Constructing Insight Logic over Competing Logics

This type of identity work refers to constructing a separate organisational principle that re-scaffolds the competing logics inherent in the hybridity. Doing so is to ensure that the contradictions can be mitigated or superseded by alternative factor(s) that is deemed important by Insight members in a given situation. Such a guiding logic of action is conceptualised as Insight logic for the purpose of the analysis.

One outcome of crafting the hybrid template is that the organisational targets have been aligned to the professional objectives through a sensegiving process (6.2.1). However,

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this is not to say the former is equal to the latter. As a newborn enterprise, the for-profit side of Insight inevitably introduces challenges of maintaining financial sustainability.

As such, professionalism is only part of the overall organisational discourse and it is mainly intended for practitioners outside Insight. To the internal management team, economic demands seem to be more imminent and therefore remains to be of greater concern. This is when the claimed standard-raising work is temporarily ‘put aside’ or

“pursued in the long-run” [A-Mng-3]. Such pragmatic decisions prevailed in the initial development of Insight. According to the Director, Insight had a very humble beginning.

Founders only used sessional interpreters to administer bookings when they are not doing interpreting jobs. Flexible employment helps the company to keep its operational costs to a minimum.

Before we worked from home. It’s not a job that they can work 9 to 5, it’s all

‘asked and when’. I’ve chosen to do in such a way that, I want it to have a long hold, so from the very beginning it’s very much about watching the money very carefully. [A-Director]

The legacy of “watching the money very carefully” underpins the commercial aim of Insight which is to “increase their market share through tendering for all appropriate contracts” [A-Mng-2], though this has been less emphasised to the outsiders. Such an aim seems to somehow stain the noble ideal of Insight at the first glance, since it drives towards the “dirty competition route” [A-Director] that they set out to oppose, making it less different from the mainstream agencies; however, were it not aiming for the contract, Insight would struggle to survive and flourish, not to mention introducing any field-level changes. This was described as the “chicken-and-egg situation” in the words of the Director:

The impact of procurement on small business is absolutely phenomenal. It favours bigger company, and we all know what bigger company is like in PSI.

This puts us in jeopardy because if we can’t get bigger contract, we can’t grow.

If we don't grow we won’t have that kind of financial standing and track record to get even bigger contract, a chicken-and-egg situation for us. [A-Director]

Using Insight logic can arguably bring this “vicious circle” to a halt: managers’ immediate goal is to gain a firm foothold here and now, as opposed to something that can be achieved in the long-run. The adopting of such a reflective stance is also manifested in the strategy of “sorting our own house first”:

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The government doesn't want to listen at the moment. I do have a view that we actually need to sort our own house first. If we get ourselves sorted, then we have much more credibility and clout when talking about what we are doing and why we are doing this. [A-Director]

Here Insight logic is applied to justify their participation in the tendering process, the result of which is perceived as a spring board for Insight to eventually influence the government policy. “To get bigger contract”[A-Mng-3] thus articulates a hybrid identity involving both resisting and accepting the dominant logic. As noted in the field diary,

“this indicated a strategic shift towards a more flexible and tactful approach to effect changes” [jnl].

Identity work is also performed through the interaction between managers and practising interpreters. Insight insists on a “non-agency” approach in an attempt to oppose the prevalent industrial practice, calling for interpreters’ understanding of “why we do things our way”[A-Director]. Managers sell the idea that Insight is “transparent and approachable”, “efficient and effective” and “open to communication”[web], which stands in contrast with the conglomerate agencies who are “notorious for imposing unpleasant working conditions”[A-Mng-1]. A typical experience with these agencies can be:

The problem with agencies is they don't respect our profession. They scan a certificate and then everything goes to their folders, and then I don't get any job.

Later I learned someone who doesn’t have a diploma, work without asking for travel costs. Nowadays, you can’t really negotiate… they can’t help because they don't know your language problems. Except for Insight, I think Linda [the Director] is the only person I could ask because she’s been working in this field for so many years. For other agencies, no way. They are not trained interpreters there. Most of them are doing management work [B-Int-5].

