Somos o que fazemos...

Quem somos?
.
Para uma empresa, como é que cada um responderia à pergunta: Quem somos?
.
Uma empresa não é um edifício, não é um conjunto de máquinas... será uma vontade? E há uma vontade ou umas vontades?
.
Como é que um colectivo se revê e identifica? E por que é que isso é importante? E como isso funciona como uma regra de decisão, como um facilitador ou um limitador?
.
Interessante artigo "Innovation strategy and identity: A case study from the food industry" de Thomas Hoholm e Fred Hjalmar Stronen, publicado pelo  European Journal of Innovation Management em Junho de 2011.
.
"Identity can be used as an explanation for why some actions are deemed to be strategic while others are not, hence enforcing or limiting innovation. We find that identity needs to be considered both as a ‘soft’ and a ‘hard’ concept in the process; providing stability while at the same time being up for re-negotiation. By understanding strategizing and innovating as situated and heterogeneous processes, we identify how identity becomes a stabilizer and an organizer during emergent strategy processes, and reveal tensions between creative recombination and conservative reproduction."
...
"These two examples show how both new product development and taking on an existing product may challenge the existing view on what the members construct as the firm’s identity.
...
New products, whether innovations or established products in other markets, were considered strategic or nonstrategic related to the identities of professions (product developers, chefs, marketers, management), of owners (farmers’ cooperative), of consumers (brand associations) and of industrial production  (production facilities). By looking at the product ingredients and their connotations, the product was viewed by the different groups as completely different."
...
"From the insight in these two cases, identity could be conceptualized as both a ‘hard’ and a ‘soft’ concept. Identity is hard, as it represents history and is embedded and stabilized both by material and social relations (physical facilities, technologies, work practices, economic interests, etc). It materializes in various situations, being something the actors really believe in and guiding interpretation and action in various specific everyday situations. But identity is also a soft concept, as identities are continuously fluctuating and under negotiation, thus never fully stable. Identities, as well as the balance between multiple identities, change between situations, between individuals and groups, and between professions. What we can see is how the same persons in these two stories relate to different identities, and thereby draw on various interpretations and negotiations of what the strategy is, depending on each specific context and situation."
...
"Identity in an organization forms the basis of how they regard the appropriateness of potential future actions.
...
Individuals form their sensemaking and their ideas on what is legitimate in various based on their identities."
.
E conjugar este artigo com:
.
Nós não conhecemos a realidade, nós só conhecemos a nossa interpretação da realidade.
.
E ainda, conjugar com "What Business Are You In? Business As Social Constructs" um excelente artigo que chama a atenção para a importância da nossa construção da realidade:
.
"In a company, the business model is defined by a dominant group of people. They have a common understanding of what business they are in and how they create value. However, the business model is not an absolute reality. It’s a social construct of dominant opinion makers, e.g. your top management. This is important to understand.

By taking a different look (Moi ici: Parece fácil... mas para quem está dentro, para quem está embebido numa identidade... é tão difícil) at your business, and thereby challenging your dominant logic, you can identify more and different strategic options for your firm"
.
Para mudar temos de ser capazes de simultaneamente, na mesma mente, trabalhar com o que somos e com o que temos de vir a ser.