# Identification and Aspiration By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2022-10-04 Working provides one with many vantage points to assess oneself and one’s goals. Within organizations, there is potential tension between one’s identifications and one’s aspirations. This tension is perhaps the most pronounced when one becomes a first-level supervisor. In that position, assuming one was promoted from within the ranks of the organization, one was previously colleagues with those that one now supervises. It is not uncommon for one to identify with those workers. Simultaneously, one was recently promoted and could reasonably aspire for further advancement within the organization. Directionally, one might identify down and aspire up. This can be a source of internal and organizational conflict. Managers have a multitude of responsibilities. Two responsibilities of management are to implement directed actions (from above) and to care for the workforce (below). This works great when the direction from above is to care for those below. When it isn’t, one must decide the degree to which one’s identification or aspiration will determine the course of action selected. Sometimes, what is good for the workforce isn’t beneficial for oneself. This can be seen directly in periods of pronounced inflation. When workers’ wages are not adjusted for inflation, they end up making less money in real terms. Assuming the organization adjusts its prices in response to inflation, this creates a situation in which the organization makes more money since they have effectively reduced the real wages of its employees. A manager likely understands this dynamic. In fact, a manager might receive a real wage increase if one is willing to reduce employee wages. What is one to do? One can do what corporate wants because it is aspirational, one can do what corporate wants because it is financially beneficial, or one can try to protect those whom one manages. Such decisions are never easy. Existential questions of identity and aspiration provide contours of who one becomes. Working and managing reflect these dynamics in sharp relief. Central to existentialist philosophy is the view that the individual decides and that there is really nothing outside the individual to legitimate the selection. Management is often isolating because it is dominated by these existential decisions. #### Related Items [[Management]] [[Identity]] [[Existential]] [[Work]] [[Isolation]]