achieve what we want with our actions, there will be consistency between the intention and the result, and we will experience a feeling that everything is as it should be.

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When we sense and process signals and react to them by acting, we consciously or unconsciously compare our intention and expectation of action with the actual action and outcome. This process helps to create, develop, and refine our knowledge schemas and images, ensuring they correspond to reality and our abilities (see Fig. 3.2). These experiences reinforce our sense of self and what we can do, as well as our Sense of Ownership (SoO) and Sense of Agency (SoA), Feeling of Agency (FoA), and Judgment of Agency (JoA) (Synofzik et al. 2008; Lau & Passingham 2007; Dewey & Mueller 2019; Gallagher 2000; Rotolo 2019a, b; Hampe 2005). The more consistently our intentions and expectations align with our actions, the stronger our sense of self and agency. This is illustrated in Fig. 3.2.

Preparation of the Action

Preparation for action Unconscious/conscious

Phenomeno logical level

Motor plan

Intention construction

Motor order

Phenomeno logical level

Expected (sensory) result

Physical movement

Sensory detection of the action

Comparison (comparator)

Match

Experienced sense of control (SoA)

Mismatch

Observation of action

Outcome of the action

Fig. 3.1 A reinterpreted and expanded version of Braun et al. (2018) and Gallagher (2000). The figure shows how an action is first thought and prepared by your minimal self unconsciously, and then consciously decided and put into practice

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Neurophysiological Model

Brain High Level Judgment of Agency Parietal Lobe

Frontal Lobe

Occipital Lobe

Low Level Feeling of Agency

Temporal Lobe

Spinal cord

Sensory receptors

Sensory nerve fibre

Fig. 3.2 Neurophysiological model showing how the sensory-motor process and cognitive processing and development take place, and how the experienced sense is reinforeced

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The Experienced Feeling

In various exciting experiments, experimental psychologists have been able to show and document how our experienced feeling SoO and SoA (FoA/JoA) is directly linked to our identity and our understanding of ourselves, our body, and our limbs. At the same time, these experiments have shown what happens to our identity and our understanding of ourselves when this feeling weakens or disappears. In the well-known experiment called “The Rubber Hand Illusion,” researchers demonstrated how our experienced feeling of ownership makes us feel like the body parts belong to us and are part of who we are. In this experiment, a test subject was asked to sit at a table and place their left hand on the table surface while placing their right hand on their right thigh under the table. A plate was placed on the table so that the subject’s left hand was on the left side, while a rubber hand was placed on the right side of the plate. A cloth was placed over the subject’s right shoulder, covering their right hand, while the rubber hand was visible. The subject could only see the cloth and rubber hand, not their own arm or hand on the thigh. Then, with two small brushes simultaneously (synchronously), a person sat down opposite the subject and stroked the middle finger of both the subject’s left hand and the rubber hand. The subject was asked to focus exclusively on the rubber hand. Within seconds, the subject could feel the brushstrokes on the rubber hand, indicating that they had taken ownership of the rubber hand temporarily and had an experienced feeling that it was their own. In another type of experiment, called ‘out-of-body’ experiments, experimental psychologists have attempted to show what happens when a person’s sense of self and body disappear. That is, when they no longer have the background feeling that tells them who they are and that everything is as it should be. In one test, a person was placed in the middle of a room, and a horizontal line was marked on the floor with a piece of white tape where they stood. A video camera behind them filmed them, and the recording was played back in real-time on a screen in glasses (HMD glasses) worn by the subject. In this way, the person could see themselves live from

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behind at a distance of two meters. When another person repeatedly passed their hand or a brush down the person’s back, it didn’t take long before they indicated they felt as though they were seeing themselves from the outside and could not feel their own physical body. They even felt what was happening to the virtual body in front of them when the hand or brush was passed down their back. The fact that the subject felt they had left their own body and made the virtual body their own was subsequently confirmed. When the video recorder was switched off and the subject was asked to take off the HMD glasses, they had to go back and stand very close to the video camera behind them and, blindfolded, try to walk forward to where they were physically standing (marked with white tape on the floor). It turned out that the subject actually walked past the white tape and two meters further to where they saw their virtual body standing (Leggenhager et al. 2007; Blanke 2013). On rare occasions in our everyday lives, we may also experience something where we suddenly experience our sense of ownership (SoO) and sense of agency (SoA) or how it suddenly weakens or may disappear for a while. For example, when we go for a run and run as we usually do, or when we go for a drive and everything is working as it usually does, there is consistency between our intention, expectation, and actual action. We feel that we are present and have a sense of being in our body. Our sense of ownership (SoO) and sense of agency (SoA), so to speak, are intact and strong. But as soon as there is no consistency, which can happen if we trip and lose our balance and fall, or the car’s tires puncture so we are no longer in control and run off the road, then our SoA (FoA/JoA) is weakened and we experience a lack of control, which can be frightening. We may even risk seeing the whole situation, our body, our fall or accident from the outside, and when this happens, it will feel for a moment as if we no longer have a sense of our body (SoO) and that we have left it (Lane et al. 2017; Maselli & Slater 2014; Ehrsson 2007; Leggenhager et al. 2007). It is clear that when our sense of ownership and agency is weakened or disappears completely, it affects our self-perception in such a way that we are no longer ourselves, no longer ‘the same,’ and it also affects our identities. In a published case study on the sense of ownership

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and agency among people with mental illness, researchers have shown, among other things, how patients diagnosed with schizophrenia do not feel they have a sense of their body, themselves, and their actions (Martin et al. 2018). Consequently, they also do not experience having ownership of their body or any control over their actions, and they have difficulty finding their identities, what is ‘the same’ about them over time. One schizophrenic patient articulates this experience as follows: ‘Often I observe myself from the outside … When I talk, I see myself talking at the same time … When I walk, it is as if I am also controlling myself in an artificial way, at the same time as I am walking … As if I am outside myself and it is not really me who perceives … that my perception is uncontained, artificial … as if I am not there’ (Martin et al. 2018: 3). Thus, not having a sense of ownership and agency is directly linked to negative changes in how one understands oneself: “Schizophrenia can be associated with negative changes in relation to how one understands oneself. For example, many people with schizophrenia describe having a perception that the way they perceive themselves now and here is not fully related to the person they once were” (Holm 2019: section 1, lines 1–4).

3.3

Understand Yourself as a Minimal Self and Interpreted Self

So far, we have primarily looked at the experienced emotion and its importance to our understanding of ourselves and our identity. But the experienced feeling is not the self in itself, just as it is not our identity, but the necessary condition of the self. So what is the self, and what about the self gives us a deeper understanding of ourselves? In recent years, neuropsychology and neurophilosophy have focused a lot on the self and have come up with a definition that certainly seems plausible and empirically verifiable. The self is our inner awareness of ourselves, of ME, and has emerged in the background of our experienced feeling. It is a subset of all our experiences that relate to ‘me,’ creating insight (knowledge) into ourselves and giving us an understanding of ourselves (Wozniack

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2018). For example, we have a mental image of ourselves based on experience, allowing us to be distinct from others. We know we are not ‘the same’ as other faces we see. Similarly, we may also have an experience of being able to act, run faster or be physically stronger than others, which also helps to differentiate us from them. In the past, scientists called this self-awareness our ‘physical self’, and it could be understood as: […] a subset of a set of all these possible experiences. This subset is characterised by self-relatedness. It can be illustrated with sensory experiences. For example, in the visual domain, I experience an image of my face as different from another person’s face. Hence, while the image of my face belongs to ‘Me’, the image of someone else does not (although it can be experimentally manipulated). The same can be said about my voice and sounds caused by me (as opposed to voices of other people), and about my smell. We also experience self-touch as different from touching or being touched by a different person. (Wozniack 2018: 4)

Several scholars have subsequently pointed out that the ‘physical self’ is more than just the ‘physical,’ understood as inner and outer experiences, but also includes the stream of thoughts and constant thinking that forms the foundation of our knowledge of ourselves, the self, and should therefore more accurately be referred to as the fundamental or ‘minimal self ’ (Gallagher & Zahavi 2019). In addition to the ‘physical self,’ there is also a more reflective, epistemic (spiritual) version of ourselves, of ME as EGO, which several researchers have previously described as our ‘metaphysical self ’ or our ‘metaphysical I’: “I will argue that what is typically investigated in neurophilosophy and neurophilosophy and -phenomenology as the phenomenal ‘I’ (or Wittgenstein’s (1958) self-as-subject) can be understood as just a higher-order component of the self-model reflecting the phenomenal ‘Me’” (Wozniack 2018: 2). It is a ‘metaphysical self ’ that is developed behind our ability to reflect and thus our ability to relate to ourselves as human beings, as subjects. It also enables us to construct and reconstruct ourselves, just as it enables us to reflexively relate to ourselves as identities, to construct and reconstruct ourselves as a personal or social identity. Because the ‘metaphysical self ’ is precisely a reflection on and an interpretation of ourselves as a whole, several scholars have pointed to

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the need to linguistically clarify the concept so that it is instead referred to as what it is, namely, our ‘narratively interpreted self ’ (Gallagher & Zahavi 2019). When we talk today about ourselves and thus the self, we sometimes talk about our ‘minimal self and (un)consciousness,’ which can be described as “a consciousness of oneself as an immediate subject of experience, unextended in time. The minimal self almost certainly depends on brain processes and an ecologically embedded body, but one does not have to know or be aware of this to have an experience that still counts as a self-experience” (Gallagher 2000: 15). Other times we speak of our ‘narratively interpreted self and consciousness,’ which can be described as “a more or less coherent self (or self-image) that is constituted with a past and a future in the various stories that we and others tell about ourselves” (Gallagher 2000: 15). In addition to this difference, there is another very important difference between the two selves. Much research in experimental psychology, neuropsychology and cognitive psychology has empirically shown that when we come into the world, we already have an experienced sense and a minimal understanding of who we are and what we are capable of, and thus a ‘minimal self ’ (Ciaunica & Crucianelli 2019; Bortolan 2020; Tsakiris & De Preester 2019; Gallagher 2000; Rotolo 2019b). On the other hand, the ‘narratively interpreted self ’ unfolds only later as our cognitive, concrete, and formal operational skills develop and should therefore be understood as a higher cognitive function of the ‘minimal self ’ (Ciaunica & Crucianelli 2019; Tsakiris & De Preester 2019; Gallagher 2000; Bortolan 2020; Piaget 2002). Just a few hours after birth, infants can be observed imitating their parents’ facial expressions, demonstrating their ability to distinguish between self and others and locate and feel their body and limbs (Meltzoff & Moore 1977; Gallagher 2000). Additionally, infants must recognise something of themselves in their human facial expressions when looking at their parents’ faces, as this reaction does not occur when looking at an animal’s face (Legerstee 1991; Meltzoff & Moore 1977). This ability to imitate and distinguish between self and others suggests that we already have a minimal self from birth, which serves as the foundation for developing a linguistically interpreted and reflected version of

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ourselves through cognitive development (Ciaunica & Crucianelli 2019; Tsakiris & De Preester 2019; Piaget 2002; Gallagher 2000). It is important to note that there is a difference in the thinking and rationality of the minimal self versus the narratively interpreted self. The minimal self is pre-reflexive and arational, while the narratively interpreted self is reflexive and consciously rational. The thinking and arationality of the minimal self are experiential and similar to conscious thinking and rationality, but arise from more experienced insight and knowledge and differ from conscious thinking in the lack of binary categories and formal logical structures: The behavioural data in social and motivational psychology consistently pointed to unconscious processes having the same signature characteristics and operating features as when those processes were engaged in consciously. This was confirmed by brain imaging studies showing that the same brain regions - reactive to the presence of reward and incentive, for example, or involved in computations in complex decision-making were active whether the person was aware of the process operating or not. (Bargh 2019: 225)

The knowledge base of the two ‘selves’ is also very different. Whereas the knowledge in/associated with the ‘minimal self ’ is implicit, unconscious, and procedural and together (may) constitute (s) 95% of all the knowledge we have, the knowledge in/associated with the ‘narratively interpreted self ’ is explicit, episodic, and semantic and (may) constitute (s) 5% of our knowledge (Fannin & Williams 2012; Reber 1992; Bargh & Morsella 2008; Bargh 2019). Again, it is important to note that when so much knowledge is unconscious, it is not because it is ‘repressed’ and, as such, immediately something we cannot access or put into words and describe. On the contrary, it is (has been) unconscious because we have the experience and a sense that it is consistent with what we have experienced and can thus ‘safely’ be taken as the basis for our immediate actions and thinking. Therefore, there is no physiological or psychological reason why all that knowledge has to be conscious and something we must constantly relate to. It is just there, enabling us to act and think immediately in the way

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that is necessary for us to achieve what we want to achieve. An example of this is when we are out cycling. We don’t even think about how complex an action it is because our body and motor skills are immediately guided by our implicit and unconscious knowledge and are more or less selfacting. Only when we start thinking about the fact that we are cycling and how we are doing it, can it go wrong and lead to us losing our balance and falling over. So it’s certainly not always good to think twice. This is also the case when we work and have to solve tasks. Here we are also self-acting and self-thinking most of the time. We do what we know works and what we feel is the most sensible and right thing to do. In doing so, we draw on our vast implicit, silent, and, for us, unconscious knowledge. When we start thinking about how we work and use our skills, it can interrupt our work process, and we sometimes find it harder to do our work. Conversely, when our actions and thinking about our work are no longer consistent with what we have experienced, and we, therefore, do not achieve what we want, there is a need to reflect, interpret, and (re)construct to arrive at a different or new way of acting.

3.4

Our Personal and Social Identities

With the experienced sense and knowledge of the ‘minimal self ’ and the ‘narratively interpreted self,’ we have gained a deeper insight into how we know that we are who we are and what we are capable of, and how we know that we are different from other individuals. The ‘minimal self ’ is something we have, and the ‘narratively interpreted self ’ is something we construct. It is the same with our identity. It is not something we have, but something we actively create for ourselves (Jenkins 2006: 28). It is not the same as the self, but the self is certainly an aspect of identity. Therefore, identity is ontologically something quite different and must be understood as such. Since something in an identity will more or less always correspond to the self and is assured by the experienced feeling, our identity or identities over time are experienced as ‘the same,’ even if they also change:

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There is something active about identity that cannot be ignored: identity doesn’t just ‘is’; it’s not just a ‘thing’; it must always be created. This adds two more meanings to our list: - to classify things or persons, - to associate with or attach oneself to someone or something (e.g., a friend, a sports club or an ideology). Both meanings locate identity in practice. They are both things that people do. […] One’s identity - or rather one’s identities, for who one is always both singular and plural - is never definitive or finite. (Jenkins 2006: 28 f.)

As I said, there is not just one identity but many, and therefore we have not just one identity but several identities. The French philosopher Vincent Descombes once wrote: “The identity of a person is presented as a list of various attributes such as her nationality or, perhaps, her origins, her profession, her religious affiliation, her family status, her sex, her opinions, her commitments, her aesthetic preferences. These are so many ‘categories‘ and ‘groups’ to which an individual may be attached in one or another – so many ‘identities’, ‘I am’ ” (Descombes 2016: 10). It makes the identity multidimensional too, consisting of many different yet interconnected subidentities (Miscenko & Day 2015: 218). However, it will always be the case that the identity that corresponds to who we are or to the core or fundamental structures and characteristics of ourselves will be prominent, but not always dominant. I’ll come back to that a little later. First, let’s take a closer look at some of the identities researchers have managed to isolate, study, and classify over the years, and how and why we each use the identities we choose to use. In psychological and social psychological research, researchers look at identity differently. In personality psychology, identity is primarily seen and understood as something that arises from and is constructed by the self (by and in our narratively interpreted self ), i.e., who and what one is as an individual, based on one’s individual characteristics, biology/ genetics, traits (minimal self ), mental state, behavior, and development (Jørgensen 2009). It also looks at the person’s identity in relation to other close persons, such as one’s siblings, one’s mother/father, peers, etc. Such an identity is characterised and classified as a personal identity. It consists of or is composed of two types of sub-identities, which in turn

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consist of some (cognitive) schemas with knowledge, thoughts, reflections, and narratives about who I am as a person and what I am as a person, and who I should be when I enter into a relationship with others in a particular context (Jørgensen 2009: 43). One of the two personal sub-identities is called an ‘I-identity;’ it becomes so because it cuts across and tells us precisely something about the fundamental structures and personality traits of ourselves (Jørgensen 2009). It is a reflection of our ‘self,’ experienced and assured by an experienced sense that ‘I am who I say I am:’ Self-identity is the closest thing to a true core identity and is the part of human identity that has the greatest impact on an individual’s mental health […] (and) is intimately linked to each individual’s personality structure or personality organisation and is expressed in a subjective but not necessarily verbalised sense of who one is, a subjective sense of coherence in one’s person and life. Self-identity is manifested, among other things, in the individual’s subjective experience that there is a meaningful connection between past, present and future and between his/her perception of self and the perception of significant others of who he/she is. (Jørgensen 2009: 145. My translation)

The second personal sub-identity is called our ‘personal identity,’ which consists of several sub-identities with their own cognitive schemas. It differs from the I-identity in that it changes more frequently and is (re)constructed in such a way that new sub-identities emerge and become prominent and dominant for a time. They contribute to and inform us about how, with our own history, values, and attitudes, we can present ourselves in different practices and to others, such as being a good boyfriend, a big brother, or a successful and unique individual: [Personal identity] refers to an individual’s more conscious goals, values, choices and experience of self as a unique individual with his or her own individuality. In addition, personal identity includes the individual’s distinctive characteristics, attributes, skills, pervasive behaviours and traits that distinguish the individual from others. The parts of an individual’s self that, in the individual’s own subjective experience, defines him or her as a distinctive individual. (Jørgensen 2009: 145. My translation)

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Whether it is the I-(sub)identity or the personal (sub)identity in question, it is important to emphasise that as identities, they are always salient to us because they are closely related to who we are. We have an experienced sense of ownership in them. However, this does not mean they are always prominent in all situations; they only become prominent when other identities, such as social sub-identities, are not prominent. Social psychology examines identity in relation to social processes, group contexts, and our social roles and functions, and how it develops through interaction with the social environment (Jørgensen 2009; Turner et al. 1992; McLeod 2019). It primarily focuses on the identity referred to as social identity. When researchers study social identity, they aim to understand how social it is, i.e., how aware and knowledgeable we are about the social roles and functions that we all have and assume and how much knowledge we have about the social contexts and groups we interact with and belong to (Ellemers 2010; McLeod 2019). Additionally, they aim to determine how much ownership we have and take in a social role/function and a social group (social identity), and thus how much value and emotional connection we have to that particular group (Ellemers 2010; McLeod 2019). An example of a social identity might be someone who identifies and describes themselves as a believer and a Christian. They have a narrative and knowledge about being a believer and being a Christian, understanding what it entails and how to live their life “in the light of what we hear about (or from) God,” just as other believers and Christians do as well (Præstholm 2021). Similarly, being a Danish citizen or politically right- or left-wing is also a social identity with a notion (narrative) and knowledge of how to act, think, and speak to be considered Danish or to align with the right/left-wing ideology. Being Danish or having a political orientation is not specific to one particular group and its values, attitudes, knowledge, and understandings of what it means to be Danish or politically right- or left-wing (Descombes 2017). We also have a social identity in the context of our work. Suppose we work as an electrician, teacher, or receptionist. In that case, we acquire a notion (narrative) and knowledge of how to act, think, speak, and present ourselves as an electrician, teacher, or receptionist. However, it is

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not a social identity specifically associated with and shaped by a particular group or collective, such as a company or team. The American professor David A. Snow once said of these social identities that they are: […] the identities attributed or ascribed to others in an attempt to place them in social space. They are typically rooted in established social roles, such as ‘teacher’ and ‘mother’, or in broader and more inclusive social categories, such as gender categories or ethnic and national categories, and are therefore often referred to as ‘role identities’ and ‘categorical identities’. Regardless of their specific sociocultural basis, social identities are fundamental to our social interaction. (Snow 2001: 2212 f.)

