Organizational Becoming as Dialogic Imagination of Practice: The Case of the Indomitable Gauls
通过一家专业服务公司18年的案例，研究身份建构与组织发展的关系，提出组织生成是实践的对话性想象，并识别出三种想象形式。
This paper explores the relationship between authoring of identities and organizational development through a case study of the 18-year history of a professional service firm. Drawing from process theory, narrative psychology, and practice approaches to identity, I outline a perspective on organizational becoming as dialogic imagination of practice. Conceived as such, authoring takes place as a continuous stream of suggestions of what practice is, has been, and could be, simultaneously addressing life enrichment and organizational development. Three forms of imagination of practice are identified as central in the development of the case organization: (1) the instantiating of project experiences as identity exemplars; (2) a powerful dramatizing of trajectories of practice, exemplified by use of the metaphor of the “Indomitable Gauls;” and (3) a subsequent reframing instigated by discontinuous changes in dominant activity sets. The three authoring forms are discussed in relation to organizational development and adaptation. Implications include increased attention to forward-looking authoring motives and hope, a reformulation of the identity question from “who are we?” to “what are we doing?” and a possible location of practices as belonging to stories beyond that of the organization.