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At any moment, organizations may face a range of crises, from global pandemics and economic depressions to business catastrophes -- all of which can strain operational processes and performance (Wright et al., 2020; Williams et al., 2017). Research suggests that crises can also engender positive organizational growth, learning, and identity (Fink et al., 1971), which may trickle down to the group and individual levels. However, the dynamics underpinning the interplay of organizational-, group-, and individual-level shifts in meaning of work amidst "a backdrop of change and 'outside' elements" (Cheney & Thompkins, 1987: 5) remain largely underexplored. Research that addresses meaning of work in times of crisis and change not only helps to close this gap, but also enables scholars to understand when and why thriving (vs. decline) amidst crisis occurs. This symposium brings together five field-based investigations to focus on the interplay of individual, group, and organizational dynamics around the meaning of work in the context of crisis. First, Jiang and Cho quantitatively examine the macro effects of a societal level crisis and how a societal crisis can trigger a personal one in terms of individuals' meaning of work; in particular, they uncover that one's meaning of work can be temporarily unsettled by an external, societal-level crisis. Second, Gorges explores people's experiences of downshifting--defined as a voluntary long-term change to spend less time on work and more time on leisure--following a large global crisis, namely, the COVID-19 pandemic. Third, Eun examines how callings are expressed in crises, such as the COVID-19 crisis, illuminating not only the prevailing prosocial nature of callings, but also revealing work orientations as an important input to crisis behaviors. Fourth, Sala considers the effects of occupational level threats and how they affect individuals' sense of self and meaning. Finally, Rocheville and colleagues unpack the effects of individual-level crises in illuminating how workers in chronic pain create and/or sustain a positive meaning of work. Sally Maitlis, a distinguished scholar of how people make sense of challenges and trauma at work in meaningful ways, will serve as the discussant to highlight both theoretical and practical implications as well as future research directions. Crisis within a Crisis: The Destabilizing Effect of Societal Crises on Individual Work Orientation Author: Winnie Jiang; INSEAD Author: Yuna Cho; HKU Business School, The U. of Hong Kong Downshifting: A Voluntary Career Shift to Reduce Work Hours Author: Megan Gorges; Harvard Business School Putting Callings to the Test: Prosocial Behaviors in a Crisis Associated with Calling Orientations Author: Eunice Eun; Yale School of Management Out of Service? Individual Experiences of an Occupational Identity Existential Threat Author: Gabriel Robert Sala; Northeastern U. Chronic Pain as a Crisis: The Role of Work-Body Ideologies in Sustaining Positive Meaning of Work Author: Kimberly Rocheville; Creighton U. Author: Elana Feldman; UMass Lowell Author: Beth Schinoff; Boston College Author: Njoke Thomas; Boston College [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the core of "creating a better world together" is being able to work side by side, acknowledging our differences and embracing the strengths and challenges of a diverse and inclusive workplace. Recent events have shown how important diversity and inclusion is to societies and organizations: one can still hear the voices echoing in the growing social movements related to #BlackLivesMatter, #TimesUp, #MeToo, and others reminding us that the work of diversity and inclusion is only beginning. Events in the last several years alone have forced organizations to rethink diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, leading in some cases to radical policy and practice changes. Our symposium has two goals: investigate differences in sources of diversity through a set of theoretical and empirical papers; and discussing the possible connections and overlaps between findings to push the boundaries of the diversity and inclusion literature. * Ideal workers and ideal bodies: How workers in pain navigate stigma in an able-bodied workplace * Presenter: Kimberly Rocheville; Creighton U. * Presenter: Elana Feldman; UMass Lowell * Understanding the experiences of formerly incarcerated jobseekers with employment reentry programs * Presenter: Audrey Holm; Boston U. * 'Talking about my Generation': Generational labels and Meaningful work * Presenter: Gabriel Robert Sala; Boston College * Presenter: Greg Fetzer; U. of Liverpool * A Proud Struggle? Alternative Pathways to Professional Dignity Amidst Occupational Inequality * Presenter: Tomi Koljonen; U. of Liverpool * Presenter: Joona Koistinen; Aalto U. School of Business [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizations and their members frequently face extra-organizational crises of various magnitudes. While several bodies of literature have focused on how individuals react to crises that occur within one's organization, we know less about how crises that are external to a given organization influence internal dynamics. