Clarifying organizational identity: The work of spirituality and the role of the consultant

Résumé 0

Defining the raison d’être of an organization is a founding act since it allows one to make sense of the company’s actions. This responsibility falls, first and foremost, on the members of the top management team (TMT), who are responsible, through the strategic directions they define, for ensuring that the organizational identity (OI) is rightly translated into actions. However, their awareness of OI is not always immediate and may require the help of a consultant to clarify it. This qualitative research is based on participant observation of consultants and researchers using a tool to reveal the singularity of their client companies and the results of thirty-five interviews of TMT members who participated in this exercise. It aims to detect the place of spirituality through the intermediary of the consultant in accessing meaning. The results show that TMT members are on an inner journey in deepening and aligning with what constitutes the singularity of their organization. In doing so, they can better define the framework for strategic and managerial action by formalizing the rational, emotional, and spiritual principles of management.