Like personal identity, social identity can also be divided into two subidentities: a ‘social sub-identity,’ as described earlier, and a ‘collective sub-identity’ (Descombes 2016, 2017; see also Appiah 2014). Both subidentities are nominal , meaning that they describe our (social) identity in a given social context, and normative, which means that they dictate how we should behave, act, think, and speak in the roles and functions accompanying them. These roles and functions are determined by the large or small groups we are or will be a part of. Both sub-identities are also subjective because we have the ability to influence and reconstruct them, as is the case with all identities. As Descombes notes, “Social identities are also subjective or rather ‘social constructions’ with ideas about each other becoming ideas in our minds” (Descombes 2016, 2017: 18; Adamsen 2021). The primary difference between the two social (sub)identities is that the social sub-identity is more abstractly nominal (than specific and real), and its function and role are already established, determined, and generally described by a larger and broader group, such as Danes, Christians, electricians, and right/left-wingers. On the other hand, the collective identity is more concretely nominal (than abstract and general), and its roles and functions are determined and specifically described in more rigid conformity with a group’s real norms, values, and attitudes:

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Collective entities are endowed with a teleology […] It is more real than nominal and can exist as a group and express its needs and desires as a first-person plural […] It can thrive, suffer, flourish and be destroyed […] It cannot be reduced to what individual members think and believe at a particular moment. (Descombes 2017: 24 f.)

For example, if you are a football fan and a supporter of one of the two Copenhagen football clubs, Brøndby IF or FC Copenhagen, being a fan would be a social sub-identity—more of a name than a norm. When you go to a football match, that identity will influence your behaviour, thinking, and speech. First, you will dress in a certain way, including wearing a scarf, hat, shirt, or flag with the football club’s logo. At the football stadium, you will sit or stand with other Brøndby IF or FC Copenhagen supporters. During the match, you will behave in a certain way, talk and use certain words about the game, the players, and the opponents. You will even find that when the team you support scores and wins, you will dance and sing with other fans in a particular way. But you can also be a fan of one of the two clubs and be a member of their official fan club, either Brøndby Fanklub or F.C.K. Fanklub, and when you are, your social identity as a fan slips into the collective subidentity that more concretely reflects the values and attitudes of the real fan club—and therefore begins to take on more than just a name for the person. When a fan is encouraged to support the team by turning up a few hours before a match and meeting the players with cheers, chants, and gestures, they do so in the way that others are doing so and that they have been encouraged to do. If you are a fan and member of one of the club’s more extreme fan clubs, such as Brøndby’s ‘Southside United’ (SU), which is a declared hooligan group, or FC Copenhagen Casuals (CC), which is also a declared hooligan group, espousing values and attitudes such as ‘No mercy, No regrets, Only violence.’ In that case, one will find that the social identity has become a decidedly collective (fan) sub-identity, which is so different from the collective identity experienced by the fans of the more official fan clubs, by being in such rigid conformity with the values and attitudes of the real group (SU or CC) that the norm has become so much stronger than the name and the person themselves. Indeed,

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these fans have behavior before, during, and after the football match which is violent, threatening, and aggressive towards the supporters of the opponents, the controllers, and the police. The collective identity often leads to physical confrontations and material destruction, and it does so because when you are a ‘CC’ or ‘SU,’ that is precisely how you are expected to behave. Just as one can have a social sub-identity as an electrician, one can also have a collective sub-identity as an electrician; for example, if one works for a specific real electrical company, where the company’s norms and values have become one’s own, and from which one understands and presents oneself as an electrician. In this way, one differs from other electricians of other workplaces in action, thought, and speech. One can also be a left-oriented member of a political party, such as the Social Democratic Party, the Socialist People’s Party, or the Unity Party (Enhedslisten), or a right-oriented member of a political party, such as the Conservative People’s Party, the Liberal Party, or the Danish People’s Party, and then one’s social sub-identity as left/right-oriented shifts into a collective subidentity in which one acts, thinks, and speaks based on a specific political ideology, party program, values, and attitudes.

3.5

Identity Hierarchies and Salient Identities

When each of us has several identities, personal and social, along with many sub-identities, how and when do we know which identity to use in different situations? Researchers in both personality psychology and social psychology have investigated this and can provide convincing evidence for the following answers (Fig. 3.3). What determines which identity is used is the (social) situation (S) one is in, the individual (P) itself, and the identities one has. One always experiences the situation (S) one is in and, as a subject (P), will therefore always relate to it and subjectively judge how to act and react, either consciously or unconsciously. When one does so, identity is activated by ‘automaticity’ or is preferred among the identities one currently has, and which in that situation and

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Macro level Social subidentity

Larger group General influence

Work identity Smaller group Real influence Collective subidentity

Micro level

Fig. 3.3 The model is inspired by Vincent Descombes’ ideas and shows the binomial social identity nomenclature and how social identity can be both abstract and concretely normative. It has an ab stretched social sub-identity that is shaped and developed by a wider and larger group of norms and which help us to determine (categorize) each other. But it can also be or develop into a more concrete collective sub-identity, shaped and developed by a real and more specific group. The circle in the model shows the work identity as a social collective sub-identity and dynamic moving up or down

in that interaction appears to be most appropriate in relation to the experiences, knowledge, and understandings one has currently gathered in the (identity) schema (Adamsen 2021; Guan & So 2022; Lee & Gyamfi 2023): Although individuals typically hold several subidentities, only one is believed to be active at any given point of time (Lord & Brown, 2004; Markus & Wurf, 1987). For example, the salience of a social group increases the identification with a relevant social category (van Dick, Wagner, Stellmacher, & Christ, 2005). In addition, identities differ with regard to identity salience or the level of importance an individual places on a particular identity (Ashforth, 2001; Stryker & Serpe, 1994). Higher levels of identity salience mean that there is a greater likelihood that identity will be more often invoked across a variety of situations (Stryker & Burke, 2000). (Miscenko & Day 2015: 218)

Researchers in social psychology and cognitive psychology have demonstrated through various studies how different identities are structured in

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different hierarchies, in which they are superordinate, equal, or subordinate to each other (Nario-Redmond et al. 2004; Lee & Gyamfi 2023; Howard 2000; Rowling 2019). They have also shown how our experiences determine the position of identities in the hierarchy, our sense of them, and how developed and strong they are (Stryker & Serpe 1982; Howard 2000; Adamsen 2021; Guan & So 2022). For example, if one is a teacher in a school and belongs to a particular staff group of mathematics teachers, then it is likely that one has developed a social and collective (sub)identity as a mathematics teacher. This experience and sense of identity can help one function, perform, and deliver in a teaching situation. When this happens, researchers talk about that identity being ‘salient’ and emergent and, therefore, will belong to one of the preferred identities, superior to other (sub)identities in the hierarchy: Identity salience represents one of the ways, and a theoretically most important way, that the identities making up the self can be organised. Identities, that is, are conceived as being organised into a salience hierarchy. This hierarchical organization of identities is defined by the probabilities of each of the various identities within it being brought into play in a given situation. Alternatively, it is defined by the probabilities each of the identities have of being invoked across a variety of situations. The location of an identity in this hierarchy is, by definition, its salience. (Stryker & Serpe 1982: 206)

In such identity hierarchies, there are not only identities that are ‘salient’ but also identities that can be characterised as significant (‘prominence’) for us. These are identities of which we also have an experienced sense and are aware but are no longer ‘current’ in relation to present situations (S), roles, and functions, only in relation to past situations (S), roles, and functions. When they are no longer ‘current,’ they gradually weaken and may, at some point, be dissolved entirely as an identity and no longer be found in the hierarchy. Let me give an example of such a ‘prominence’ identity. A teacher, as we know, has also once been a student teacher, and during that period, his/her social identity—and in particular the related social and collective sub-identities, such as profession (the training/teaching) and organization (the university one attended)—have obviously been

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‘salient’ and at that time also placed high in the identity hierarchy. Just as he/she may also have been employed as a substitute teacher for shorter or longer periods and thus also had a social sub-identity as a substitute teacher (profession 2). However, when the student teacher has gone through his/her education, has become a teacher, and has subsequently found a full-time job as a teacher in a primary school, well, he/she acquires and develops a new social identity as a teacher, which becomes ‘salient’ and prominent in the hierarchy. Nevertheless, the social identity as a student teacher and substitute teacher does not just disappear; it gradually weakens and remains in the identity hierarchy as a ‘prominence’ identity that was once important and significant. It can, therefore, also be ‘suddenly’ reactivated in some contexts and influence our thinking and action. We have all experienced this ourselves at some point. It may have been in the context of meeting a former colleague with whom we worked at some point and in the context of a different job and tasks. Alternatively, we met an old student or school friend. In this situation, we may experience how we can ‘fall back’ into some (or activate) old patterns of behavior and, for a while, suddenly employ a different use of language and, at the same time, have an experienced sense of being who we once were, namely a colleague or fellow student/schoolmate. Often, I have heard from people who occasionally choose to attend ‘old students’ night’ at the educational institution they studied at that they suddenly felt like the students they were, which also leaves its mark on their behaviour and interaction with former fellow students and teachers. In recent studies, researchers have made some quite interesting observations, among which is the finding that different identities can actually ‘merge’ with each other and become a so-called ‘fusion identity,’ where the personal identity merges with the social identity (Swann et al. 2009, 2012). When this happens, the person experiences becoming one with the identities he or she identifies. For example, the personal identity may become one with a particular social or collective sub-identity. We saw this happen in the story of the female lawyer who, while at work, allowed her personal identity to merge with her work identity. It ‘swallowed up’ her personal identity and her as a person, her personal life, and she had only a work identity, work behaviour, and work language. Everything was about

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work and the company, and the consequences of that merger, in turn, led to a personal breakdown. Now, it doesn’t always have to be that way, but there is no doubt that when a merger happens, it will always have consequences for personal identity. It will be overridden or displaced by social identity. Fusion identity can also occur within a family, where the social identity as a family (understood as a group and the values of the family), as a parent and a father/mother (social identity) can become so strong that we become absorbed by it and let our personal identity merge with the mother or father identity (role/function). When this happens, parents give up having a private life with space for themselves and their own life. Parents who frequently use statements such as “My family and my children are everything,” “It’s always about my child first,” “I’m a father and I have no time for anything else,” and “I will kill the person who criticises my child” may express/sign that their identity as mother or father is taking over completely and turning into a fusion identity where their actions as parents will not shy away from any means to do what they think is best for or to protect their children. We also know of the fusion identity in a much stronger form, where for example, mothers of children killed in the West Bank and women and children are exploited by terrorist movements and linked to smaller ‘jihad groups,’ where their social identity develops into a fusion identity as suicide bombers: The role of the family (especially women or children) in the actions of radicalism in the modern era, in the opinion of the writers’ team is evident since the 1987 and 2000 Intifada events […] The involvement of women in jihad is also used by terrorist groups to strengthen groups. AlQaeda recruited a woman to become a suicide bomber, this was conveyed by Umm Osamah (Al Qaeda figure), where he called for jihad for women to help Al Qaeda (Saputro, 2010). […] Identity fusion is a feeling of unity with a group that invites someone to bind their feelings into groups (Swann, Gomez, Dovodio, Hart, & Jetten, 2009). Suicide bombers are in groups, where each group has their own values and goals shared with their members. (Zuhdi & Syauqillah 2020: 65 f.)

We often find this type of strong fusion identity or signs of such fusion identities among people with other strong collective sub-identities,

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such as sports fans, including hooligans, religious individuals, political activists, and among workers in various professions and organizations who have acquired a collective identity as ‘the man/woman of the company.’ With them, one can clearly see that the collective subidentity has developed into a fusion identity because, firstly, it completely overrides and pushes the personal identity into the background, and secondly, without any cognitive dissonance as a hooligan, religious, political follower, or employee, they will and can do anything for their team/ club, their God, their party/leader, and their company. In the case of a fusion identity, it is important to emphasise (again) that it is always the personal identity that fuses with the social identity and not the other way around. Thus the ‘I’ transforms into a ‘WE.’ A precondition for this to happen is that the social identity (the social and collective sub-identities) must always be strong or stronger than the personal identity and thus also be salient in the identity hierarchy. If it is not, then fusion cannot occur (Swann et al. 2012).

References Adamsen, Billy (2021): Forstå din arbejdsidentitet. Forlaget Samfundslitteratur. Appiah, Kwame Anthony (2014): Lines of Descent. W.E.B Dubois and the emergence of identity (The W.E.B Du Bois lectures). Harvard University Press. Augusto, Luis M. (2010): Unconscious knowledge: A survey. In Journal of Advances in Cognitive Psychology, vol. 6: 116–141. Augusto, Luis M. (2017): Transition versus dissociation: A paradigm shift in unconsciousness cognition. In the journal Axiomathes, no. 28: 269–291 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10516-017-9366-y. Bargh, John (2019): The modern unconscious. In the journal World Psychiatry, vol. 18, no. 2, June. Bargh, John & Morsella, Ezequiel (2008): The unconscious mind . In the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science, vol. 3, issue 1: 73–79. Sage Publications. Blanke, Olaf (2013): Neuroscience of self-consciousness and subjectivity. In Battro, Antonio, Dehaene, Stanislas & Singer, Wolf (eds.): Neuroscience and the

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4 What Is Work Identity?

With all that we now know about identity, what it is and how many and what types of identities there are, we can return to the concept of ‘work identity’ and try to answer what type of identity it is. Work identity is a social (collective) identity that is shaped and developed in our culture, by larger or smaller groups and in interaction with us: “Work identities were originally understood as collective identities developed in interaction with other individuals (i.e. colleagues, supervisors, clients), groups (i.e. working teams, professional communities) or institutional bodies (i.e. training institutions, companies, trade unions). (…) Finally, the individual -psychological dimension took account of an individual ’s occupational history and career development on the one hand, and the individual ’s perception of the work context and personal work attitude on the other. It aimed at assessing the developments and features of work which the individual perceives as being important for his or her personal development. These features included the meaning of work, a sense of belonging, an individual ’s work attitude and commitment , learning and performance at work and how the individual relates to others in the work context. All these elements were assessed from a subjective point of view; that is, how the individual perceives them over time” (Kirpal 2004: 202–203). © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Adamsen, Work Identity, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37734-1_4

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Since it is directly linked to experiences and knowledge of a job and a work situation, it is also a work-based social identity, as has been documented by several researchers (Kielhofner 2002; Kirpal 2004; Walsh & Gordon 2008; Kirk & Wall 2011; Miscenko & Day 2015; Adamsen 2021). But we have also seen that work identity consists of both personal and social sub-identities, which are interconnected in such a way that together they constitute social identity: “Work identities develop in the course of complex negotiation processes at the interface between personal resources, attitudes and values on the one hand, and work processes and settings on the other hand. As they manifest themselves in the interplay between individual dispositions and structural conditions of the work context, they influence an individual ’s concept of work and relationship to (e.g.) his or her job, the work environment and the employing organization” (Kirpal 2004: 202). This makes it a work-based social identity with inseparably linked personal and social sub-identities that may be more or less prominent in the work identity and that may influence our thinking, behaviour and actions in a work situation with varying degrees of strength (Walsh & Gordon 2008; Miscenko & Day 2015). The weakness or strength of a work identity is also determined by the strength of its personal and social sub-identities. For example, the electrician/carpenter and the lawyer in the stories all have a strong social work identity (social sub-identity) that matches what they do for a living, role and function. They have experience with that work and have an understanding of, knowledge about, and attitudes towards that work. But they also have a personal sub-identity that is shaped and developed in a more individualistic manner reflecting their personal experiences, values, and beliefs. Additionally, they have a collective sub-identity that is shaped and developed in more rigid conformity with a real group’s (company or work team) knowledge, understanding, values, and attitudes towards a job and towards work behaviour.

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Work Identity as Social Collective Identity

This is not how researchers have always viewed work identity. In fact, there has been a great deal of confusion and definitional ambiguity surrounding the concept of work identity over time. Generally, work identity has been described as being aware of oneself and one’s capabilities in a work context and clearly understanding one’s career, educational interests, and personal values (Koo & Kim 2016: 68; Brown et al. 2007). Alternatively, it has explicitly been linked to and defined as one particular personal identity, or in other contexts, as a particular social or collective identity, such as professional identity, job identity (‘occupational’), team identity, or class identity (Kirk & Wall 2011; Miscensko & Day 2015; Adamsen 2021). However, such descriptions have not shed much light on what work identity actually is, and the definitions have been too arbitrary to be useful for examination. But with our current understanding of identity and the definition of work identity as a work-based social identity consisting of inseparable social-collective sub-identities, we can now explore it more closely. An interesting question that arises with the definition of work identity is how many and which social-collective sub-identities it consists of. This has been the focus of research in recent years, and based on this, we have identified up to seven inseparable social-collective sub-identities (Walsh & Gordon 2008; Bothma & Roodt 2012; Popova-Nowak 2010; Kielhofner 2002; Adamsen 2021) (Fig. 4.1). The first sub-identity we have identified, isolated, and analysed is our professional identity. It includes cognitive schemas of knowledge, understandings, narratives, and experiences of our work and how we relate to what we are experienced or trained to do. For example, if you are a receptionist or a nurse, your professional identity will mean that you become aware of and understand what it means to have such a job: what behaviour should you display? How should you think and act as a receptionist or nurse to do your job properly and function in your role and function in the organization? This sub-identity also provides a narrative of how one identifies with one’s work, i.e., how much the profession, with all that it implies in terms of culture, artifacts, values, behaviour,

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Profession Gender/ ethnicity

Ethics/ Morals

Organisation

Work identity: (work-based social identity)

Cooperation

Qualifications/ competences

Method

Fig. 4.1 The figure shows the work identity as a work-based social identity consisting of seven inseparable social-collective sub-identities

thinking, etc., contributes to a work identity—that is, how one looks and behaves as a receptionist or nurse. The second sub-identity we have identified, isolated and analysed is our organizational identity. Linked to it are schemas of knowledge, understandings, narratives, and experiences of different organizations or companies and how we relate to them. Here lies our insight and knowledge about organizational culture and values and the way different organisations function, as well as how managers and employees in the company understand themselves and act as representatives or in different roles for the company. It is also where the narrative of how one identifies with one’s organization is found and what it takes to become a company’s employee (collective (sub)identity), e.g., an Ikea employee or an environmental case handler in a municipality.

