The module aims to provide students with the opportunity to study in-depth the relationship between employees’ and managers’ sense of self, wellbeing and their understandings of, and behaviours in, organisational cultural environments. Identity and identification processes have been the subject of much academic debate following increased recognition that (i) how organisations inform employee self-identity is changing because of global economic and political developments and (ii) individual and group-based identifications are strong mediators of organisational effectiveness and develop different meanings in different cultural contexts. The module aims to explore these issues at organisational, sectoral, national and international levels. A further aim is to examine recent developments in the investigation of identity and culture in relation to well-being, not least in the context of remote work, of proliferating virtual identities and of the blurring of boundaries betwe en the public and private realms. Finally, the module content bridges themes discussed in ULMS151 Organisations and Management and in ULMS366 Critical Perspectives in Management.

(LO1) Students will be able to describe and critically evaluate the contrasting theoretical perspectives on identity and identification;

(LO2) Students will be able to explain how organisational strategies and decision-making processes are mediated by individual and group identities;

(LO3) Students will be able to critically interrogate the implications of organisational initiatives in terms of their impact on employee sense of self and wellbeing and manager self-identities

(LO4) Students will be able to outline how and why organisational, regional and inter/national contextual differences inform identities at work.

(S1) Organisational skills

(S2) Communication skills

(S3) IT skills

(S4) International awareness

(S5) Lifelong learning skills

(S6) Ethical awareness

Teaching Method: Lecture
Scheduled Directed Student Hours: 24
Attendance Recorded: Yes

Teaching Method: Seminar
Scheduled Directed Student Hours: 6
Attendance Recorded: Yes

Self-Directed Learning Hours: 120

Skills/Other Attributes Mapping

Skills / attributes: Ethical awareness
How this is developed: Throughout the module, via lectures, seminars and independent study
Mode of assessment (if applicable)

Skills / attributes: Lifelong learning skills
How this is developed: An analytical understanding and reflective awareness of the practice of identity work and of its implications in terms of wellbeing will be enhanced through lectures, seminars and independent study, as well as through reflection upon one’s own experience as the course unfolds
Mode of assessment (if applicable) Assignment 1

Skills / attributes: International awareness
How this is developed: Through continued engagement with cultural and intercultural issues in relation to identity work in a variety or sectors and contexts in lectures and seminars
Mode of assessment (if applicable): Assessment 2

Skills / attributes: IT skills
How this is developed: Students’ ability to research academic resources using the library interface and databases as developed in their independent study, as well as engagement with learning materials provided on Canvas
Mode of assessment (if applicable): Assessment 1

Skills / attributes: Communication skills
How this is developed: through engagement with the key concepts, authors and perspectives discussed in lectures and tutorials, and introduced in the core and further reading provided as part of the course, as well as students’ ability to build an analytical argument in their assessed work
Seminars and independent study
Mode of assessment (if applicable): Assessment 1 and Assessment 2

Skills / attributes: Organisational skills
Ho w this is developed: Through continued critical engagement with the workings of identity in organizational contexts and its implications in terms of managing subjects at work in lectures and seminars as well as independent study. Students’ independent organisation and management will also be reflected in their lecture attendance, coursework writing and by meeting deadlines
Mode of assessment (if applicable): Assessment 1

Theoretical perspectives on identity, identification and wellbeing at work;

The changing nature of identity;

Organisational culture, language and representation;

Occupational and professional identifications;

Identity, rationality and employment wellbeing;

Performing identities at work;

Identity work in organisational and sectoral context: fragmentation, possible dilemmas and conflicts;

Virtual identities;

Inter-cultural factors, identity and difference: which impact on employee wellbeing;

New approaches to identity and wellbeing at work.