Psychology in Organizations: The Social Identity Approach

Citation

Holyoak, L. (2002), "Psychology in Organizations: The Social Identity Approach", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 23 No. 3, pp. 167-167. https://doi.org/10.1108/lodj.2002.23.3.167.1

In this book Alexander Haslam sets out to write about key organizational issues from a very different perspective. Rather than the individualist approach taken by most writers, he discusses organizational phenomena using group processes as the basis for explanation. In doing so he hopes to right the wrongs done to groups in organizations, where they are often seen as an unwelcome thing.

The first two chapters lay the groundwork: Chapter one re‐acquaints the reader with traditional paradigms for the study of organizations, such as Taylorism and the human relations approach; Chapter two introduces social identity theory. Perhaps introduces is not quite the right word as social identity theory has been around for many years. However, this might be the first time some students of organizational behaviour, who do not have a grounding in social psychology, will have come across it as it is rarely referred to in typical texts about organizations. Although quite lengthy and potentially quite dry, this chapter does its job in describing the theory, with the aid of useful examples.

Chapters three to ten cover separate topics: leadership; motivation and commitment; communication and information management; group decision making; intergroup negotiation and conflict management; power; group productivity and performance; and collective action and industrial protest. All follow the format of reviewing traditional approaches and then presenting the social identity approach to the area; and each finishes with a conclusion and useful suggestions for further reading. Some are much more enjoyable than others. Highlights for me were the ones covering leadership (where the social identity approach seemed particularly refreshing) and those on group decision making and collective action where the approach seemed so appropriate. Another reason for being impressed by the chapter on collective action was the novelty of fmding it covered in a text on organizational behaviour. I was less impressed by (for example) the chapter on communication, where although much of the material was reasonably familiar, the writing was sometimes just too full of jargon, making it difficult to follow.

The final chapter, dealing with the theory, practice and politics of organizations, is heartfelt, and ends the book on a stirring note. Rarely are the political issues touched on in textbooks, but students of this topic do need to set what they learn in context and be a little more sceptical about the claims of some authors.

Although I never dreaded picking this book up to carry on reading it, I do think it has some negative aspects. I did find it hard going at times, even on familiar topics The book’s presentation is austere: densely packed text and black and white figures only. The austerity, in itself, is not a problem, although the figures were sometimes difficult to interpret – distinguishing between shades of grey, and between pale shading and white page is not easy at times. I was also surprised at how battered‐looking the book became. Although it suffered no harder circumstances than any other book which has passed through my hands, it seemed to be on the verge of splitting into two by the time I got to Chapter seven. I should say that I had the paperback, which has probably been produced with the aim of keeping the costs low so that the intended audience of students can afford it. On the positive side, the book does achieve what it set out to do, and makes a convincing argument. The author also recognises that many of his readers will be unfamiliar with the theory and includes a useful glossary of terms (complementing that with a glossary of organizational terms for the social psychologists reading the book). It would be a worthwhile read for anyone who has been so immersed in individualist organizational theory that they have forgotten that organizations are not just about individuals, but about groups, and that being armed with an understanding of how groups work might make some of the situations they come across much less unexpected.