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The third sub-identity we have identified, isolated and analysed is our skill identity, linked to our qualifications and competencies. Related to this are schemas of knowledge, understandings, narratives, and experiences of what we can do with our skills and competencies and what we can achieve. Here we find insights into our professionalism and training, which we draw on and use in different work situations, roles, functions, and workplaces. It is also where we find our understanding of how good we are at doing things and why and when we need to improve. The fourth sub-identity we have identified, isolated and analysed is our (working) method identity. Linked to it are schemas of our knowledge, assumptions, and experiences of different practices that we use and draw on when doing our work. It also contains our reflections and explanations of why some approaches work and why they do not, and why they need to be changed. There are also narratives about why we prefer particular methods or approaches, which helps reinforce one’s ‘method’ identity and is explicitly expressed when we say, for example, ‘I am a numbers and statistics person’ or ‘I work very holistically’ or ‘We need some evidence for that’. The fifth sub-identity we have identified, isolated, and analysed is our group or collaborative identity. Linked to it are schemas of our knowledge, understanding, and experiences of how we interact and collaborate with others, including colleagues, bosses, and clients/patients. There is insight and knowledge about the many relationships that exist and when each relationship needs to be activated for collaboration to work. For example, there is a difference between the relationship and interaction between managers and employees, between a nurse and a patient, and between colleagues. The knowledge and understanding of ourselves in a collaborative setting make us aware of and able to identify the ‘relational side’ of ourselves, such as being a caring, responsible colleague or an understanding and listening manager, or an apprentice or trainee. The sixth sub-identity that we have identified, isolated, and analysed is our ethical/moral identity. It contains knowledge about values, attitudes, patterns of action, and narratives about what is right and wrong to do in a work context. We see our ethical/moral identity in our work ethics, both the good and the bad, the appropriate and the inappropriate.

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The seventh sub-identity we have identified, isolated, and analysed is our gender and ethnic identity. It is accompanied by schemas of knowledge and understanding of ourselves as male, female, or non-binary employees and managers, and knowledge and insight into what our cultural and ethnic values and attitudes mean for our work thinking and behavior. It includes what we specifically think about and how we view male and female leaders and managers, as well as how we experience and understand employees with different cultural and ethnic values than ourselves.

4.2

The Narratively Interpreted Work Identity

Your work identity is reflected in your work behavior, just as the absence of it is reflected in your work behavior. Professors Kate Walsh and Judith Gordon’s research focuses on how social-collective sub-identities, such as profession and organization, influence decisions and actions in the workplace. For example, when physicians think about their work, do they see themselves primarily as an employee of a hospital (as part of the organization) or as part of their profession as a physician (as part of the profession)? And which of the two identities do they choose when they are at work? Depending on which identity they choose, it affects their behaviour at work. If they see themselves as an employee of a hospital, this may lead doctors to think about reducing the cost of treatment, but if they see themselves as part of the profession (and first and foremost a doctor), they will suggest treatment regardless of how expensive it is. And what about lawyers? Do they see themselves first and foremost as partners and therefore as part of the organisation or as part of the profession? Just as an organisational identity reflects the presumed character of the organisation, so the work identity is reflected in the presumed character of the individual as he/she goes about his/her job and throughout his/her career and then of course in the job-specific roles that he/she has, and hence also in work behaviour. (Walsh & Gordon 2008: 47)

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The examples show how salient social-collective sub-identities influence work behaviour in specific situations. For instance, a doctor who chooses a more expensive treatment for a patient likely prioritises their profession’s values, attitudes, understandings, and guidelines as the prominent social-collective sub-identity of their work identity. In this case, the doctor experiences an experiential sense of their profession, a sense of ownership (SoO), which feels right (JoA) and like the most sensible thing to do. Conversely, if the doctor prioritises inexpensive treatment, they likely make the organization their prominent social-collective subidentity, experiencing an enhanced sense of themselves as an employee (SoO). In both cases, the doctor has a social identity as a trained doctor, preventing them from acting irresponsibly. It’s possible that if one measured the doctor’s social-collective subidentity more specifically as a profession, they might not have an experienced sense as an employee or of the organization, making it difficult to identify with the hospital. Regardless of whether the doctor’s work identity has a prominent profession or organization as a social collective sub-identity, they have a prominent ethical/moral social collective sub-identity as a trained doctor. The example of a lawyer shows how a work identity with a prominent professional sub-identity influences decisions and actions differently than a work identity with a prominent organizational sub-identity. For instance, if the professional sub-identity is prominent, the lawyer will prioritise work, cases, research, and meetings related to cases over tasks related to the firm. Conversely, if the organizational sub-identity is prominent, as is the case for a partner, tasks related to the company, such as HR and finance, will be given priority over cases: Part of the difficulty of owning a law firm is that you are still expected to do lawyer work on top of your new “owner” tasks. After almost a decade of practicing law, it is hard not to prioritise billable work […] As an associate, I always wondered why it took the owners so long to make decisions: it turns out because they are too damn busy to care whether you can take off Monday to go to the waterslide park. (Peryea 2016: section 4, line 20–27)

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It’s interesting to note that both the doctor and lawyer are conscious of their work identity. They have reflected on it, interpreted it, and can talk about it explicitly. Most researchers, such as Professors Kate Walsh and Judith Gordon, focus on the reflected and narratively interpreted work identity. However, this cannot be the entirety of our work identity. There must be something about our work identity that is experienced rather than reflected upon, implicit, silent, and thus unconscious. In other words, there must also be a lived and ‘experienced work identity.’ As the American professor John L. Holland pointed out as early as the 1970s, the (work) experience or experiences must always precede the conscious and develop into strong interests and to a special type of competencies or to an interpreted work identity: […] our experiences teach a person to prefer some actions over others. Later, these actions develop into strong interests, which in turn lead to a special type of competence. Finally, the person’s interests and competencies then create the particular personal characteristics that cause us to think, experience, and act in particular ways. (Holland 1973: 2; italics mine)

The lived and experienced work identity not only influences the way we think and act but also seems to be a necessary condition for us to have a sense of what/who we are and what we can do (SoO) and to feel in control (SoA) when acting in a work situation. As American researcher Gary Kielhofner pointed out (Kielhofner 2002: 119), this makes the ‘experienced work identity’ a function of our ‘minimal self ’ rather than an identity: ‘Occupational identity theory emphasizes the individual self as having control over its identity (…) The experience as a lived body that is integrated into occupational identity’ (Phelan & Kinsella 2009: 86). It is the behavioural schema in which our experiences, understanding, and knowledge of patterns of action are brought together, which helps to give us a sense of who we can be as an employee, our ‘worker’s sense of self ’ (Timma 2007). But as we know, it is unconscious to us because:

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[…] nearly all of your brain’s work is conducted in different lobes and regions at the unconscious level, completely without your knowledge. When the processing is done and there is a decision to make or a physical act to perform, that very small job is served up to the conscious mind, which executes the work and then flatters itself that it was in charge all the time. (Kluger 2015: section V)

Initially, we use our experienced work identity and unconscious thinking to decide how to act in response to a work task, and then, about seven seconds later, we pass it on to our ‘narratively interpreted self ’ and our ‘narratively interpreted work identity.’ We can then consciously relate to and articulate our experience and explain why we want to act as we do (Haynes et al. 2008). However, when we do this, we only reveal a small portion of what underlies our decision and action. Most of the processes, experiences, knowledge, and understanding remain implicit and silent for us (and others) (Reber 1992; Viamontes & Beitman 2007). In the case of the doctor and the treatment, it’s possible that the doctor may have automatically chosen a third type of treatment, which is not as expensive or cheap as the other two treatments, but is more effective due to the doctor’s experience and implicit, tacit knowledge. This action and decision were influenced by the ‘experienced work identity’ with its implicit and tacit knowledge and occurred before the consciousness and the ‘narratively interpreted work identity’ had been imposed on it. It was just something the doctor did, synchronised with the experienced feeling of the SoO/JoA that it was the right thing to do. Later, when the doctor has to explain to colleagues or a supervisor why they chose that particular treatment, the justification would likely reference the doctor’s experience, such as “In my experience, this treatment works more effectively than the other treatments because it contains xx.” This justification would differ significantly from the attitude-oriented justification that a doctor with a (narratively) work identity that emphasises an organizational sub-identity might give, such as “This is the recommended treatment on site, and it’s just as effective as the other treatments.” or the justification that a doctor with a (narratively) work identity that emphasises a professional sub-identity might give, such

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as “This is the treatment my colleagues and I recommend and will recommend in the future.”

4.3

The Experienced Work Identity

To gain a deeper understanding of our experienced work identity, we need to dig a little deeper. This involves identifying the specific experiences, action patterns, skills, knowledge, and understandings that make up an individual’s (unconscious) behavioural schema, which relates to their work identity. By doing so, we can better explain why some employees have a strong sense of work identity, allowing them to function, thrive, and perform well at work, as seen in the stories of the craftsman/electrician and the lawyer. Conversely, we can also understand why employees who lack a strong sense of work identity struggle to perform and deliver, as seen in the stories of the receptionist and the municipal caseworker. We can delve even deeper into the concept of work identity by exploring the early research of John L. Holland, particularly his work on vocational interest inventory. Before 1970, Holland focused on an individual’s experiences, practical behaviours, habits, and preferred working methods, which relate to their lived and experienced work identity. After 1970, he shifted his focus to an individual’s personality and personality types in a work context, which relates more to the narratively interpreted work identity (Nauta 2010). Most of the research on Holland’s theories since 1970 has focused on the person-environment relationship and how an individual’s personality traits match a job and vice versa—on the so-called ‘P(erson)-E(vironment)’ relationship (Holland 1973; Spokane et al. 2002). However, little focus has been on experiences, behaviours, and practices that shape the experienced work identity. This is interesting to consider because such experiences and skills are integral to one’s personality type and work identity. Holland himself recognised that an individual’s prior experiences, skills, and preferred methods shape and influence their work identity and their choice of work (Holland 1973).

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Holland’s work as a career counsellor in the 1950s and 1960s led him to realise that individuals who gained good experience and a deep understanding of how to solve tasks in various work situations stored these experiences in a subconscious or conscious “hierarchy of habitual or preferred methods for dealing with environmental tasks” (Nauta 2010: 13). This hierarchy forms the basis of our understanding of ourselves and helps us to differentiate ourselves from others in a work context. Holland discovered that individuals who were able to function, perform, and deliver in certain work environments and tasks did so because there was a match between the nature of the work, the type of tasks, and their work identity. He believed that just as personality traits could be used to describe and determine a personality type, the same could be done with work and work tasks, leading to a typology of the working environment. By comparing a personality type with a type of work environment on a more objective basis, Holland was able to determine whether there was a match or “congruence.” If there was, he could predict whether an individual would be able to function, perform, and deliver in a particular work environment. Holland developed a typology of work environments, categorizing work and work tasks into six types that suited particular types of personalities (Holland 1959, 1965, 1966, 1970, 1972): 1. A ‘motoric’ oriented work environment, characterised by physical work and requiring a work behavior in which one can use one’s body and hands (skills), has physical strength, is able to coordinate and work very practically. 2. An ‘intellectual’ oriented work environment, which is characterised by being theoretical, information-heavy, and requires a work behavior where one can analyse, think abstractly, process, and organise knowledge. 3. An ‘aesthetic’ oriented work environment, which is characterised by being very unstructured and where much work has to be created, formulated or expressed. It requires emotional work behavior, creativity, and the ability to work unsystematically. 4. A supportive work environment, characterised by a high level of human interaction, support and assistance to others, which requires

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social work behavior and the ability to cooperate and empathise with others. 5. A decision-oriented (‘persuasive’) working environment, characterised by being decision-heavy and requires a work behavior where one can coordinate, lead, make decisions and persuade others. 6. A ‘conventional’ working environment, characterised by a high degree of regularity and organization, with very clearly defined tasks. It implies a work behavior where one can work efficiently, routinely, practically, and consistently (delivering the same result). In his post-1970 research, John L. Holland focused more on the relationship between work environments and personality types and traits, and less on individual experiences, behaviours, and preferred work methods that make up the lived and ‘experienced work identity.’ He believed that an individual’s personality and traits determined how well they functioned, performed, and delivered in a particular work environment dominated by specific types of tasks. For example, he believed being ‘optimistic’ and ‘outgoing’ would lead to better performance. This belief led Holland to develop a typology of work identity called ‘RIASEC,’ based primarily on personality and traits. The typology included six personality types, each of which, individually or in combination, matched one of the six work environments. This typology formed the basis of Holland’s work identity test of the same name. The test aimed to help individuals understand their work personality type and compare it with a work environment to see how well they would match (Holland 1973, 1985). The next chapter will further explore the RIASEC test. Over the years, some researchers have been critical of John L. Holland’s focus on the relationship between personality types and work environments, arguing that the link between a person (personality) and work environment may not be as strong as assumed in the person-work environment research (P-E research) (Nauta 2010; Arnold 2004). These researchers suggest that Holland “failed to find as strong a link as might be expected between congruence and outcomes […]” (Arnold 2004: 95). Holland himself acknowledged this in the 1990s and early 2000s, stating that the focus had only been on some aspects of work identity, such as

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personality and traits, while neglecting experiences and behaviours. Additionally, much about the work environment remained unknown, making it difficult to predict how well a person would match with a job: Holland called attention to the need to understand more about vocational identity’s ability to predict career stability over time and its value as a predictor of career outcomes when combined with the consistency and differentiation constructs. These questions remain virtually untested. Third, in contrast to hypotheses dealing with the RIASEC personality types and their relationships with one another, much less is known about the relationships among environment types Thus, Holland’s claim that environments characterised by high levels of consistency, differentiation, and identity should have employees with greater stability of career choices, higher levels of achievement and productivity, and greater work satisfaction needs empirical verification. (Nauta 2010: 7)

By not understanding work identity in its entirety, we fail to see how our experiences, behaviours, and preferred ways of working relate to our ‘experienced work identity’ and our ‘narratively interpreted work identity’, which ultimately determines the relationship between a person and their work environment. Moreover, personality traits may not be as crucial in this context as assumed, which could be the reason for why it is still unclear to us “how the mechanism underspinning dynamics and processes of personality at work” function (Ritz, Woods, Wille et al. 2023: 15). For instance, being ‘optimistic’ or ‘introverted’ does not necessarily directly affect a person’s behavior and performance. What matters is what a person does, sense what he/she can do, not who they are (Stuart-Kotze 2009: 3–5). Failing to recognise the importance of experienced work identity also means overlooking how it is connected to an individual’s sense of control and ownership over their work. These experiences are constantly processed unconsciously, as research into ‘unconscious learning’ and ‘unconscious decision making and accuracy’ has shown, and are assessed in relation to concrete tasks in a particular work environment, allowing a person to adapt and function, perform and deliver (Lufityanto & Donki 2014; Fukuta & Yamashita 2021; Vlassova et al. 2014). For example, one may experience a sense of control and ownership over their work,

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enabling them to function, perform, and deliver, while another may lack this sense, hindering their performance- as we saw in the examples of the lawyer and the municipal case worker respectively. If John L. Holland had continued to view work identity as a whole, as he himself had stressed in his early publications, he would not have haphazardly lumped the behavioural and personality elements into the various personality types, but rather kept them separate from each other. Had he done so, he would have seen that the behavioural patterns, practical knowledge, and understandings (arational thinking) would belong to and constitute the practically experienced part of the work identity, the ‘experienced work identity.’ In contrast, the personality patterns, related reflections, interpretations, knowledge, and understandings (rational thinking) would belong to the higher interpreted and reflected part of the work identity, namely to the ‘narratively interpreted work identity.’ He would then have discovered that with each individual‘s experienced sense of the experienced, certain patterns of behavior and action, practical knowledge and understandings would also have been tested against the work tasks in the particular work environments and unconsciously assessed as either applicable or non-applicable. Consequently, a strong or weak experienced feeling of functioning, performing, and delivering in a particular work environment. And again, an experienced sense of congruence between the ‘experienced work identity’ and the ‘narratively interpreted work identity’—that what one says and tells one can do is, in fact, what one has an experienced sense of being able to do. Against this background, John L. Holland would have discovered that, instead of relying solely on personality psychology, he could have also usefully relied on experimental and neuropsychology. With it, he could have empirically shown even more clearly that the link between work identity and ‘outcome’ is exactly as (causally) strong as assumed and, thus, as crucial for functioning, performing, and delivering at work. Just as the work environment and personality types can be categorised in six ways, the specific patterns and elements of behaviour that make up the ‘experienced work identity’ can also be grouped into six types of behavioural categories or modalities. When a behaviour is described as a modality, it is to point out that action patterns and behavioural

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elements are labelled in such a way that they are similar, complementary, or have something in common and, therefore, belong to the same behavioural category. John L. Holland had already shown that such categories (modalities) existed, but he had not made it conceptually clear enough in his typologies and, therefore, could not describe them unambiguously. However, one can see them in glimpses as the outlines of the six personality types and as something in one’s personality traits. If we filter and separate them from the latter, they can be isolated and objectively described as a behavioural modality, and we can subsequently measure and determine which type of behavioural modality is part of the ‘experienced work identity’. We can then also measure which ones are salient and, consequently, which ones the individual experiences as having an experienced sense of. The more salient, the stronger the experienced sense of being able to work in a particular way in a particular work environment and feeling in control—and to perform, function and deliver. The six modalities of behaviour that make up the ‘experienced work identity’ and into which patterns of action and elements of behaviour can be categorised, combined in 720 possible ways of different patterns of behaviour, and of which we can have an experienced sense and thus feel that we are good at something, are (Holland 1973): 1. Do Something modality—the experienced feeling that you can and prefer to do something yourself. 2. Know Something modality—the experienced feeling that you can and prefer to reflect yourself. 3. Be Someone/modality—the experienced feeling that you can and prefer to be yourself. 4. The Empathy modality—the experienced feeling that you can and prefer to empathise with someone. 5. The Act-As modality—the experienced feeling that one can and prefers to act. 6. Routine modality—the experienced feeling that one can and prefers routines.

