Amy Wrzesniewski
J. E. Dutton
G. Debebe

In recent years, organizational scholars have renewed their interest in organizational identities. Occurences of multiple identities within organizations and the emergence of hybrid identities have been reported. Because such identities sometimes conflict, attempts to resolves these tensions through either separation or combiantion of these identities have been suggested. Discussions on the resolution process have however focused more on high-level managers or board members than regular organizational members. This paper deals with the lived experience b regular organizational members of hybrid organizational identities and aims to understand the interplay between these experiences and identities. The field setting for this study is a French non-profit organization with a fairly high percentage of entry-level "regular" members (78%). A combination of interview data (N1=22), field observations, a longitudinal survey upon entry and exit (N2=34), and archival analysis were used to assess institutiona identities, lived experiences and organizational identification levels. These data show that if a hybrid institutional identity is a relevant concept, individual experiences point towards a detangling of these identities at the individaul level. Whereas high-level managers might attempt to combine identities, regular members may stick to a chosen identity. Moreover, hybrid identities send conflicting signals to members that limit their engagement and dilute the overall effectivenss of the organization in its ability to foster strong identification with both the organization and its mission. Ultimatel, functional hybrid identitites might be more of a managerial hope than an integrated reality for members.