ABSTRACT
Organizational identity and memory are critical concepts for theory, research, and practice in organizations. Identity and memory are “two of the most frequently used terms in public and private discourse, though their status as key words is relatively recent” (Gillis, 1994, p. 3). Gillis noted that “the parallel lives of these two terms alert us to the fact that the notion of identity depends on the idea of memory, and vice versa” (Gillis, 1994, p. 3). What is remembered is defined by identity, and remembering sustains identity. Whether defined as a noun or as a verb, these concepts and their relationships are usually considered to be socially constructed and embedded or influenced by gender, power, class, and other contextual features. Through their great popularity, both concepts may be losing any precise definitions or meaning and becoming clichés (Gillis, 1994).