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When dealing with the Do Something modality, we find ourselves with experience and prefer to use our physical skills and work practically. We have experience using our hands and bodies to solve practical tasks in the work environment. We thrive on physically creating or accomplishing something ourselves, whether in an outdoor or indoor workplace. In other words, we have skills and behaviours that make us comfortable working with tools or machines. We have experience using practical reasoning and arational thinking to find solutions to concrete tasks or problems. We also have experience working in a structured, hard, fast, and efficient way. We are what we do. The Know Something modality has to do with our experience of working with knowledge, insight, and abstract facts. This behavioural modality refers to our higher cognitive or mental functions, which govern our thinking and ideas. These functions enable us to structure, analyse, plan, shift perspective, and understand and interpret information. When this modality is prominent, we have an experienced sense of our ability to generate knowledge, analyse, observe, and evaluate (a background sense of judgement). We have experience dealing with abstract and rational insight into issues and can translate it into concrete actions. We feel comfortable working with symbols such as mathematics and language. We are what we know. The Be Someone modality has to do with our experienced sense of self, intuition, and creativity. When this modality is prominent, we prefer to think in a free and unstructured way and often find our own subjective solutions to problems and act upon them. We feel natural using and relating to the imaginary when we think. We are what we are. The Empathy modality has to do with our experienced sense of being able to feel for others and empathise with them. We have experience interacting and cooperating with others, and by talking to them, we can reach a point where we can lead them and point ourselves and others in a particular direction toward a solution to a problem. We have an experienced feeling that with empathy, we can access the emotional life of others, connect with them, and help and guide them to reach a goal or achieve something together. We are like our empath. The Act-As modality has to do with our experienced sense of personal power and authority when acting and working with others. We have

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Rational thinking Interpreted work identity consciously Declarative knowledge Work identity

Sense of Agency

M In otiv te a re tio st n

Judgment of Agency

W Pe ork rfo b rm eha an vi ce or/ O u R tc es o ul me t /

experience influencing and persuading others and getting them to follow us toward a particular goal. We also have an experienced sense of being able to pursue something and achieve results, whether it is personal, private, or professional. When we decide or act, we experience that our sense of self determines whether the decision is right or wrong (sense of judgment) and whether it is the right thing to do. We are as we act. The last behavioural modality is called the Routine modality. It has to do with our experienced sense of being able to work with accuracy and attention to detail. We have experience focusing on fine-grained tasks and paying attention to small differences and deviations. We have a sense of operating in a structured and organised manner, following established rules and procedures. We are like our routine. Putting together all the knowledge about work identity described above, we can now describe our entire work identity as a social identity consisting of a conscious ‘narratively interpreted work identity’ with seven (inseparable) social-collective sub-identities and an unconscious fundamental work identity, the ‘experienced work identity’ (a function of the ‘minimal self ’), which is linked to six behavioural modalities in a ‘work schema’ (Fig. 4.2).

Procedural knowledge

Sense of Ownership Feeling of Agency

Arational thinking Sense of Ownership

Experienced work identity unconscious

Fig. 4.2 The model shows the relationship between our experienced feeling (sense of) and work identity and between our ‘experienced work identity’ and ‘narratively interpreted’ work identity. It also shows how different forms of knowledge (memories) and ways of thinking and understanding are linked to work identity, and how this leads to different interests, actions and outcomes

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By understanding and applying the methods to measure and test work identity, we can gain valuable insights into the strength and salience of our individual work identities. It allows us to examine how our work identity is constructed, determine whether there is a match between our conscious and unconscious work identities, and assess whether we possess the skills and abilities we claim to and sense we have. Furthermore, we can relate our work identity to the work tasks in our environment to ensure that we work on tasks that align with our experienced sense of competence and ability. Ultimately, this leads to taking ownership of our work, being engaged, prevent us from getting sick with stress, performing at our best, and delivering optimal outcomes. ‘(…) contributes to an individual ’s improved engagement, retention, and adaptation to one’s work’ while ‘protects individuals against burnouts, and contributes to an individual ’s improved engagement, retention, and adaptation to one’s work’ (Szulik & Cachia 2021: 252).

References Adamsen, Billy (2021): Forstå din arbejdsidentitet. Forlaget Samfundslitteratur. Arnold, John (2004): The congruence problem in John Holland’s theory of vocational decisions. In Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, vol. 77, no. 1: 95–113. Bothma, F. Chris & Roodt, Gert (2012): Work-based identity and work engagement as potential antecedents of task performance and turnover intention: Unravelling a complex relationship. In Journal of Industrial Psychology, vol. 38, no. 1: 1–17. Brown, Alan, Kirpal, Simone & Rauner, Felix (2007): Identities at work. Springer. Fukuta, Junya & Yamashita, Junko (2021): The complex relationship between conscious/unconscious learning and conscious/unconscious knowledge. The mediating effect of salience in form-meaning connections. In Second language Research, vol. 39, issue 2. Sage Journals. Haynes, John-Dylan, Soon, Chun Siong, Brass, Marcel & Heinze, HansJochen (2008): Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human. In Journal of Nature Neuroscience, vol. 11: 543–545.

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Holland, John L. (1959): A theory of vocational choice. In Journal of Counseling Psychology, vol. 6, no. 1: 35–45. Holland, John L. (1966): The Psychology of Vocational Choice. A theory of personality types and model environment. Blaisdell Publishing Company. Holland, John L. (1965): Vocational Preference Inventory. Consulting Psychologist Press. Holland, John L. (1970): The self-directed search. Consulting Psychologist Press. Holland, John L. (1972): The present status of a theory of vocational choice. In Whiteley, John M. & Resnikoff, Arthur (eds.): Perspective on Vocational Development. The American Personnel and Guidance Association: 35–59. Holland, John L. (1973): Making Vocational Choices. A theory of career. Prentice Hall. Holland, John L. (1985): Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) Manual . Psychological Assessment Resource. Kielhofner, Garry (2002): Model of Human Occupation: Theory and application. Lippencott Williams & Wilkins. Kirk, John & Wall, Christine (2011): Work and identity: Historical and cultural contexts. Palgrave Macmillan. Kirpal, Simone (2004/2023): Researching work identities in a European context. In Career Development International , vol. 9, issue 3: 199–221. Emerald Publishing. Kluger, Jeffrey (2015): Why you’re pretty much unconscious all the time. In the journal Time Magazine, June 26. Koo, Hyun-Young & Kim, Eun-Jung (2016): Vocational identity and ego identity status in Korean nursing students. In Journal of Asian Nursing Research, vol. 10, no. 1: 68–74. Lufityanto, Galang & Donki, Chris (2014): Measuring intuition: Unconscious emotional information boost decision-making accuracy and confidence. Conference Paper. Miscenko, Darja & Day, David V. (2015): Identity and the identification of work. In the journal Organizational Psychology Review, no. 6, theme 3: 215– 247. Nauta, Margaret M. (2010): The development, evolution, and status of Holland’s theory of vocational personalities: Reflections and future directions for counseling psychology. In Journal of Counseling Psychology, vol. 57, no. 1: 11–22. Peryea, Allison (2016): I have been a law firm partner for a year: How is it different from a life as an associate? I blog Above the Law, August 19. abovethelaw.com/2016/08/test-case-i-have-been-a-law-firm-partner-fora-year-how-is-it-different-from-life-as-an-associate/?rf=1.

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Phelan, Shanon & Kinsella, Elisabeth Anne (2009): Occupational identity: Engaging socio-cultural perspectives. In Journal of Occupational Science, vol. 16, no. 2: 85–91. Popova-Nowak, Irina V. (2010): Work identity and work engagement. Conference Paper. UFHRD Conference posted 2010 in UFHRD Archives. ufhrd.co.uk/word-press/irina-v-popova-nowak-work-identity-andwork-engagement. Reber, Arthur S. (1992): The cognitive unconscious: An evolutionary perspective. In the journal Consciousness and Cognition, vol. 1, no. 2, June: 93–133. Ritz, Joanna, Woods, Stephen A., Wille, Bart, Woo, Sang Eun, Nübold, Annika, Beckmann, Nadin, Dalal, Reeshad Sam, Galic, Zvonimir, Wiernik, Brenton, Tett, Robert P., Pickett, Jennifer, Christiansen, Neil (2023): Personality at Work. In Journal of Personality Science. Vol. 4, Article e7045, https:// doi.org/10.5964/ps.7045 Spokane, Arnold R., Luchetta, Erik J. & Richwine, Matthew H. (2002): Holland’s theory of personalities in work environments. In Brown, Duane (ed.): Career choice and development. 4th ed. Jossey-Bass. Stuart-Kotze, Robin (2009): Performance: The secrets of successful behaviour. FT Prentice-Hall/Pearson Education. Szulik, Magda & Cachia, Moira (2021): An interpretative phenomenological analysis exploring the influence of professional identity on medical doctors’ perceived wellbeing. In Psychiatr Psychol Klin, vol. 21, no. 4: 251–256. Timma, Hilary (2007): Experiencing the workplace: Shaping worker identities through assessment, work and learning. In the journal Studies in Continuing Education, vol. 29, no. 2: 163–179. Viamontes, George I. & Beitman, Bernard D. (2007): Mapping the unconscious in the brain. In Psychiatric Annals, vol. 37, issues 4: 243–256. Vlassova, Alexandra, Donki, Chris & Pearson, Joel (2014): Unconscious information changes decision accuracy but not confidence. In PNAS, vol. 111, no. 45: 16214–16218. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.14036191. Walsh, Kate & Gordon, Judith R. (2008): Creating an individual work identity. In Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 18, no. 1: 46–61.

5 A Century of Work Identity Testing

For more than a century, researchers have delved into the relationship between work and individual and work identity, attempting to examine and predict whether there is a match and whether it is a good one. To this end, several work identity tests have been developed, which many of today’s work identity tests seem to borrow from. The emphasis on this relationship as crucial to our work behavior, rather than merely on the person or work as isolated entities, can be attributed to Kurt Lewin, the German-American professor. In the early 1930s, Lewin stressed that to understand an individual’s behavior and actions, one must consider the present and current situation in which a person finds himself or herself, not merely the past or future. By doing so, one can relate to the person, taking into account the objective (physical) and subjective entity of the here-and-now and the situation as an objective and experienced scenario with all its objective factors. One can also understand how the situation and the environment affect the person and how the person, through their actions, can affect the situation and the environment. According to Lewin, our behavior (B) is a function (f ) of who we are, the person (P), and of the situation/environment (E) of which we are a part and in which

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we participate. The relationship can therefore be shown by the following equation (Lewin 1939: 11 f.): Lewin’s equation: B = f(P, E). However, Lewin did not stop at showing how the connection between a person and situation determines behaviour; he sought to explain how a person’s traits can specifically impact a situation and the environment, and vice versa. To do so, he extended his understanding of the situation to include the experienced situation, inspired by developments in physics and physical field theory, which regard a situation as a space and time in which physical quantities such as energy and temperature can exist simultaneously. Lewin found a psychological counterpart in the experienced situation, which he dubbed the psychological ‘dynamic energy field’ or sometimes referred to simply as ‘life space’: Like the other Gestalt psychologists, Lewin takes as his starting point organised unity: gestalts. Initially, he explores the dynamic interactions of an individual unity, which he alternately calls the psychological field and lifespace, corresponding to the person’s world of experience in the broadest sense. We are dealing with a mental universe which exists in parallel with the physical and social world and which, in a very person-dependent sense, represents this world while at the same time constituting a unity with the person himself. The relevant environment is not the individual-independent environment, but the part and version that has psychological existence for the person. (Madsen 2009: 392. My translation)

This is an individual and subjective space, or as will be shown below: a neuropsychological space (field) in which we organise and analyse current facts, internal and external factors, and connect and relate them to each other. By extending the concept of ‘situation’ in his behavioural equation to include the ‘dynamic energy field’ or ‘subjective life space,’ Kurt Lewin was able to more concretely demonstrate how a situation with its situational factors is connected to what a person can do and what they experience, believe, and know. He showed how these factors both affect and are affected by the person, and how the situation becomes a function of the person (E = f (P)). Conversely, he also demonstrated how a

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person with their unique knowledge and experience is connected to and can interact with a situation, and how the person becomes a function of the situation (P = f (E)). It is important to stress that when Kurt Lewin speaks of the dynamic (energy) field situation, he is referring specifically to how a person experiences and perceives an objective physical situation, and not to the actual physical situation itself, which of course, is always present. This distinction allows him to show how person and situation are connected to each other, compare the subjectively experienced and understood situation with the objectively physical person-situation, and assess whether they correspond to each other. If they do, we can adapt our behavior and actions to the concrete objective physical situation/social environment and function within it. If they do not, we will have more difficulty adapting to and functioning in the concrete physical situation/social environment: Lewin did not specify how social psychologists were to conceptualise or measure the situation beyond the vague notion that situations were something ‘out there,’ external to the person acting. He, like most of us, thought in these general terms: Situations are deemed to be important because they influence behaviour. People often behave differently in different circumstances, such as in a staffroom or classroom, or in a highachieving or low-achieving class, or in a class at the beginning or end of the week. The context cannot, therefore, be taken as a given, but rather as a set of parameters with which individuals interact. Nor did Lewin indicate how the actor was related to the situation beyond his or her ‘being there’. (Bond 2013: 1)

However, in recent years, other researchers have investigated this. Since Kurt Lewin formulated his equation and presented his proof that behaviour is a function (f ) of who we are, the person (P), and the situation/environment (E) we are part of and in, researchers in both experimental and neuropsychology have gained new insights into our experienced emotions, the ‘minimal’ and the ‘narratively interpreted self,’ which can further empirically support (and complete) Kurt Lewin’s equation. They have also done so in his theory of the subjective life space and

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the ‘dynamic energy field’ and how the here and now connects what we can and are with what is and exists and which we act out. Among others, the Polish neurologist and physicist Wlodzislaw Duch has shown that it is indeed possible to identify the ‘dynamic energy field’ and empirically demonstrate that it not only exists, but also how the different actual facts or activated variables connect with each other and determine/influence the relationship between a person and a situation. This can be done by understanding person-situation as both a neurological process/state, as a transformation from one neurological process/ state to another, i.e., specifically on the relation between brain (B) and situation (E), and as a psychological process/state, as a transformation from one mental process/state to another, i.e., as the relation between the mental (M) and situation (E), and both as being connected to each other (Duch 2017a; Duch 2017b). In doing so, the ‘dynamic energy field’ becomes a neurodynamic field, and vice versa. Behaviour becomes a neurodynamics and communication between the different areas/parts of the central nervous system and the musculoskeletal system coordinated with the mental. Specifically, the situation-person relationship can be understood as genes - proteins - signals - receptors - ion channels - neurons - neural networks - the mental and mental constructs - behaviour - and interaction with the situation (see following Fig. 5.1) (Duch 2017a; Ellis and Hing 2008; Duch 2017b): These systems are characterised at many levels by genes, molecules, cells, circuits, physiology at the physical level, and description of behaviour, plus subjective self-reports, collected using various research paradigms. While all physical levels influence behavior it is the activity at the neural system level, representing Lewin’s complex energy field, that is directly responsible for action. Neurodynamics explains cognition and behaviour, it is measured using neuroimaging techniques, and can also be simulated computationally using neural network models. There is no simple causality here, as environment and behaviour may influence genetic level, changing the system through epigenetic regulation of gene expressions. (Duch 2017a: 5)

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Dynamic energy field (Dynamic energy field) Cognition (Cognition) Assignment (Task)

Neural system (Neural system) Signal pattern (Signaling pathway) Genes (Genes)

Fig. 5.1 Model inspired by Wlodzislaw Duch’s neurodynamic model of Kurt Lewin’s equation B = f (P, E). It shows how every physical and experienced level is interconnected and how every transformation/neurophysiological and psychological state (here and now) is interconnected and influences cognition and behavior. The dynamic energy field arises and can be registered in the neural network, where information/facts are linked and (directly) cause actions

When we take all of this into account in our understanding of behaviour as a function (f ) of who we are, the person (P), and the situation/environment (E) we are in and relate to, then the equation can be extended, and the proof can be unfolded even further to explain that when this is so, it is because B = f (Person, Brain: Environment Mental: Environment). Let’s try for a moment to see how the connection between person and situation in practice affects our behaviour and the situation (see Bond 2013). One situation that could be imagined is a family sitting in a kitchen at a dining table eating dinner. Suddenly, the family members learn that water is on the floor, and everyone’s feet are wet. It turns out the water is coming from inside the cupboard under the sink, and a water pipe has burst. After turning off the water and covering the pipes, they discover that there has been a leak for some time, with water from the sink running into the base cabinets and down behind them and onto the floor, causing extensive damage. The situation changes each family member’s perception of the kitchen, because now they can no longer use it as they did before. The dining table and chairs will have to be moved

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into the living room, as will the contents of the cupboards. Nor will they be able to use their oven. With these changes, family members’ perceptions and interpretations of the kitchen also change, and with them, their understanding of their eating behavior. They reconstruct their perceptions, and as they do, they also change their behavior. Instead of going to the kitchen, they now go into the living room to eat. They do not feel comfortable being there and do not sit there for long. Some feel physically restless and cannot ‘relax’ and ‘enjoy’ dinner with the family. Some have changed their behavior so much that they do not eat at the dining table anymore, but instead take their food into their bedroom or over to the sofa in front of the TV. Once the sink and the water pipes under it have been fixed, and they can move their kitchen furniture and things back into the kitchen, family members’ perceptions and understanding change and reconstruct themselves again, and with it, their behavior. Now the family can gather around the dining table in the kitchen again. They spend more time together when they eat, and they talk to each other more again. They feel a physical calm and ‘satisfaction’ at being together again as a family around dinner in a particular situation (the kitchen).

5.1

Frank Parsons and a Checklist for Choosing Work

American professor Frank Parsons was one of the first researchers to examine work behavior as a function of person and situation or work. In his remarkable 1909 book Choosing a Vocation, he demonstrated how this relationship helped to determine whether one could function, perform, and deliver in the job one had or would have. In fact, he couldn’t have been clearer when he wrote that if there is no degree of correspondence or closer harmony between what the person is and can do and what the work environment requires and presupposes one to be able to do, then one will never function, perform, or deliver in one’s work.

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An occupation out of harmony with the workers’ aptitudes and capacities means inefficiency, unenthusiastic and perhaps distasteful labour and low pay; while an occupation in harmony with the nature of the man means enthusiasm, love of work and high economic value—superior product, efficient service and good pay. If a young man chooses his vocation so that his best abilities and enthusiasm will be united with his daily work, he has laid the foundation for success and happiness. (Parsons 1909: 3)

Frank Parsons’ research was concerned with finding out concretely how to develop a test or checklist that one could use to make sure one got all the way around about oneself as a person and about one’s work, profession, work environment, and how one learned to understand a job. How does one objectively get the necessary overview and insight into what one can do and thrive at and where one fits best? In Choosing a Vocation, Frank Parsons shows in the first two chapters how to (1) examine oneself for what one can do and what one thrives in and how to (2) examine a profession, an industry, and a job and what it takes to be able to perform and deliver in it. Once one has done that, the results are compared to see where and if there is a match between what one can do and an occupation, a work environment, and a job. At the end of the book, Frank Parsons, perhaps one of the first ever to do so, argues that if ‘young men’ are to thrive, perform, and deliver and thus achieve success in their work, then there is a need to provide them with professional vocational guidance and companies with a scientific method and test to recruit from, based on this type of test or checklist: ‘The demand for vocational counsellors able to do the kind of work described in the preceding sections is growing very rapidly’ (Parsons 1909: 93). Frank Parsons certainly knew how to do this himself, and he did it with great success—so much so that he is today regarded as one of the first professional career counsellors in the world. So what did Frank Parsons propose to investigate specifically? Looking at the checklist for the individual, he points to the need to understand the person as an objective biological and physical entity and therefore ask questions such as:

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Age? Height? Weight? Health record? How much time have you lost from illness in the last two years? Five years? Ten years? What tests of endurance have you undergone? How far can you walk? How much can you lift? Is your digestion good? Are there any hereditary diseases in your family? If so, what? Where were you born? What is your father’s business? His father’s business? The business of your mother’s father? Of your uncles on both sides? Of your brothers, if you have any? The extent and importance of the business in each case? What opportunity do you have to enter the business in each case? Are you drawn toward your father’s business, your uncle’s, etc., or do you dislike it? Will your father open the way for you to make a success in his line? Same with uncle, brother, etc. (Parsons 1909: 17)

He then proceeds to inquire about academic performance and areas of interest before concluding with queries regarding specific work experience, such as: When did you first go to work? At what age? What did you do first? How did you get that work?