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic has made evident, external crises can shape not only the type of work people may be able to pursue, but also how they may go about doing it, including how they see themselves and relate to others. In the proposed symposium, we ask a group of esteemed panelists to reflect on their work to discuss the various ways in which extra-organizational crises may influence individuals' work identities, relationships, as well as their organizing efforts, within established firms or entrepreneurial ventures. We then follow this with general thoughts from a discussant and a subsequent Q&A with the audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This year's Academy of Management theme is "broadening our sights." An important lens through which people perceive and make sense of their organizational environment is through the interactions and relationships that they have with other people at work. Work in organizations is inherently relational (Blustein, 2011), and people have an intrinsic need to connect with each other (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Scholars have even argued that interpersonal relationships "are the foundation and theme of life" (Reis, Collins, & Berscheid, 2000, p. 844). Indeed, individuals' interpersonal interactions and relationships shape many aspects of their work lives, from how they see themselves and their work, to their workplace attitudes and &behaviors (Sluss & Ashforth, 2007, 2008; Ashforth, Schinoff, & Rogers, 2014; Dutton & Ragins, 2007), to how they collaborate or compete with each other (Ballinger & Rockman, 2010; Garrett, Spreitzer & Bacevice, 2017). Despite these important consequences of relationships at work, the question of what relationships actually are has been a surprisingly elusive question in organizational studies. There seems to still be an "absence of a precise and widely used definition of relationships, as well as a paucity of systematic theory construction based on a commonly accepted definition of relationships" (Broom, Casey, & Ritchey, 1997: 7). Building on this point, there is very little work diving into the process of how individuals go from strangers to being in a relationship at work and how relationships evolve or persist over time. Given the paucity of theory in this area, we would like to bring together a group of experts on relationships, high-quality connections and emotions to address the foundations and dynamics of relationships and their evolution over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theme of this year's Academy is "Broadening our Sight." Broadening our sight involves getting a new view on the theories and the methods we use. Firsthand experiences, as provided by participant-observation methods, are a great source of learning and a way to broaden our sight by looking at an organizational phenomenon through the "eyes" of the informants (Douglas, 1976; Pratt, Lepisto & Dane, 2018). Several scholars (see call for papers in Academy of Management Review by Haveman, Mahoney & Mannix, 2019) in the management field have stressed the importance of going into the field to get a better understanding of how people in organizations deal with current issues and thus get a fresh look at possibly outdated & theories (Pratt & Rouse, forthcoming). This symposium's purpose it to offer a new perspective on how the researcher can take actions in their work, and what participating in the contexts we study can bring to qualitative work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although both established as fields in their own right, meaningful work (Rosso, Dekas, & Wrzesniewski, 2010; Lepisto & Pratt, 2017) and identity (Ashforth, Rogers, & Corley, 2011; Petriglieri & Obodaru, 2018) are inextricably linked; both drive important outcomes in organizations. In spite of these close connections, however, very little empirical or theoretical work has attempted to theorize the separate but interacting roles of identity and meaningfulness. For example, work on callings (Schabram & Maitlis, 2017) and organizational identification (Ashforth & Mael, 1989; Pratt, 1998) have provided two tentative pathways for how meaningful work and identity can be connected. Nevertheless, several theoretical questions remain: how are meaningfulness and identity linked? Is identity a necessary part of meaningfulness (or vice versa)? What mechanisms link the two? We would like to bring together researchers on identity and meaningful work to address this intersection. The purpose of this panel symposium is to engage a group of illustrious panelists in a discussion around (1) panelists' interpretation of how one might influence the other or be a necessary condition; (2) challenges in linking these two concepts; (3) possible avenues for research theoretically and empirically - e.g. measurement, quantitative, qualitative research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]