Communication · Executive Insight Brief · 084
Change the system of recognition
Identity problems persist when personal, enacted, relational, and communal meanings point in different directions
Premise
Organizations often diagnose identity problems too narrowly. A leader is told to project confidence, an employee is urged to see herself differently, or a demographic label is treated as a complete account of who someone is. Communication Theory of Identity shows that identity is located across self-concept, communication, relationships, and collective meaning.
For executives, the implication is practical: changing an individual’s mindset may accomplish little when meetings, roles, feedback, or institutional categories keep assigning a different identity. The first leadership task is to identify which layer is producing the mismatch.
What the model is: Communication Theory of Identity in Knowledge →
Continue in the series
- The essential model
- Why this matters
- Risks and limits
- Executive takeaway
- Key questions
- Selected sources
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- FamilyModel
- CategoryTheories & Explanatory Models
- DomainConversation & Relationships
What these mean
Editorial orientation · Family
Model
In this series, Model names the editorial family primarily used to understand and explain communication: theories, frameworks, effects, traditions, principles and other conceptual resources. It is an umbrella for a route into the field, not a claim that every included object is a predictive model.
Editorial orientation · Category
Theories & Explanatory Models
Explains how or why a communication process works by relating mechanisms, conditions or variables. Its value is an account that can guide inquiry into what produces an outcome, rather than a name for the outcome alone.
- KnowledgeCommunication Theory of Identity
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- Key conceptAuthenticity
- Key conceptCode-Switching
- Key conceptOrganizational Identity