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Did the employer come after you, or did you get the work upon your own personal application, or through the efforts of your parents or friends? What pay did you get at the start? How long did you stay? Did you like the work? Did it meet with the commendation of your employer in authority over you? Or did they find fault with you? Why did you leave? What pay were you getting at the end? What work did you do next? Repeating in regard to this second and all following experience all the questions asked in relation to the first work done, and any others which may be suggested by the circumstances of the case. Have you saved your money and invested it? If so, how? How do you spend your money? Is there any one dependent upon you for support? Do you smoke? Do you drink? (Parsons 1909: 18 f )

When Parsons had completed the objective assessment, he had established a solid understanding of the person’s personality and skills. However, this did not necessarily reflect the person’s subjective experience, how they understood themselves, or how they organised and related their personal and situational facts in their “subjective life space” or “dynamic energy field.“ Therefore, it was crucial for Parsons to gain insight into how the person experienced him/herself and his/her situation to determine if there was a correspondence between their subjective experience and reality. The third item on the test checklist involved asking questions about the person’s subjective perception. Parsons achieved this by asking individuals to describe how they perceived themselves and their relationships with others, including their professional context, what they

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believed they could do, and what professional work groups they saw themselves fitting into. By asking these types of questions, individuals were able to express their subjective experiences: If all the boys in Boston were gathered here together and a naturalist were classifying them as he would classify plants and animals, in what division would you belong? In what respects, if any, would you excel the mass of young men, and in what respects, if any, would you be inferior to most? Would the classifying scientist put you in the mechanical group or the professional group, the executive group or the labouring group? Would he class you as artistic, as intellectual, or physical, quick or slow, careful or careless, enthusiastic or unenthusiastic, effective or ineffective, etc.? (Parsons 1909: 20)

Once you have completed the assessment of the individual, the next step is to explore the working environment or situation. Frank Parsons begins by dividing the profession into 11 types of industries with 11 types of work environments, which are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

Agencies and Office Work Agricultural Artistic Commercial Domestic and Personal Service Fishing Manufacturing Mechanical, Building, and Construction Professional and Semi-professional Transportation Miscellaneous Industries (Parsons 1909: 65).

Each industry has unique working environments that require specific skills and knowledge to function effectively. For instance, a successful career in the trade and services industry would necessitate a ‘general sales force,’ which involves ‘understanding product functionalities, knowledge of goods, and the ability to connect and negotiate with people’ (Parsons,

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1909: 52). Conversely, a career in journalism requires a ‘sense of news, headline writing skills, good judgment, knowledge of the community, politics, business, and the public’ (Parsons, 1909: 56). Frank Parsons further analysed and mapped out the work environments in various industries and then compared them objectively to the person’s abilities to determine if there was a fit. He also checked whether the person’s experience of themselves matched their experience in a particular work environment. If it does, harmony will emerge, and if not, disharmony. Parsons’ test or checklist has been widely used for over a century by parents, guidance counsellors, career coaches, and HR departments in companies. While the test has evolved into various forms over the years, its systematic approach remains an effective way to understand one’s work behaviour, preferred working environments, and tasks objectively.

5.2

Henry Murray’s Focus on the Inner Needs of Work Identity

Another American professor, Henry Murray, also understood behaviour as a function of person and situation/work environment. He concluded in the 1930s that to fully understand what made people function, perform, and deliver at work, one must also deal with the person’s unconscious and psychogenetic needs (‘psychogenic needs’). Such needs, like biological needs (‘viscerogenic needs’), must be met for us to function properly. Conversely, he also concluded that there must be something in situations or work environments that meet such psychogenetic needs and help us function and thrive (Murray 1938; Costa 1988; Schultz & Schultz 2008). Murray’s theory of psychogenetic needs led to the development of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), still used today in recruitment and assessment because it provides deep insights into the person’s work identity and motives: “The Thematic Apperception Test is famous for its promising results in determining a person’s disposition for a particular job or occupation and identifying motivational stimuli” (Biswas 2013: Sect. 8, line 39; see also Janetius et al. 2019: 261; Schultz & Schultz 2008). I will discuss the TAT test further below.

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In his research, Henry Murray identified 17 different types of secondary psychogenetic needs that influence our behaviour. He also discovered that some of these needs were linked or complemented each other, which led to a further reduction to eight basic psychogenetic need domains (Murray 1938: 80–115), as shown in Fig. 5.2 on the next page. When a need for ambition guides our behaviour, we exhibit ambitious behaviour and seek challenging tasks and jobs to satisfy this need. Recognition follows success, leading to the satisfaction of ambition (Cherry 2020; Schultz & Schultz 2008). When materialistic needs guide our behaviour, we exhibit a behaviour where we need to own things or have more money to own more. Our power needs make us either need to control and decide for ourselves or let others control us and decide. Sometimes, we need to take control and decide how to act, while other times, we need to submit to others’ decisions. It’s about either needing to conform or submit to others and whether we can accept criticism or need to look up to and admire others (Cherry 2020; Schultz & Schultz 2008). • Achievement • Exhibition • Recognition

• • • •

• • • • •

• Cognizance • Exhibition

Affiliation Nurturance Play Rejection Sex

Acquisition Retention Order Construction

• • • • •

Abasement Aggression Autonomy Contrariance Deference

• Submit to others • Blame • Dominance

• Countereraction • Defendance • Infavoidance

• Social behaviour • Asocial behaviour • Harm avoidance

Fig. 5.2 It shows the eight basic psychogenetic need domains that Henry Murray identified

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When we talk about the ‘status of defend needs,’ we refer to the needs that drive us to defend ourselves from others, protect ourselves from attack, and motivate us to stand up and try again to accomplish something. Our ‘affection needs’ underlie our relationships with others, including love, loyalty, and our need to help and support others. Our ‘information needs’ relate to our desire to acquire knowledge through intellectual work and use that knowledge to teach or enlighten others. The last two needs, ‘sadomasochism’ and ‘social conformity,’ refer to our need to control or dominate others through our behaviour, as well as our need to be controlled by and subordinate to others, and to avoid punishment by conforming our behaviour (Schultz & Schultz 2008). Depending on the situations we find ourselves in, several situational factors will influence our experiences, needs, and understanding. These factors then stimulate some of our needs and cause us to act in a certain way and exhibit certain behaviours. In this interaction between the person and the situation, there will be something in the situation that exerts pressure, either positively or negatively, on the person and something in the person that exerts pressure from within, either positively or negatively: “Murray recognized that childhood events can affect the development of specific needs and, later in life, can activate those needs. He called this influence press because an environmental object or event presses or pressures the individual to act a certain way” (Schultz & Schultz 2008: 190). Murray describes these two types of pressure as ‘alpha pressure’ and ‘beta pressure.‘ He points out that the relationship between the two types of pressure determines whether one functions in a situation, performs, and delivers on one’s job: We have selected the term press (plural press) to designate a directional tendency in an object or situation. Like a need, each press has a qualitative aspect - the kind of effect which it has or might have upon the subject [...] Everything that can supposedly harm or benefit the wellbeing of an organism may be considered pressive, everything else inert. The process in the subject that recognises that this is being done to him at the moment (that says ‘this is good’ or ‘this is bad’) may be conveniently termed pressive perception. [...] Indeed, the power of a stimulus does not usually depend upon pressive perception - the object is doing

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this and that to me - but rather upon pressive apperception - the object may do this to me. (Murray 1938: 118 f.)

In other words, when there is a match between who you are, what you need, and what you can do, there is a positive connection (‘in conjunction’) between external and internal pressures. When there is no match, there is a negative connection (‘in disjunction’), and you will find it harder to function, perform, and deliver. For example, if the need for love and care is met by a well-functioning family and a loving home, their bond will be seen as positive and everyone will function well, thrive, and trust each other. At work, if an employee is given autonomous responsibility for a project and the opportunity to act as project manager, it will become apparent whether they can take on that responsibility, function well with it, and, if so, whether their need for power is met through this position. The relationship between the external alpha pressure and the internal beta pressure will be positive (‘in conjunction’). A concrete way to examine or test whether there is such harmony or congruence between one’s needs and the situation’s needs, whether there is a balance or imbalance between the external and internal pressures, can be done by using Henry Murray’s TAT test. It is a projection test where a person is presented with pictures of people in different situations and asked what they see and what they think is happening in the picture, or what they think precedes what is happening in the picture or has led to the situation (Schultz & Schultz 2008; Janetius et al. 2019): “The assessment technique most often associated with Murray is the Thematic Apperception Test. The TAT consists of a set of ambiguous pictures depicting simple scenes. The person taking the test is asked to compose a story that describes the people and objects in the picture, including what might have led up to the situation and what the people are thinking and feeling” (Schultz & Schultz 2008: 193). From the response or narrative of what is happening in the picture, it is possible to form a (fairly accurate) impression of a person’s personality and traits, how they think, what motivates them, and what needs lie behind an action. In work situations, during recruitment and interviews, an applicant may be shown a picture of or described a work situation or task and asked to say what they think about it, how they see themselves going

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about the task and how they imagine it could be solved. In the context of so-called ‘assessment’ or evaluation sessions, where companies have invited employees or applicants to spend a day solving different types of work tasks, it is quite common to use TAT tests in different forms, ranging from showing pictures to describing different work situations. The company can use the answers or stories given by the employees or the applicants to get an impression of whether an employee can meet their needs in a certain department and/or would be better able to meet them in another department. Alternatively, as will also be apparent from an applicant’s story, it will be possible to get an impression of their personality traits and needs and, from these, assess whether the applicant would be able to function in an organization with, for example, a particular hierarchical set-up and a particular type of managers. Indeed, many of us have experience with and know how quickly we can gain insight into the working identity of others by using such a projective TAT technique. We often use it ourselves when we need to help or support our friends or children in their private lives to find the right job for them. By simply asking questions like “Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?” or “What would you do in a company like this with this type of staff?” or “Tell me what motivates you,” we can get a pretty quick idea of their needs and their work identity from their answers or stories, and then give them sensible advice about where they might fit.

5.3

John L. Holland’s Work Identity Test

The third work identity test we will look at is the one developed by John L. Holland, which is probably one of the most widely used tests in the world today. As you will see from the way his test is designed, he was strongly inspired by Frank Parsons and Henry Murray, among others. However, John L. Holland developed not only one test but two tests: the Self-Directed-Search (SDS) and the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI). The first is the most widely used and is designed to increase an individual’s awareness of themselves in a work context, what interests them vocationally, and what skills they have. It also allows individuals to quickly identify which of the six RIASEC personality types they are

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and describe their work identity from there. The latter test, ‘Vocational Preference Inventory’ (VPI), goes into more depth and tests personality types, but is particularly used to examine the relationship between work environment and employment and personality types. As written, the ‘Self-Directed-Search’ (SDS) test is based on John L. Holland’s theory that our experiences, interests, knowledge, and understanding of what we are and can do can be divided into six personality types, each coded with a letter, and each type having a working environment in which they fit well. The six personality types are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

The Realist Personality Type, ‘Realist’ (code R) The Investigative Personality Type (code I) The Artistic Personality Type, ‘Artist’ (code A) The Social Personality Type, ‘Social’ (code S) The Entrepreneurial Personality Type, ‘Entrepreneur’ (code E) The Conventional Personality Type, ‘Conventional’ (code C) (Holland 1972; Holland 1966; Spokane et al. 2002).

The realistic personality type (code R) is a person who is reserved, self-reliant, ambitious and works very systematically. They are good at using their hands and fixing things as well as operating machines or using technologies. They prefer to use their skills in the field, working outside where they can use their physicality and hands to create something, change something or build something. The R-type unfolds his personality in work situations and work environments such as in crafts or transport, aircraft, cars, trucks, and in law enforcement such as the police (Holland, John L. 1972; Holland 1966; Spokane et al. 2002). The Investigative Personality Type (Code I) is a person who is curious, perceptive, analytical and observant, and who likes to think and in particular to think abstractly, solve mathematical problems, work in a structured and scientific way. The I-type prefers to use his/her skills to carry out experiments or do research or analysis. The type therefore unfolds his personality in work situations and work environments, such as laboratories, research environments in universities, editorial dig- teams or in hospitals, where his skills/competences can be used in analyses, to

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observe, calculate and diagnose (Holland, John L. 1972; Holland 1966; Spokane et al. 2002). The artistic personality type (code A) is a person who is emotional, creative, introverted, impulsive, and reflective. Type A likes to express themselves and use their skills to write, paint, sing, dance or play instruments. They develop their personality in work situations and environments such as advertising agencies, dance studios, art studios, editorial offices, theatres, music venues, and the media, where they can work on writing advertising copy, directing, painting pictures, taking photographs, or writing fiction and poetry (Holland, John L. 1972; Holland 1966; Spokane et al. 2002). The social personality type (code S) is a person who is understanding, empathetic, helpful, beneficial, and cooperative. The S-type likes to use their personal qualities to cooperate with others, help and teach, or do voluntary work. This type unfolds their personality in social work situations and work environments where they can work in service, teaching, nursing, social work, and other similar roles. They interact well with the environment and co-workers because they often share the same personality traits (Holland, John L. 1972; Holland 1966; Spokane et al. 2002). The Entrepreneurial personality type (code E) is outgoing, ambitious, confident, speaks a lot, and seems very persuasive. They like to use their skills to organise, lead or be in charge of tasks, or to create and manage a business themselves. The E-type unfolds their personality in work situations and environments where they get to lead others or get a group to work together to achieve a goal, be responsible for organizing or planning and implementing projects, or use their skills in sales or in politics to persuade others about solutions, products, or investments (Holland, John L. 1972; Holland 1966; Spokane et al. 2002). The conventional personality type (code C) is someone who is very thorough, steadfast, orderly, systematic, and adaptable. This personality type prefers to use their personal qualities to be systematic, create order, work with details, and do things over and over again with precision and efficiency (Holland 1966; Spokane et al. 2002). The C-type unfolds their personality in work situations and environments where they can

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work with programming, auditing, security, or industrial productionrelated tasks. They work well in these environments and with the type of conventional work task (Holland, John L. 1972; Holland 1966; Spokane et al. 2002). The Self-Directed-Search (SDS) test typically includes more than 200 questions based on the characteristics of different personality types. Respondents answer these questions on a Likert scale of 1–5 or 1–7. After completing the test, the results are calculated for statistical significance. This enables individuals to determine which personality type(s) or trait(s) are most prominent in themselves. John L. Holland also developed a hexagonal model drawn in a circle to better visualise the six personality types and their associated work environments. This model shows which personality types or traits are prominent in an individual and how closely they match one of the six work environments or certain types of work tasks. The hexagon is based on a mathematical assumption that the distance between the personality types or work environments is indirectly proportional to how theoretically related they are to each other. This means that the distances among the types or environments are inversely proportional to the theoretical relationship between them (Morgan et al. 2015: 494). The hexagon in Fig. 5.3 shows the six personality types and is surrounded by the six types of work environments/work tasks. The distance between personality types, such as between the R-type and the I-type and the C-type, is not as great as, for example, that between the R-type and the S-type and the A-type. This means that as an R-type, an individual will have personality traits similar to those of the I-type and C-type. Therefore, an individual’s personality type combines the personality traits of the R-, I-, and C-types. However, this does not mean that if an individual is an R-type, they cannot have personality traits of the S-type and A-type, because they can. There are a total of 720 possible and different personality patterns and combinations associated with a personality type (Holland 1973). The hexagon also shows that when a particular personality type with a particular personality pattern, such as personality traits from R-I-C, is prominent, it is also close to work environments that require certain motor and analytical skills, routines, and professional knowledge. Such

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I

E

A

Es t en w heti vir ork c on m en t

en ive as rsu Pe work ent m on vir

en

C

S

l tua llec Inte ork nt w me iron

R

env

Co nv e wo ntion al vir rk on me nt

Motoric work environment

Supportive work environment

Fig. 5.3 Inspired by the many different version of a Holland Hexagon model that has been designed over the years, this one shows the six personality types and is surrounded by the six types of work environments/work tasks

work environments can be found in a laboratory or an IT company where employees typically have an educational background as laboratory technicians, chemical engineers, or IT programmers. These employees’ personalities can most often be described by and match personality traits associated with personality types R-I-C. ‘Vocational Preference Inventories’ (VPI) are similar to the ‘SelfDirected-Search’ (SDS) test, but they delve deeper into personality traits related to work environments and can more accurately describe an individual’s work identity in relation to a certain type of work and whether there is a good match. VPI asks more questions about the individual’s personality, interests, and behaviours related to specific job types. In

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addition to the first six sections of questions about personality types and traits that help to determine a person’s personality type, the Vocational Preference Inventories (VPI) test also has five sections of questions about: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Self-control Masculinity and femininity (‘masculinity-feminity’) Status (‘status’) Reliability (‘infrequency’) Acceptance (‘acquiescence’) (Holland 1965; Holland 1973, 1985).

The answers in each section are converted into a score, providing further insight into the individual’s work identity. The results of the selfcontrol section tell us about how responsible a person may be at work. The masculinity-femininity section provides insight into how traditionally one views gender and employment. The status section tells us how one perceives job titles as social status. The reliability and acceptance sections provide insight into the tendency to change jobs due to mismatches and how well one adapts to different types of jobs. John L. Holland’s two tests have been extensively researched and are among the most widely researched work identity tests (Nauta 2010: 11; Spokane 2002). The results of this research show that both tests are methodologically reliable and can determine the personality type of the individual and the work environment of a company and the relation (congruence) between them, indicating whether there is a match between person and work environment and thus whether the person will be able to function, perform and deliver at work: When an article written by John L. Holland (1959) entitled, ‘A Theory of Vocational Choice,’ was published in the Journal of Counselling Psychology 50 years ago, it is unlikely that many readers would have anticipated the theory’s eventual impact. In an editorial immediately following Holland’s theoretical statement, Bordin (1959) commented, ‘It remains to be seen whether or not it [Holland’s theory] will provide the basis for a big break- through’ (p. 45). Half a century later it is clear that a breakthrough did occur; this theory’s contributions to counselling psychology are undeniable, as Holland’s typology now pervades career

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counselling research and practice. The golden anniversary of the introduction of his theory provides a fitting occasion for appraising the magnitude of Holland’s contributions to counselling psychology while also noting the field’s loss as a result of his passing in November, 2008. (Nauta 2010: 11)

References Biswas, Mainak (2013): Interviewing dedicated employees with projective tests. Article published in Industri Net Indus.Co. India digital test, December 18. Bond, Michael Harris (2013): Refining Lewin’s formula: A general model for explaining situational influence on individual behaviour. In Asian Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 16: 1–15. Cherry, Kendra (2020): Murray’s theory of psychogenic needs. In the online journal Verywell Mind , September 17. Costa, Paul (1988): From catalogue to classification: Murray’s needs and the fivefactor model . In Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 55, no. 2: 258–265. Duch, Wlodzislaw (2017a): Kurt Lewin, psychological constructs and sources of brain cognitive activity. Conference Paper: XXVI Psychology Colloquium, Polish Academy of Science “Brain-behaviour relations in psychology”, June 2017a. Duch, Wlodzislaw (2017b): Why minds cannot be received, but are created by brains. In the journal Scientia et Fides, vol. 5, no. 2: 171–198. Ellis, Richard F. & Hing, Wayne A. (2008): Neural mobilization: A systematic review of randomised controlled trials with an analysis of therapeutic efficacy. In Journal of Manual and Manipulative Therapy, vol. 16, no. 1: 8–22. Taylor & Francis Group. Holland, John L. (1959): A theory of vocational choice. In Journal of Counseling Psychology, vol. 6, no. 1: 35–45. Holland, John L. (1965): Vocational Preference Inventory. Consulting Psychologist Press. Holland, John L. (1966): The Psychology of Vocational Choice. A theory of personality types and model environment. Blaisdell Publishing Company.

