Analyze Amway

Managing

Identification

amongamong

Amway

Distributors

Purpose of Study

� To examine the practices and processes of

creating members’ organizational identity.

� How success and failures of these practices

lead to various identification

types….positive, negative, or ambivalent?

Methods

Data Collection:

-Semi-over participant

observation

-Interviews

-Previous research

Findings

Corporate

Culture

Corporate Culture

� necessity for strong “corporate culture” in

modern businesses to help act as a control

mechanism

� A way to manage their workforce without

the usual means of daily supervision and

traditional deference cues

People say that we brainwash people.

That’s true. We are talking about brainwashing

– to help make you all more positive more positive more positive more positive people!”

-Amway speaker

How does Amway promote its company

values and goals?

Dream building

Helping

DistributorsDistributors

to

set personal

and sales goals

Positive programming

Helping distributors

surround themselves with

uplifting and supportive

peoplepeople

Sense Breaking

• Disrupting or questioning an individual’s sense of

self to create a ‘meaning’ void that must be filled

• This is done with the Amway practice of dream

building

Dream Building

New distributors are asked to

decide what their dream is and

why they are doing this

+ Material wealth

+ Freedom

+ Family

+ Lifestyle

By customizing a dream scenario

for each new distributor they create a

sense of choice, familiarity, and emotion.

This causes distributors to

be very enthusiastic and

excited about their work,

and is known as

“HOT”.“HOT”.“HOT”.“HOT”.“HOT”.“HOT”.“HOT”.“HOT”.

Building a New IdentityLinking One’s Sense of Self to PossessionsLinking One’s Sense of Self to PossessionsLinking One’s Sense of Self to PossessionsLinking One’s Sense of Self to Possessions

Building a New Identity

– Possessions serve as extensions of one’s self-concept

– Dreams represent the things that one wants to achieve or have in life

Building a New Identity

Creating Motivational Drives for Meaning:

– Get out of your comfort zone Get out of your comfort zone Get out of your comfort zone Get out of your comfort zone – “what you currently have is not good enough… you need to change to achieve your dreams”

The Continuous Dream

Perpetuating the motivational drive for meaning


“When a dream comes true, always replace it with a bigger dream”with a bigger dream”


dreams represent their ideal selves

and their current dissatisfactions

Positive Programming

Establish relationships

that are supportive and nourishing.


3 Interrelated Steps:# Establishing a relationship with a mentor


3 Interrelated Steps:#Creating relationship barriers via revaluing


3 Interrelated Steps:#Enacting relationship barriers

Relationship with Mentor

Find a mentor

who will

help you

become become

more positive


Mentors

provide

economic economic

and

emotional

support


“help distributors

understand

who they are and who they are and

who they should be

in organizational

terms”

Relationship Barriers

Mentors help

insulate

members from members from

the negative

opinions of

non-members


Create barriers

compare ideal Amwaycompare ideal Amway

relationships with

other relationships


Encapsulation :

process where group members

are kept separate from non-members


Social: creation of strong in-group bonds

while structuring daily life to avoid meeting

outsiders

Ideological: an organization’s belief system

buffers a member from external threats or

attacks – avoid contact with non-supporters


Perpetuating Relationship Barriers

“Distributors were often encouraged to try to sponsor

family members and friends first

before attempting to sponsor strangers.

This allowed them to learn firsthand whether family and friends really loved them and wanted to support them economically”

Distributors try to avoid non-members

because of encapsulation



Family and friends (non-members) try to avoid distributors

because they see them as taking advantage

of existing relationships for economic gain

Encapsulate

sense-makingSense BreakingSense BreakingSense BreakingSense BreakingDream BuildingDream BuildingDream BuildingDream Building

1-Creating Motivational

drive

2-Link one’s sense of

self to posession

Seekership

YesYesYesYes

NoNoNoNo

Sense GivingSense GivingSense GivingSense GivingPositive ProgrammingPositive ProgrammingPositive ProgrammingPositive Programming

1-Build Relationship with

Mentor

2-Creating relationship

barrier via revaluing

YesYesYesYes

NoNoNoNo

Positive

ID

Sense making with

Managing Identification

self to posession

3-Enacting for

motivation drive for

meaning

Failure to identify or

De-identification

barrier via revaluing

3-Enacting & perpetuating

relationship barrier

Failure to identify or

De-identification

Sense making with

non-member

YesYesYesYes

Sense making with

insider & outsider

Ambivalent ID

[conflicting feelings]

YesYesYesYes

Positive IdentificationSuccessful sensebreaking

(dream building) – distributors

were dissatisfied with who they were.

Successful sensegiving

(positive programming) – distributors

Positive Identification

(positive programming) – distributors

worked with upline mentors to resolve

their discontent

Broken

Identification

sensebreaking fails

-members likely to deidentify

stop feeling uncomfortable stop feeling uncomfortable

with their current lives and

no longer wish to

“pursue their dreams”

Broken Identification

Not motivated to seek out advise from upline

and they didn’t want to abandon their

current “inadequate” identities

Ambivalent Identification [conflict]

Both sensebreaking and sensegiving were successful

Ambivalent Identification

Need to achieve dreams

and maintain close ties

with upline members

creates positive identification

Ambivalent Identification

Do not cut themselves off from their non-member friends

Anti Amway advice from non-members creates negative identification

Managing Identification

If members are not seeking, then they will either

fail to identify, or will ultimately deidentify

with the organization.

MAKE YOUR

{ID}

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Analyze Amway