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Holland, John L. (1972): The present status of a theory of vocational choice. In Whiteley, John M. & Resnikoff, Arthur (eds.): Perspective on Vocational Development. The American Personnel and Guidance Association: 35–59. Holland, John L. (1973): Making Vocational Choices. A theory of career. Prentice Hall. Holland, John L. (1985): Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) Manual . Psychological Assessment Resource. Holland, John L. (1985): Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) Manual . Psychological Assessment Resource. Janetius, S.T., Varma, Pooja & Shilpa, S. (2019): Projective tests in human resource management and hiring process: A challenge and a boon. In The International Journal of Indian Psychology, vol. 7, no. 4: 258–265. Lewin, Kurt (1935): A dynamic theory of personality. Selected papers. McGrawHill Book Company. Lewin, Kurt (1939): Principles of topological psychology. McGraw-Hill. Madsen, Benedicte (2009): Kurt Lewin’s concept of resistance—Close reading, extensions and critique. In the journal Psyche & Logos, no. 30: 391–417. Morgan, Brandon, de Bruin, Gideon P. & de Bruin, Karina (2015): Constructing Holland’s hexagon in South Africa: Development and initial validation of the South African Career Interest Inventory. In Journal of Career Assessment, vol. 23, no. 3: 493–511. Sage Journals. Murray, Henry (1938): Explorations in Personality. A clinical and experimental study of fifty men of college age. Oxford University Press. Reprint of Oxford Scholarship 2010. Nauta, Margaret M. (2010): The development, evolution, and status of Holland’s theory of vocational personalities: Reflections and future directions for counseling psychology. In Journal of Counseling Psychology, vol. 57, no. 1: 11–22. Parsons, Frank J. (1909): Choosing a Vocation. Houghton Mifflin. Uploaded by Biblio-life in 2009. Schultz, Duane P & Schultz, Sydney Ellen (2008): Theories of personality. Cengage Learning. Spokane, Arnold R., Luchetta, Erik J. & Richwine, Matthew H. (2002): Holland’s theory of personalities in work environments. In Brown, Duane (ed.): Career choice and development. 4th ed. Jossey-Bass.

6 The Need for a New Work Identity Test—Work Identity Pro

The work identity tests and checklists developed by Frank Parsons, Henry Murray, and John L. Holland have provided incredible insights into work identity. They discovered mental factors, behaviours, and work environment conditions that affect our ability to function, perform, and deliver at work as individuals. However, in recent years, there has been criticism that these tests and checklists are no longer valid and up-to-date with the current labour market and the way work is done today: Vocational psychology and counselling have also seen the influence of post-modern thought, which at times has led to criticism [...] Others have called for the revision of old theory, the creation of post-modern oriented theories of vocational Holland’s Theory 4 guidance, or the convergence of multiple, modern theories. (Bullock et al. 2018: 3)

While there may be some truth to this criticism, rejecting these tests and checklists would not be scientifically justified. Instead, examining whether they need to be updated and revised to account for the changes in late modern society and the labour market may be necessary. As mentioned earlier, the transition from modern to late modern society and labour markets has brought about significant changes, including a © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Adamsen, Work Identity, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37734-1_6

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shift towards individualism and the disappearance of well-defined social work identities. Companies have had to adapt culturally and organizationally to keep up with these trends, and the focus has shifted towards the employee’s personality and personal competencies rather than just their work skills. The meaning of work has also changed, with it being seen as more about the meaning of one’s life and its value for the individual rather than just understanding the operational value of work. This has resulted in a blurring of the boundary between working life and private life. Therefore, while these tests and checklists are still relevant today, evaluating their validity and considering any necessary updates to reflect the changing nature of work identity and the labour market is essential. Although this development has led to a much greater focus on the individual employee, which is, of course, positive in many areas, we must also acknowledge that it has led to more and more of us suffering from stress and developing anxiety in connection with our work, and has made it harder for us to function, perform, and deliver on our jobs. The explanation for this is linked to work identity. Without a work identity, individuals find it more difficult to draw a line between their working and private lives, which in itself is detrimental to our health. Secondly, when we do not have a work identity, we also do not understand what we are really good at, what qualifications we have, and how they fit in with the tasks we are working on in a particular work environment. We no longer have a fundamental language of work, but rather an abstract metaphysical “Singular management language”/“Singular language of work” which makes it much more difficult for us than before to describe our work identity unambiguously. As long as we do not have a work identity, we will search for it and consequently find ourselves in an identity crisis. This makes us more vulnerable, emotionally unstable, and insecure and leads to lower self-esteem while being at work. Conversely, when we have a work identity, we stop searching and can have an experienced sense of it. When we experience it, we know what we are good at and take ownership of our work, becoming more engaged and feeling in control when work is being done. We stand still for a while, to paraphrase a well-known saying from the Danish theologian Jan Lindhardt, because we are standing in a good place - but only for

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a while until we have to find a new place to stand. We also acquire a fundamental working language and become mentally and professionally stronger, emotionally more stable, and more self-confident. We no longer do our job because we can, as the municipal case worker did, but do it well because we feel we can, have an experience that we can, and therefore engage, perform and deliver well, as the electrician and the lawyer did. We need a work identity test that focuses on work identity as an identity and can determine whether we have a work identity at all, how strong/weak it is, how it is constructed, and whether the experienced and narratively interpreted work identity match each other—whether we can do what we say we can do. However, none of the tests developed in the twentieth century have such a focus, including John L. Holland’s two tests, which predominantly focused on skills, personality, interests, competencies, etc., and on how they match certain types of jobs/work environments. Perhaps the focus of their tests was chosen because they developed them in the modern society of the previous century, where work identities, as social identities, were relatively stable, as were work environments. They may not have been aware of the work identity issue or assumed that everyone had a work identity, which, to a large extent, was true at that time. Therefore, it was not necessary to ask about it further. Instead, the focus was on raising individual awareness of what they were specifically able and interested in and relating it to a job to assess whether there was a match between person/work identity and work environment. This approach ensured that a person could function, perform, and deliver at work and companies could have employees who thrived, performed, delivered, and made a career for themselves. However, being aware of our work identity is not enough to perform and deliver well at work and, in particular, feel good about it. Simply functioning, performing, and delivering is not enough. One needs to feel ownership and control when working, which requires an experienced sense of one’s work identity and, consequently, a work identity. Therefore, we need a test that can help us find out if we have a work identity and then understand it so that we can create and develop it. Such a test could complement other tests and make them more up-to-date, at least in terms of testing our work identity.

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For such a new work identity test to help us understand our work identity and be of any help, it must relate to our: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Working languages Work identity as identity Experienced work identity Narratively interpreted work identity Our experienced sense of work identity.

6.1

Description of Work Identity Pro

In the following section, I will provide a brief overview of the five test modules that comprise the new, modern, and supplementary work identity test that I have named ‘Work Identity Pro’ and been used to test 250 students and employees aged 20 to 55 years old at the Zealand Institute of Technology and Business, as well as public and private companies in Denmark over a six-year period (2015–2021).

Test Module 1: Your Working Language—Can It Be Understood or not? It is necessary to begin by examining our working language because, like language in general, it shapes the way we think about ourselves and determines our actions in a work environment. The more abstract and arbitrary words with vague meanings, such as ‘mediate,’ ‘talent,’ and ‘holistic,’ and abstract phrases/statements, such as ‘We must demonstrate a winning mentality’ or ‘We must streamline,’ appear in a working language, the more prevalent the abstract metaphysical “Singular management language”/”Singular language of work” will be, and the more ambiguous, confusing, and unclear the working language will be in terms of content. Conversely, if a working language is characterised by concrete, rigid, and unambiguously defined words like ‘solution,’ ‘extend,’ and ‘method,’ or concrete sentences like ‘I am proficient in

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math’ or ‘I can work long hours,’ then the concrete fundamental bureaucratic working language will be prominent, and the more clear and unambiguous the working language will be in terms of content. Test and result: In the working language test, we examine which of the two languages - the metaphysical abstract “Singular management language”/“Singular language of work” and the concrete fundamental bureaucratic working language - is significantly more prevalent to determine which one we prefer to use in a work environment. If our working language is characterised by the “Singular management language”/“Singular language of work”, then it will be challenging to unambiguously describe and understand our work identity and ourselves in a work environment. Even making ourselves understandable to others (colleagues) will be challenging; On the other hand, it will be easier for us to understand our work identity and ourselves and make ourselves understandable to others (colleagues) in a work environment if the concrete fundamental bureaucratic language characterises our working language (Fig. 6.1). Abstract Random Language Usage

87% 100%

Concrete Rigid Language Usage

62% 100%

Fig. 6.1 It shows the finale results of the language of work test as it appears for the test person in the electronic Work Identity Pro test. It shows which of the two languages of work your prefer in a work situation

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Test Module 2: Personal Identity vs. Work Identity: Are You Self- or Work-Oriented? Next, we need to examine whether an individual has a work identity and how prominent it is compared to other identities. We can achieve this by asking questions focusing on work as the primary element in a work environment. For instance, ‘Do you feel you have a role and a task to perform when you are at work?’ or ‘Do you feel it is important to work according to the guidelines set by the company?’ By evaluating the answers received, we can determine how social and work oriented the respondent’s identity is and whether they have a work identity. Moreover, we design questions where the individual is the focal point of the work environment. For instance, ‘Do you feel that your workplace needs to adapt to you and not the other way around?’ or ‘Do you feel that some guidelines at your workplace do not apply to you?’ From the answers, we can get an impression of how personal and I-oriented the identity is and whether it is the personal identity that is activated when the test person is in a work environment. Test and result: This work identity test aims to determine whether the test person has a work identity and how prominent it is compared to other identities, such as personal identity. We also aim to evaluate how much personal identity matters in a work environment and how prominent it is in relation to work identity. The test measures the balance between work and personal identities in a work environment and which is more prominent. If the personal identity is prominent, then the individual may exhibit I-oriented behaviour in a work environment, making it difficult to function, perform, and deliver. In contrast, if an individual has a prominent work identity, they are more likely to exhibit workoriented behaviour and feel more capable of functioning, performing, and delivering in a work environment (Fig. 6.2).

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Work identity

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Fig. 6.2 It shows the balance/imbalance between your personal and work identity at work

Test Module 3: Your Experienced Work Identity and Your Sense of What You Are Good at Next, we need to examine the work identity itself and how it is constructed and interconnected. It comprises two identities: the experienced work identity and the narratively interpreted work identity. 95% of our work identity is experienced and unconscious, while the remaining 5% is narratively interpreted. In this test, we first examine the subject’s experienced sense of being able to do. We know that there are six types of modalities or behaviours that we can have an experienced sense of, which are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

doing something modality knowing something modality being something/someone modality empathizing with something/someone modality acting like modality, and routine modality

These can manifest as 720 different types of behaviours. By designing questions that specifically ask how the test person experiences different behaviours, we can determine which of the six modalities the test person

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has the most experience with and thus also an experienced feeling of. For example, we can formulate questions like: 1. Do you feel that you are good at measuring, laying and cutting, for example, a floor carpet? 2. Do you feel that you have to read through a manual, for example, before you can do anything? 3. Do you feel that you always have to listen to your impulses and intuitive insights? 4. Do you feel that you are good at listening and lending an ear when others need someone to do so? 5. Does it feel right to act in a certain way, even if there are risks involved? 6. Do you feel comfortable being meticulous and spending a lot of time on details? Each of the questions refers to a specific behavioural pattern, which in turn refers to one of the six modalities. Test and result: When we test the experienced work identity, we specifically examine the behaviour patterns or ways in which the test person prefers to work and solve tasks. By comparing the results for each behavioural modality with each other, we get an impression of which behavioural modalities the tester combines and activates at the same time. We also gain insight into a behavioural pattern that manifests itself most often in a work environment. The experienced work identity is associated with certain experiences, giving us an experienced sense of what one feels they can realistically do and accomplish (Fig. 6.3). Experienced sense of Doing

Experienced sense of Knowledge

Experienced sense of Being

Experienced sense of Empathize

Experienced sense of Action

Experienced sense of Routine

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Fig. 6.3 It shows the six behaviour schemas in your experienced work identity and which of them you have a sense of what you are good at

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Test Module 4: Your Narratively Interpreted Work Identity and Your Narrative About What You Are Good at When we think about, articulate and interpret our experiences of solving tasks and our experienced work identity, the ‘narratively interpreted work identity’ emerges (or is constructed). It is created by our reflection and interaction with the environment and helps us understand and articulate our seven inseparable work-based social-collective sub-identities such as skills/competencies, morals/ethics, working methods and our relationship to a profession, to a company, and to colleagues/managers. However, as the ‘narratively interpreted work identity’ only constitutes 5% of our knowledge about ourselves in a work environment, there will still be much we do not understand about our work identity and cannot articulate or communicate. There will be much that we do not know we can achieve. At the same time, there will also be interpretations of the experienced work identity that do not match what we have experienced and an experienced feeling that we can do in a particular work environment, which can contribute to a difficult relationship with a job, work tasks, and our not functioning, performing, and delivering. By designing questions that specifically ask about the test taker’s understanding and interpretations of: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

A profession An organization Qualifications/Competences Working methods Cooperation Ethics/Morals Gender/ethnicity

Then we can get an impression of the ‘narratively interpreted work identity’ and which social-collective sub-identities are prominent. How aware we are of the profession and what it means to us, the organisation

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and kind of values and culture that matter, skills/competencies, methodology we know we possess and how we prefer to cooperate, and of our ethics/moral/gender. Such questions could be formulated as follows: 1. Do you feel it is essential to maintain a professional image while performing your work? 2. Do you feel that when you are at work, you represent your company first and not yourself? 3. Are you aware of the areas in which you need to develop your skills? 4. Are you aware that the way you work affects how effective you are? 5. Do you often reflect on how you interact with others at work? 6. Do you always feel responsible for your actions at work? 7. Do you think your gender and cultural background affect the way you work? Test and result: In this test, we examine the narratively interpreted work identity to determine how aware we are of the profession, we are in, what organisation mean to us (values), skills/competencies, methodology (how we prefer to work) and cooperate, and of ethics/moral/gender and how we understand our (conscious) work identity. It also compares our interpretation of what we can do and achieve with what we have experienced and have an experienced sense that we can do. We check if the ‘narratively interpreted work identity’ matches the ‘experienced work identity’ and assess whether our work identity matches the work tasks we have in a work environment. If they align, you have a coherent and strong work identity, and you work on what you feel you can do. You will also be able to experience ownership in your work and a sense of control that makes you want to function, perform, and deliver well (Fig. 6.4).

Test Module 5: Does Your Work Identity Fix or Develop You? The fifth and last test serves as a follow-up or control test for assessing work identity and our experienced sense of it. By inquiring further about the test person’s sense of ownership (SoO) and being in control (SoA) in

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Fig. 6.4 It shows your narratively interpreted work identity and how much aware you are of the six work-based social-collective sub identities and what it means to you. What you know you are good at, and what kind of organisation/ values/culture that matter to you

their work and work environment, we can get a more precise impression of the strength and coherence of their work identity. Although we gained some insight into this from the previous tests 2, 3, and 4, asking additional questions about SoO and SoA can help determine whether the work identity is strong or weak. For example, a control question could be, “If someone criticizes your workplace, do you feel the need to defend it?” Or, “If you have influence on a task solution, do you also feel in control of how it is solved?”. We also ask about the extent to which a work identity may cause one to become stuck, as a strong work identity can paradoxically lead to feeling complacent and believing that what one already knows is sufficient to do their job. This can make it difficult to progress and enjoy one’s work. A fixed work identity can indicate being stuck or stalled and a mismatch between one’s work identity and their tasks or work environment. Conversely, an expanded and developmental work identity is aware of what needs to be developed to maintain one’s position. Thus, we examine both fixed and extended and development-oriented work identities and their relationship to one another. This provides an immediate impression of one’s work identity, including whether they cling to what they already know or actively seek to develop their identity. In the second part of the follow-up check, we ask questions such as: 1. Do you feel that you are good at what you do and don’t need to develop further? 2. Do you feel that even if you are good, there is always more to learn?

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Test and result: In this test, our goal is to assess the strength of the work identity further and confirm our initial impressions from tests 2, 3, and 4. Additionally, we want to investigate whether a strong work identity can cause individuals to stagnate their development, leading to a potential mismatch between their work identity and work tasks or environment. If this mismatch occurs, individuals may struggle to perform as well as they once did and find it difficult to progress in their career (Fig. 6.5).

Sense of Ownership

Sense of Agency

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Fig. 6.5 It shows the follow-up or control test for assessing work identity and our experienced sense of it. The results of Sense of ownership (SoO) and Sense of agency (SoA) leave you with an impression of the strength and coherence of the work identity. The results of the Fixed and Extended test shows how development-oriented your work identity is

7 Methodology, Data and Explanation of Results

The Work Identity Test comprises five separate tests, with a total of 249 questions. The first test contains 60 questions, the second has 44, the third has 90, the fourth has 35, and the fifth has 20. Each question can be answered on a Likert scale, with seven response options ranging from ‘Strongly agree’ (100%) to ‘Strongly disagree’ (0%). After each test, the total score is calculated and displayed as a pie chart. By analysing the results from each test and comparing them to previous test results can get an immediate impression of the relative strength of abstract metaphysical “Singular management language”/ “Singular language of work” versus concrete fundamental language of work, as well as the relationship between personal and work identity. This can be done by referring to the test scale, which has cut-off values determined by previous tests, t-tests, and correlation calculations. For the first two tests, an unpaired t-test was used to determine if there was a statistically significant difference between the mean values of abstract metaphysical language and concrete fundamental language. For the last three tests, the same test was used to compare the mean values of personal identity and work identity. By analysing the behavioural modalities of the experienced work identity, we can gain a sense of what © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Adamsen, Work Identity, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37734-1_7

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characterises our preferred behavioural patterns in a work environment. We can also obtain this impression from the narratively interpreted work identity and the control test. The cut-off values on the test scale are determined based on previous test results and by conducting t-tests and correlation calculations. The t-tests were used in the first two tests to examine the relationship between “Singular management language”/“Singular language of work” and concrete fundamental language, and between personal identity and work identity, in order to determine if there was a statistically significant difference. We utilised unpaired t-tests to determine if there was a significant difference between the mean values of personal identity versus work identity, and “Singular management language”/“Singular language of work” versus fundamental language, respectively. If we denote the mean values as: m1 = average score for personal identity/metaphysical language m2 = average score for work identity/fundamental language hypotheses for a single-sided test can be set up: H0: m1 = m2 H1: m1 > m2 In this test, the null hypothesis was that there is no difference between the mean scores for personal identity/metaphysical “Singular management language”/“Singular language of work” and work identity/fundamental language, whereas the alternative hypothesis is that the mean score for personal identity/metaphysical “Singular management language”/“Singular language of work” is significantly higher than the mean score for work identity/fundamental language. An alternative hypothesis could also be that work identity/fundamental language is greater than personal identity. The choice of the alternative hypothesis in our t-test was made on the basis of the calculated mean scores in each test. The decision to reject or accept H0 was based on a so-called ‘p-value’, which is a conversion of the realised value of the test statistic, t. H0 is rejected if the p-value is less than the selected significance level, which is chosen to be 5%.

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For the third and fourth tests, we performed a correlation analysis and an analysis of variance, respectively, to identify significant positive or negative correlations between the behavioural modalities of the experienced work identity or the social-collective sub-identities of the interpreted work identity and variations between the sub-identities and fixed and extended work identities. Correlation coefficients ranged from -1 to 1 with a significance level of 5%. This allowed us to determine more precisely whether any behavioural modalities were associated with each other in the subject, thus revealing a salient behavioural pattern. In some tests, we found that the correlation between behaviour modality 1 and behaviour modality 2, and behavioural modality 1 and 6, were − 0.83 and −0.34, respectively, indicating negative correlations. In other tests, we found that the correlation between behaviour modality 2 and behaviour modality 3, and between behaviour modality 2 and behaviour modality 6, was 0.34 and 0.59, respectively, indicating positive correlations. Thus, we see that subjects who prefer behavioural modality 2 also prefer behavioural modality 6 and often answer the opposite to subjects who prefer behavioural modality 1. We performed an analysis of variance (ANOVA) with a null hypothesis H0 stating that all mean values of the (sub)identities are equal, and with an alternative hypothesis H1 stating that at least one of the mean values is different. With a significance level of 5%, we found in some tests that a mean value of 22.3 (variance 803.9) for the profession (sub)identity and a mean value of 21.1 (variance 788.8) for the organization (sub)identity were significantly higher than other mean values. Based on these calculations and previously conducted tests, we have been able to derive the threshold values in the test scale (Fig. 7.1).

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× ≥ 68%

Strongest (salient)

54% ≥ × < 68%

Strong (prominence)

46% ≥ × < 54%

Neutral

24% ≥ × < 46%

Weak

0% ≥ × < 24%

Weakest (-salient)

Fig. 7.1 It shows the threshold values in the test scale from which it is possible to decide if an identity/sub-identity is salient, prominent or neutral

8 Exercises with Questions for Results

Once the overall results of the work identity test are available, you can further understand your work identity by doing some small exercises. Start by examining the results of the working language test and consider which of the two languages is more prominent. If the test indicates that you mostly use basic fundamental language and concrete words, try to describe your skills using concrete words. Since we all use abstract words from the metaphysical management language in our working language, depending on how big the imbalance is between the two languages in the test, you may find that some abstract words appear in your description of your ability. In that case, try to make the abstract words as concrete as possible. In the identity balance test, you need to determine whether your personal identity or your work identity is more prominent. If it is your work identity that is prominent, express in words what work means to you, how you think people should behave at work, and how your work identity guides your behaviour and performance. If it is your personal identity that is more prominent, explain why a job is personal to you. Then, think about whether your personal attitudes, values, and behaviours might find a counterpart in a company’s attitude, values, and © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Adamsen, Work Identity, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37734-1_8

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work behaviour. Consider whether this is true in the company you work for or in the work environment you want to work in. Create a list with two rows titled ‘Personal identity’ and ‘Work identity,’ respectively. In the first row, write your personal attitudes, values, and behaviours, and in the second row, write the values, attitudes, and behaviours that occur in the company you work for or in the work environment you want to work in. By comparing the two rows, you can identify which values, attitudes, and behaviours are similar and which are not. Those that are similar can be included in your work identity, but those that are not need to be assessed for relevance in a work context. If they are not relevant, you don’t need to consider them while at work. If they are relevant, you need to think about how to integrate them into your work identity. If the results are neutral, and there is a neutral relationship between the two identities, your personal identity will always be prominent. In testing your ‘experienced work identity,’ you need to consider which of the six behavioural modalities is most salient. Once you have done this, you should relate to each of the prominent modalities and give examples of what you have actually experienced while working with them. You should also think about and describe how you experienced and felt when you were working with them. Finally, try to compare your experiences with what you are working on now, your job tasks, or in relation to what you would like to work on. In the test of your ‘narratively interpreted work identity’, relate to the results from each of your seven social-collective sub-identities and try to elaborate and explain what you think when you see the specific score. Also, try to give an explanation of why you think you understand and interpret your work identity in this way. For example, if you have a high or low score under profession, it could be because you are proud to work in that profession and have such a social (collective) (sub)identity, or it could be because you don’t really have a relationship with the profession. The same with the score under organization. If it’s high or low, it could be because you’re proud to be in that company/organization, or because you just thrive in that work environment, or the opposite. Try to reflect on these scores and discuss them.

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If you have a high score under skills/competencies, then professionalism means a lot to you, and being able to do something is important. Try to think about professionalism and describe your skills and competencies in concrete terms. Also, explain why they are essential for you to know. If your score is low, try to reflect on why you think you do not focus much on professionalism and your skills and competencies. Also, try to compare the low score with the result from the identity balance test to see if the lack of focus could be related to a more prominent personal identity and a less prominent work identity. Examining your methodology score reveals how confident you are in your work approach and the results you produce. If your score is high, describe your methodology and why it is important to you. If your score is low, reflect on your preferred work methods and explain why you feel they are suitable for you. Your Collaboration score indicates how you perceive yourself and your behaviour when collaborating with others in a work setting. If your score is high, you are aware of how you collaborate, the relationships you enter into, and your contributions. Describe how you view yourself in various collaborative settings and how your behaviour varies. If your score is low, you may be less aware of how you engage in different relationships and collaborations in the workplace. Consider how others might perceive working with you. Also, consider whether the lack of awareness of collaboration might be related to the results of the identity balance test and your less-prominent work identity. Your Ethics and Morals score measures the importance you place on ethics and morals in a work context. If your score is high, you are highly aware of the significance of ethics and morality in your work behaviour. Explain why ethics and morality are important to you in a work environment. If your score is low, you may not be as focused on ethics and morals, and it may not be a topic you often discuss. Explain why you think you have less focus on ethics and morality in a work context. The final score is from your Gender and Ethnicity test. If your score is high, you may be highly focused on gender and ethnicity and conscious of gender roles and cultural backgrounds in your workplace. Explain why you think it is important to be aware of gender roles and cultural backgrounds in your work environment. If your score is low, you may not be

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as focused on gender and ethnicity, and it may not be a topic you feel is important to be aware of. Explain why you do not believe it is necessary to focus on gender roles and cultural backgrounds in your workplace. The last and fifth test, the control test, assesses your experienced sense of ownership and control (Sense of Agency) and how fixed or expanded and development-oriented your work identity is. If you score high in the experienced sense of ownership and control, it indicates that you have a strong sense of your work identity, and there is congruence between your narratively interpreted and experienced work identity. You should compare this score with the results of your work identity test and with what you are working on, work tasks, and the work environment you are in, to see if they match and explain why you feel ownership and control when you work. On the other hand, if you score low, you may not have a strong experienced sense of your work identity, which could be due to various reasons like new work tasks, a new boss/ colleague, or a new office. You should compare this with the results of your work identity test and see if there is any correlation between the low scores in narratively interpreted work identity and experienced work identity. Then, you should relate the low scores to what you are working on (or want to work on) and the work environment you are in, to see if that might point to why you don’t have such a strong experienced feeling. You should elaborate on why you think there might be a connection. Regarding the outcome of how fixed or expanded and developmentally oriented your work identity is, you should be aware that when you have a work identity, you tend to hold on to it because it works and makes you function, perform, and deliver. Hence, you experience it as fixed and not something that you immediately want to change and develop. However, when you have a work identity, you are also aware of it and usually know when it needs to be developed. Therefore, you also experience your work identity as expanded and development-oriented. You should look at the scores for fixed and extended and development-oriented work identities in relation to each other to get an idea of what your work identity is, whether you are more attached to it and what you know and don’t feel

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the need to develop it or whether you are developing it and what you know and have an extended work identity. The score that is higher tells you immediately what your work identity is. You should give the result of this test some thought and explain why you think your work identity is the way it is.

9 Conclusion

For over a century, we have been developing and using tests to assess work identity and examining how it aligns with different work environments and tasks. However, we have never explored whether work identity actually exists or considered its strength compared to personal identity in a work setting. This lack of inquiry has led to a theoretical and methodological challenge in measuring work identity as an independent aspect of identity in the development of our tests. There has been a common understanding among researchers in occupational psychology, management and the sociology of work and employment that measuring work identity as a distinct identity is unnecessary. It has been assumed that congruence, consistency, and differentiation would define the elements of work identity, describing a person’s identity related to their work. However, congruence, consistency, and differentiation alone cannot determine whether someone has a work identity or its strength relative to personal identity in a work situation. To ascertain this, direct measurement of work identity as an independent identity is necessary. Advances in neuropsychology, neurophilosophy, cognitive psychology, and vocational psychology have provided descriptive and empirical knowledge about identity, including work identity, as an ontological entity that © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Adamsen, Work Identity, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37734-1_9

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can be measured concretely. Work identity is a social-collective identity consisting of two components: a consciously narratively interpreted work identity and an unconsciously experienced work identity. The narratively interpreted work identity involves our reflections, interpretations, values, and attitudes towards various aspects of work and work situations, such as profession, organization, qualifications/competencies, methods, cooperation, morality/ethics, and gender/ethnicity. By asking about these conditions, we can gain insights into a person’s conscious work identity, their level of awareness of it, their sense of ownership, and how well it aligns with their work and work environment. However, work identity also includes a person’s experience of their skills and what they feel comfortable doing in a work context. This is the experienced work identity, which consists of six experience schemas: Doing (working with hands/body), Knowing (knowledge-based work), Creativity (subjective), Empathy (working with people), Act-as (management-oriented work), and Routine (repetitive tasks). Studies show that these experience schemas can be combined in 720 different ways, resulting in 720 unique and individually experienced work identities. When we measure a person’s experienced work identity, we ask about their perception of the six experience schemas. Based on their answers, we can determine their experienced work identity, including their capabilities and how well it aligns with their narratively constructed work identity. This comprehensive measurement provides insights into whether a person possesses a work identity, the balance between their experienced and narrative work identity, and their sense of ownership, satisfaction and judgment. To assess the strength of a person’s work identity in relation to their personal identity within a specific work situation, we can directly ask whether they are more focused on themselves or their work. If a person demonstrates a work-oriented mindset, it suggests a strong work identity that is actively engaged in a work setting. Research indicates a correlation between a strong work identity and improved well-being, lower burnout rates, and increased engagement, retention, and adaptability across various professions. On the other hand, a person exhibiting a selforiented mindset indicates a weaker work identity, with their personal

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identity taking precedence in a work situation. Studies show a connection between a strong personal identity and increased work-related stress, anxiety, burnout, reduced engagement, retention challenges, and difficulties adapting to one’s work environment. As modern society has progressed into late modernity, we have witnessed significant changes in our relationship with work. Society has become more individualistic, traditional norms have eroded (detraditionalization), and our focus has shifted towards personal attributes and potential within the workplace. This shift has led to a rise in selforiented attitudes among managers, employees, and students, while our work-oriented mindset has diminished. The boundaries between work hours and personal time have blurred, resulting in an imbalance in our work-life equilibrium. Additionally, leading to a loss or a substitution of an unambiguously work language with a subjective ambiguous singular management language making it difficult to understand and talk about our work identity. Consequently, many of us have experienced a weakening or even the absence of a work identity, with our personal identity taking its place. In work situations, our self-centered perspective has become more prominent as has the ‘Singular language of work’. This transformation, where being authentic by being yourself (personal identity) at work has been encouraged, has negatively affected our well-being, performance, and career progression. Disturbingly, Gallup surveys indicate that 44% of employees and managers today suffer from work-related stress, sadness and anxiety, and a staggering 80% feel disengaged and lack a sense of ownership in their work. A majority no longer experience a sense of control or fulfillment from working on tasks they feel competent in. To address this identity crisis in late modernity, individuals must recognize the issue and understand their work identity, its strengths and weaknesses, and how it relates internally and externally to their work tasks and environment. One approach to achieving this is providing access to an electronic work identity test, such as the Work Identity Pro, available in multiple languages. Through my research, I developed this test and made it accessible to employees, managers, and students. The results have been promising, as individuals who took the Work Identity Pro test gained insight and awareness of their work identity and

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language of work. This newfound understanding empowered them to proactively navigate their work behavior, differentiate between identities within work situations, and create a healthier work-life balance. Even to talk about their work and work identity in an unambiguously language. They rediscovered a sense of ownership and engagement in their work and education, which is vital for individuals in our singularized late modern society to protect themselves from burnout. Furthermore, it contributes to improved engagement, retention, and adaptability levels in one’s chosen field of work.

Glossary

is the experienced emotional condition of or basic sense of feeling in control. Arationality is a rationality or an intuitive reason that originates and derives from registered and recorded (sensory) data, experience, intuition, tacit knowledge and sensed feelings. Bullshit job is a job that has little or no operational value in a bureaucratic work system and is inherently (almost) meaningless. In a singular work system, however, a bullshit job has value and meaning. Bullshit language is an independent abstract management language, a “singular management language”, consisting of tentatively defined concepts and words with ambiguous or zero content, used to describe a work environment, our place in it and our interaction with it. Bureaucratic work system is a work system with an inherently unambiguous and authoritarian set of rules for work, which creates hierarchies of organization and objectively defined roles and functions. It has an inherent fundamental bureaucratic language of work. Collective identity is a specific group identity and sub-identity (a notion of and narrative of someone or something) that is created, shaped and developed by a real group of which a person is a member of. Agency, Sense of

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Glossary

is, when a widespread understanding and way of thinking is used to convince or ‘educate’ others to understand and think in the same way. Descriptive knowledge is explicit and declarative knowledge, which deals with general and specific knowledge that is independent of subjective experience and the situation in which it arose. Dynamic energy field, psychological is a psychological space-time field, a subjective life space where the individual relates to, analyses and constructs current facts about himself/herself as a person and about the situation and the relationship between them. Empty term/signifier is a word without a lexical (denotative) meaning, but with several (random) connotations. Experienced work identity is a function of the ‘minimal self ’ and refers to an unconscious/subconsciounes knowledge and behavioural schema with six behavioural modalities from which 720 different behavioural patterns of action can be developed—see Lived sense of work identity. Feel of Agency is referring to the experienced emotional condition (state of feeling) of our non-conceptual actions and of being in control—see also Agency, Sense of. Fundamental language is a basic descriptive and expository language consisting of necessary unambiguously (defined) words, concepts, and a universal basic word grammar (order) of subject, verb and objects from which languages originate. Fundamental bureaucratic language of work is a basic descriptive and expository language of work, characterised by its formality, that derives from the fundamental language and consists of necessary unambiguously (defined) words and concepts used to describe and refer to work and work interaction at any level of the organization. It is objective, impersonal, concise, precise and clear. Fundamental Rule of Work are rules of work that are governed by the universal principle of what is a necessary condition for work or for the organization of work and thus for what is a necessary condition for the performance of work. The ‘Fundamental Rule of work’ is inherent in the bureaucratic system of work and articulated in a fundamental descriptive language of work that unambiguously describes and refers to work and work interaction at any level of the organization. Fusion identity is a salient social or collective (sub)identity with which the personal identity has fused and become one with. Cultivation–Culturalisation

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is the individual’s experienced sense of the experienced (e.g., a personal or social notion (meaning) or narrative of oneself or someone/something)— see Identity equation. Identity equation shows that identity itself (O) is (=) a function of the individual’s (P) experienced sense (y) of the experienced (S), i.e., O = f (P, y), S. Implicit knowledge is a practical personal knowledge that an individual has by herself—see also Tacit knowledge. Judgment of Agency is referring to the experienced (background) sense that it is ‘I’ who consciously think, judge and decide. Life space, subjective is a psychological space-time field, a mental space in which we can relate to, analyse and compose current facts about ourselves as a person and about the situation and the relationship between them. See Dynamic energy field Lived sense of work identity is an experience of what one is capable of and refers to the practical unconscious/subconscious knowledge and behavioural patterns (behavioural modalities) from which work behaviour is determined—see Experienced work identity. Mental image is the experienced mental image of an experienced object. Metaphysical self is the inner reflected consciousness of oneself. Minimal self see Physical self . Narratively interpreted work identity is the identity that makes us aware of what matters to us in a work context and provides us with a consciousness of work, a sense of judgment and sense of being the proactive subject (creator) of our behaviour, actions, thoughts and values in a workplace. The narratively interpreted work identity consists of seven different work-related sub-identities such as profession, organization, qualification/competencies, method, cooperation, ethics/moral and gender/ethnicity. Narratively interpreted self see Metaphysical self . Neurodynamics refers to the communication between the different areas/parts of the central nervous system and to the communication between the central nervous system and the musculoskeletal system. Nomenclature, social (binomial) identity is a social identity hierarchy that shows social identity as a social sub-identity and general norm at an abstract general level and as a collective identity and concrete norm at a particular real level. The social identity nomenclature can be used to determine how concrete and specific an influence social identity has on behaviour. Ownership, Sense of is the term for an experienced (background) feeling that makes ‘I’ feel that ‘I’ am ‘me’ and that someone/something is ‘mine’. Identity

138

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is the conscious notion and narrative of oneself as a person with values, attitudes and attributes. Physical self refers to our inner awareness of the body and all that is physical about it, can be experienced, felt and observed. Procedural knowledge is implicit and tacit knowledge about skills, behavioural and attitudinal patterns, habits, etc. Prominent identity is a strong and significant identity and sub-identity in an identity hierarchy. Rationality is reason emerged and developed through a formal logical reflection and from enlightenment. Rule of Law is a philosophical term for rules that derive from an objective principle or law. Rule of Singular is a philosophical term for work rules governed by a subjective (random) principle. Salient Identity is the strongest and most preferred identity or sub-identity in an identity hierarchy. Schema is a pattern of action or thought that organises a person’s knowledge, experiences, actions and understandings in a particular way. Self is our inner awareness of ourselves. Self-identity is the conscious notion and narrative (reflected awareness) of who we are and ourselves. Singular language of work is a subjective language of work created by an individual’s own worldview often from bits and pieces from psychology, sociology, the spiritual/religions world and contain abstract and arbitrarily defined concepts and words with ambiguous content, used to describe a working environment, oneself as an employee, refer to work and work interaction at any level of the organization. See ‘Singular management language’. Singular management language is a subjective management language influenced by the new age eclectic and religious worldview, bits and pieces from psychology, sociology and consist of abstract and arbitrarily defined concepts and words with ambiguous content, used to describe a working environment, refer to work and work interaction at any level of the organization. See ‘Singular language of work’ and ‘Bullshit language’. Singular work system is a work system focused on the individual and the singular, which creates flat, boundless and person-oriented organisational structures with subjectively defined roles and functions. It operates according to the ‘Rule of Singular’ and has an inherently “Singular management language”/“Singular language of work” as its working language. Personal identity

Glossary

139

is a group (categorical) identity (notion of and narrative of someone or something) that is shaped by social knowledge and social norms and makes us think and act in a certain way in relation to each other. Sub-identity is an identity that is a constitutive part of a personal or social identity. Tacit knowledge is individual unconsciously/subconsciously experienced knowledge that is not readily available and explicit—see also Implicit knowledge. Unconscious thinking is independent and ‘automated’ thinking that includes unconscious thought processes, understandings, tacit knowledge, experiences, intuition and information processes. See Arationality. Work identity is a work-based social-collective identity consisting of a conscious narratively interpreted work identity with seven reflected inseparable socialcollective sub-identities linked to an unconscious lived and experienced work identity consisting of six behavioural modalities. Social identity

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Index

A

Abilities 25, 42, 84, 93, 97 Absence 72, 133 Abstract 9, 12, 25, 54, 82, 110, 112, 121, 125, 135, 137 Academic 13, 94 Accomplish 5, 6, 10, 18, 99, 116 Achievement 25, 30, 79 Acknowledge 110 Acquire 53, 99, 111 Activated 6, 56, 59, 71, 90, 114 Adapt 5, 11, 21, 23, 30, 79, 89, 106, 110, 114 Aesthetic 51, 77 Affection 99 Agency 5, 45, 46, 135, 136 Align 42, 53, 84 Ambiguity 25, 69 Analytical 102, 104 Anecdotes 1

Answer 7, 17, 36, 38, 56, 67, 101, 104, 106, 114, 123, 132 Anthropologist 26 Anxiety 4, 29, 110, 133 Appearance 11, 25, 38 Applicant 100, 101 Approaches 71 Appropriate 27, 38, 57, 71 Arational 49, 80, 82, 135 Argues 93 Articulate 46, 75, 117, 136 Artistic 96, 102 Assessed 67, 79, 80, 126 Assessment 95, 97, 101 Associate 6, 7, 12, 51, 73 Associated 4, 26, 29, 37, 46, 49, 54, 104, 105, 116, 123 Assumed 78–80, 111, 131 Assured 50, 52 Attempt 44, 54, 87

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 B. Adamsen, Work Identity, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37734-1

159

160

Index

Attitude 12, 52–56, 67, 68, 71–73, 75, 126, 132, 133 Attributed 27, 54, 87 Augusto, Luis M. 40 Authentic 133 Authorities 9 Automaticity 56 Awaken 11

B

Background 5, 20, 37, 44, 46, 61, 80, 105, 118, 127, 137 Balance 1, 10, 28, 38, 39, 45, 50, 100, 114, 125, 127, 132 Beginning 11, 89 Belief 12, 24, 37, 68, 78 Beta pressure 99, 100 Birkinshaw, Julian 21 Blindfolded 45 Blurred 15, 133 Born 11, 94 Boundary 6, 15, 16, 22, 30, 110, 133 Brushes 44 Bullshit 26, 27, 135, 138–139 Bureaucratic 11–14, 16–23, 113, 135, 136 Burnout 16, 132, 133 Business 2, 10, 16, 19, 30, 103, 112

C

Camaraderie 2 Capabilities 15, 40, 69, 132 Carpenter 2, 5, 30, 68 Categories 49, 51, 54, 80, 81 Cerebrum 39 Challenges 3, 131

Changes 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 17, 21, 36, 46, 50, 52, 91, 106, 128 Characteristics 23, 38, 49, 51, 52, 104 Checklist 92–93, 109 Choice 15, 22, 37, 52, 76, 106, 122 Citizen 2, 53 Club 3, 4, 51, 55 Cognition 90 Cognitive psychology 31, 48, 57, 131 Coherence 52, 119 Collaboration 71, 127 Colleagues 2, 3, 29, 30, 59, 67, 71, 117 Comments 5, 6 Commitment 3, 29, 30, 51, 67 Competence 74, 84, 102, 117 Complacent 119 Comprehend 7, 35 Concepts 12, 17–19, 23, 25, 135, 136 Concrete 30, 38, 48, 57, 79, 82, 89, 100, 121–123, 125, 137 Confined 11 Conflicts 28, 29 Confusing 15, 112 Congruence 77–81, 100, 106, 128, 131 Conscious 23, 35–38, 49, 52, 83, 127, 132, 138, 139 Consequences 13, 16, 23, 30, 60 Consistency 37, 41, 45, 79, 131 Constitute 37, 48, 49, 68, 80, 117 Construct 47, 51, 84, 90 Consultant 10, 16, 21, 27 Contemporary 13 Contexts 37, 52, 54, 59, 137 Contributes 16, 70, 84, 134

Index

Control 2, 24, 29–37, 45, 46, 79, 98, 99, 110, 118–122, 128, 133, 135, 136 Conventional 78, 104 Coordinating 3, 5 Copenhagen 4, 55 Corporate 7, 13, 15 Correlation 121–123, 128 Counsellor 77, 93, 97 Counterpart 88, 125 Creativity 9–14, 77, 82, 132 Crisis 4, 110, 133 Criticize 119 Crucial 18, 38, 79, 80, 87, 95 Cultivation 23, 136 Culture 9–18, 67, 69, 70, 118 Curious 102 Cycling 50

161

115, 118, 121, 122, 125, 131, 132, 137 Developed 14, 22, 42, 47, 53, 57–59, 61, 74, 77, 87, 101, 104, 109, 111, 119, 128, 133, 135, 138 Diagnose 46, 103 Direction 5, 28, 82, 99 Disappear 44 Displaced 60 Dissatisfied 6 Distinction 6, 89 Doctors 72, 73 Doze 12 Dynamic 14, 36, 57, 88–90, 95, 136

E

D

Debate 13 Decision 24, 72, 73, 78, 122 Decision-making 41, 49 Defend 99, 119 Deliver 5, 11, 23, 27, 58, 76, 77, 92, 93, 97, 106, 109, 114 Delivering 27–31, 78, 80, 84, 111, 114 Delve 1, 76, 87, 105 Denmark 4, 112 Department 3, 25, 97, 101 Depression 4, 16, 29 Descriptive 18, 131, 136 Desired 18 Determine 2, 24, 38, 53, 68, 77, 78–80, 81, 83, 84, 88, 90, 92, 95, 99, 104, 105–111, 114,

Effectively 6, 19, 30, 75, 96 Efficient 3, 82, 93 Effort 2 Elaborate 18, 126, 128 Electrical 1, 2, 56 Emanating 40 Embedded 48 Embodied 15 Emerged 9, 17, 46, 138 Emotional 4, 15, 39, 53, 77, 103, 111, 135, 136 Empathy 82, 132 Emphasizes 74 Empirical 31, 36, 79, 90, 131 Employed 1, 2, 29, 59 Emptied 25 Enables 27, 36, 37, 47, 104 Encouraged 21, 55, 133 Engage 127 Engineer 3–4, 29, 105

162

Index

Enlighten 99 Entirety 74, 79 Environment 16, 22–25, 53, 68, 76–89, 90, 91, 96, 97, 102–104, 109–113, 122, 126 Epistemic 47 Erikson, Erik 35 Essence 2, 11, 19 Essential 2, 20, 37, 110, 127 Ethical 71, 73 Evaluation 101 Evidence 29, 37, 41, 56, 71 Exciting 5, 44 Existence 37, 88 Expensive 72 Explicitly 69, 71, 74 Explore 1, 7, 16, 67, 78, 88 Expressions 25, 27, 48, 90 Extended 88, 91, 112, 119, 123 External 17, 20, 37–39, 88, 100, 133

G

Gained 2, 50, 77, 89, 119, 133 Generation 15 Governed 16–19, 136 Graeber, David 26 Grossmann, Igor 14 Group context 53 Gurdjieff, George I. 10–13, 19

H

Habitual 77 Haphazardly 80 Happiness 15, 93 Hardest 11 Healthy 1 Hemisphere 40 Hexagonal 104 Hierarchical 22, 58, 101 Holland, John L. 74, 76–80, 101–104, 106, 107, 109, 111 Home 1–3, 100

F

Fairytale 18 Feedback 5 Female 4, 59, 72 Filmed 44 Finger 36, 39, 44 Firm 4, 73 Focused 5, 13, 37, 46, 72, 76, 78, 127, 128, 132 Football 2, 5, 55 Former 12, 20, 28, 59 Formulate 77, 89, 116 Frightening 45 Fundamental rule of work 16–18, 136 Fusion 60, 61, 136

I

Identity xiii–134 Imagined 91 Imitate 48 Implications 16 Implicit 6, 41, 49, 50, 74, 138 Impression 100, 101, 114, 116–118 Impressionable 28 Incredibly 4, 24 Individuals 4, 9–16, 19–22, 24, 27–29, 35, 37, 50–54, 55–57, 61, 67, 68, 72, 74, 76–81, 84, 87, 88, 93, 96, 101, 104–106, 110, 111, 114, 136–139 Indivisible I 11, 16, 21–24, 27

Index

Inefficient 11 Infants 48 Influence 6, 12, 13, 22, 23, 54, 55, 59, 68, 72–76, 89, 90, 98, 99, 109, 119, 137, 138 Initiative 12 Innate 36 Inseparably 68 Insight 36, 46, 49, 70–72, 82, 84, 89, 93, 95, 97, 101, 106, 109, 116, 119, 132 Installations 2 Institutional 20, 67 Integral 76 Integrate 21, 74, 126 Intellectual 21, 77, 96, 99 Intention 36, 41 Interact 53, 71, 103 Interpretation 12, 47, 80, 92, 117, 118, 132 Intersection 35 Introverted 24, 79, 103 Intuitively 36 Inventory 76, 101 Invest 9, 95 Involved 3, 5, 49, 95, 96 Islet 39 Isolated 51, 69, 71, 72, 81 Issues 6, 7, 28, 82, 133

J

Job 3, 22–27, 60, 68, 69, 79, 92, 99, 105, 106, 117, 125, 135 Joint 38–41 Justification 75 Justified 109

163

K

Kitchen 91, 92 Knowledge 14, 21, 37, 42, 46, 47, 49, 56–61, 68, 71, 72, 74, 77, 80, 89, 96, 97, 99, 102, 104, 117, 131, 132, 135 Krone, Charles 10–20

L

Labour 9, 13–17, 21, 96 Lacked 9, 11, 29 Language 9, 12, 13, 17–19, 21, 23, 39, 59, 110–112, 113–116, 133–135 Lawyer 4–6, 30, 59, 68, 73, 74, 111 Leadership 12, 23 Legitimates 26 Leisure 5, 26 Lewin, Kurt 87–90 Likert scale 104, 121 Linguistic 25, 27, 35, 48 Linked 16, 22, 27, 37, 46, 52, 60–61, 78, 80, 83, 91, 98, 139 Logical 49, 138

M

Management 4, 9–13, 14–18, 21–23, 25, 110–113, 121, 122, 125, 131–133, 135, 138 Market 9, 13, 21, 109 Matches 2, 68, 111 Mattered 4 Mental image 47, 137 Metaphysical 23, 47, 110–116, 125 Mindset 11, 132 Minimal 42, 46–50, 74, 83, 136, 137

164

Index

Mismatch 106, 119, 120 Mission 15 Modalities 80, 81, 115, 116, 121, 123, 126, 136 Morals 117, 118 Motivate 99 Motoric 77 Multidimensional 51 Municipality 2, 3, 29, 70 Murray, Henry 97–101, 109 Muscle 38, 40, 41 Musculoskeletal system 90, 137 Music 2, 103 Myers-Briggs test 23 Mystic 10, 12

N

Narrative 48, 67, 69–71, 100, 122, 126–129, 132 Narrowed 22 Necessary 10, 16–19, 23, 24, 28, 37, 41, 46, 50, 74, 93, 109, 110, 112, 128, 131 NEO-PI test 23 Neurophilosophy 31, 37, 46, 47, 131 Neuropsychology 30–38, 46, 48, 80, 89, 131 Norm 54, 137 Nurse 69

O

Occipital 39 Occupation 22, 31, 67, 74, 93, 97 Ontological 131 Operational 17, 18, 26, 48, 110, 135

Optimal 18, 84 Organizational identity 7, 70 Orientation 28, 53 Outside 3, 5, 6, 10–13, 22, 45, 46, 102 Overridden 60 Ownership 24, 29, 30, 36–38, 44, 46, 53, 79, 84, 110, 111, 118, 128, 132–134, 137

P

Parallels 20, 88 Parsons, Frank 87–90, 92, 101, 109 Partner 4, 72, 73 Pattern 21, 25, 59, 71, 74, 76, 80, 81, 104, 116, 121–125 People 2–4, 12, 16, 19, 21, 24, 46, 47, 51, 59, 60, 89, 96, 97, 100, 125, 132 Perceive 46, 127 Performance 1, 6, 11, 13, 14, 18, 22, 24–26, 29, 67, 78–80, 94, 125, 133, 136 Perplexed 15 Person 1, 6, 7, 35, 44–47, 49, 51, 52, 59, 60, 71, 76–83, 87–90, 91, 92, 95, 99, 106, 114, 118–122 Personal identity 6, 7, 9, 14–16, 22, 23, 29, 30, 51, 52, 54, 59–61, 69, 102–104, 111–112, 114, 121, 122, 125–127, 131–133, 136 Perspective 13, 15, 133 Phenomenal 25, 26, 47 Physical self 37, 47, 138 Picture 100, 101, 103 Plethora 15

Index

Portable 2 Potential 10–13, 14, 18, 22, 120, 133 Precedence 20, 133 Precise 12, 17, 37, 47, 52, 56, 119, 123, 136 Predict 14, 24, 77, 79, 87 Preferred 56, 58, 76–79, 97, 122, 127, 138 Pre-reflexive 49 Pressure 3, 99 Presupposed 27 Prevalence 21 Primary 22, 38, 39, 54, 59, 114 Priorities 6, 73 Privacy 4, 22 Problematic 6, 24 Professional 1, 2, 5–7, 14–16, 28, 67, 69, 73, 75, 83, 93, 95, 96, 104, 118 Progression 133 Prominent 21, 51–53, 59, 68, 73, 82, 104, 112–114, 117, 125 Psychogenetic 97, 98 Public 2, 21, 112 Pursuit 21

Q

Qualified 27

165

Receptionist 2, 5, 6, 29, 53, 69, 70, 76 Reckwitz, Andreas 14 Reconstruct 47, 54, 92 Recruitment 100 Reflect 47, 72, 81, 95, 110 Reflexive 49 Regret 55 Reinforce 42, 71 Relational side 71 Relationship 7, 13, 15, 24, 29, 37, 52, 68, 71, 76, 78, 79, 83, 87, 88, 90, 92, 99, 100, 102, 104, 117, 119, 121, 122, 126, 133, 136, 137 Reliability 106 Rely 3 Repertoire 10 Replaced 15, 20, 22 Repressed 49 Reputation 2, 3 Research 16, 26, 31, 37, 40, 48, 51, 69, 72, 73, 76, 78, 79, 90, 93, 98, 102, 106, 132 Response 6, 75, 100, 121 Restless 92 Retention 16, 84, 132–134 Return 11, 16, 30, 67 Rigid 14, 54, 55, 68, 112 Routine modality 81, 83 Rubber 44

R

S

Radically 22 Raises 38 Rationality 49, 135, 138 Realise 5, 6, 10, 77, 122 Reality 17–20, 21, 25, 42, 95

Sadomasochism 99 Salient 15, 53, 56, 58, 59, 61, 73, 81, 121–123, 126 Sameness 35 Santos, Henrik C. 14

166

Index

Satisfaction 29, 79, 92, 98, 132 Scared 4 Schemas 42, 52, 69–72, 132 Sectors 21, 22 Self-awareness 37, 47 Self-driven 25 Self-employed 1, 2 Self-experience 48 Self-reliant 102 Semantically 25 Sensation 38 Sense of agency (SoA) 36, 37, 42, 45, 128 Sense of ownership (SoO) 36–38, 42, 45, 46, 53, 73, 118–120 Service 2, 4, 5, 11, 21, 24, 93, 96 Sick 3, 84 Simulated 90 Singular 14–16, 19–20, 51, 110–111, 112, 113, 121, 122, 133 Slightly 10, 13 Soccer 2 Social-collective 69, 70, 72, 73, 83, 117, 119, 123, 126, 132, 139 Social psychology 31, 56, 57, 67 Sociocratic 25 Speech 55, 56 Spicer, André 23 Spinal cord 39, 40 Statistics 71 Sterile 16, 21 Stories 1, 4, 6, 48, 68, 76, 101 Stroked 44 Strong 12, 14, 16, 29, 30, 45, 58, 60, 61, 68, 74, 76, 78, 80, 111, 118–120, 128, 132, 133, 138 Struggle 7, 27, 28, 31, 76, 120

Students 4–6, 30, 59, 112, 133 Sub-identity 52–61, 68–79, 135, 137–139 Subjective 15, 19, 28, 52–54, 56, 67, 82, 87–90, 95, 96, 132–134, 136–138 Substitution 133 Successful 5, 10, 52, 96 Superordinate 58 Suppressed 21 Synchronized 75 Systematic 97, 103

T

Tacit 75, 135 Tasks 18, 26–30, 50, 59, 73, 77–80, 82–84, 97, 98, 101, 103–107, 117, 118 TAT test 97, 100, 101 Teams 1, 20, 67, 102 Telecommunications 9 Temporarily 11, 44 Tertiary 21, 22, 26 Thoughts 4, 16, 36, 47, 52, 137 Thrive 55, 76, 82, 93, 97, 100, 111, 126 Track 3, 13 Traditional 9, 13–15, 22, 133 Trained 1, 2, 69, 73 Traits 23, 25, 51, 52, 76, 77, 78–80, 81, 88–93, 106 Transformation 15, 22, 90, 133 Transition 9, 13, 28, 40, 109 Tremors 4 True potential 10 Typology 77, 78, 106

Index

167

U

W

Ultimately 40, 79, 84 Unaware 30, 40 Uncertainty 15, 28 Unclear 13, 20, 25–27, 112

Walking 12, 46 Weakening 133 Widely 24, 97, 101, 106 Work Identity vii–6, 9, 16, 21–24, 56–59, 74–76, 87, 97, 99–123, 125, 126, 128, 136, 137, 139 Work-oriented 114, 132, 133 Workplace 5, 6, 16–18, 21, 23, 56, 71, 72, 82, 114, 119, 127, 128, 133, 137

V

Varnum, Michael E.W. 14 Virtual 10, 45 Vocabular 12 Vocational 2, 22, 76, 79, 93, 109, 131–133 Vulnerable 28, 110

Z

Zero content 135 Zoomorphic 17