Most saliently, managers enrich the identity concept by dedicating to “building the team”

and “making sure each interpreter is valued and fairly treated” [doc]. Unlike mainstream agencies where candidates “are only asked to upload copies of certificates online before

‘getting sent’ to assignments” [B-Int-7], members of Insight try to build rapport with the workforce, said by the Director:

I don't want a thousand names on our books. That’s not the type of agency we are, and we need to know every single person who is working for us and I want

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everyone to have some sort of opportunity to work, and have some sort of relationship with us, and feel that they belong to us, somehow. [A-Director]

In the observations, through sharing workload (“some sort of opportunity to work”) and bonding with interpreters (“some sort of relationship with us”), Insight is creating a sense of belonging for their interpreters so that a collective identification with the organisation can be forged (see also 6.4.3). Insight’s approach is commonly recognised by the freelance interpreters who work for multiple agencies. 15 interviewees all spoke highly of Insight’s approachable style and expressed a unique experience with the managerial staff. One informant expressed:

I really respect the values of Insight, sort of support, care, very friendly. They know how to organize training and they do it great. They are the exception…Very different. I don't feel exploited by Insight, and I have no respect for other agencies really. [B-Int-10]

In particular, members actively ‘tie up with’ interpreters to plan and manage different functionalities of the business. According to the Director, Insight has “not recruited external people for anything” and members of the management team are “kind of our interpreters with an additional role” [B-Director]:

So you’ve got people dealing with booking, administration, supporting the operation for Insight; Jessica who is leading the DPSI course, Mike helps us with marketing, and Rachel is ‘on loan’ to our partner HC to deal with recruitment stuff so that we can get going.

In this sense, Insight established itself as an enterprise ‘owned’ and run by interpreters, which enables interpreters to have their voice heard in the management process of interpreting work. Although it is undeniable that such arrangements have been so because they are financially viable, the participatory approach works effectively to enhance group cohesion and identity building. Evidence can be observed from interpreters’

communication with the management team. Some of them are found to have strong identification with Insight, as reflected in an apology email from an interpreter⁸:

Dear XX [the Director],

8 Some parts have been modified or omitted for confidentiality reasons.

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First of all, please accept my apologies for the situation that should not have happened at all.

You must be aware how important it is for me to complete your expectations and requirements that, I hope, I have been showing you for over a year now.

Today's situation went out of my control as, you are right, I took too much on my back, hoping I would still be able to have my cake and eat it.

My definite fault is that I should … let you know that as early as you could cover me there.

On way to XX [the job location] I was doing my best to avoid letting you down...

I do understand the issue regarding the network of hospital, partnership and us, as I still find myself as a member of our team.

Today's lesson is very important for me, as much as do hope I will not let you down again. [email]

The field notes recorded my immediate impression after reading the above: “between the lines revealed a self-confession expressed in an utmost apologetic and regretful tone. For [Interpreter A] the completion of the organisational expectations matters a lot because Insight becomes more than a mere job provider, but a community in which he feels part of it”. The fear of losing his share of the “cake” and “letting [the Director] down” reflects his strong attachment to the “team”. In another case, Interpreter B would rather identify herself as an “employee” instead of being an independent contractor:

I am terribly sorry for putting you in a position where one of your employees not showing up! I would do my very best not to have something like that happening ever again and would certainly make it a point to keep better track of the jobs I agree to take! [doc]

This demonstrates how interpreters position themselves differently in their employment relationship with Insight. When individual self-concept is shared and defined by the collective identity, their role as a solo practitioner becomes less distinct, resulting in a growing interdependence between the profession and the organisations. Identity work is finally epitomised in the consistent pursuit of better skills and service quality by Insight professionals. Reliant on their own expertise, managers have established some foundation training structures to facilitate CPD for “people that are part of Insight, because by doing so we become better interpreters” [A-Mng-3]. One mechanism worth

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mentioning is the built-in membership subscription that lends support to interpreters’

professional development. While the purpose is to encourage interpreters to adhere to the required standards, the agenda is also to strengthen their collective identity. In the words of the Training Officer:

We don't want to charge because it is a resource that we want to make available… if you charge, you can potentially open up to other people. If not it can be reserved for our own interpreters exclusively. And that would be the part of the benefits for working for Insight. [A-Mng-3]

In this way, working for Insight becomes the only precondition for accessing knowledge, which works quite differently from major associations that charge membership fees periodically. By ‘trademarking’ the module and patent the ‘hidden benefits’, insiders are authorised to have exclusive access to organisational resources, meaning interpreters outwith Insight are automatically excluded from sharing the knowledge. In this way, Insight’s organisational distinctiveness is reinforced, and managers are able to monitor individuals’ self-learning process.

However, Insight is after all not a training school. The pursuit of elitism via identity work is laborious and requires both financial and human-resource investment, quoting the Director’s comment: “there is a limit on how much I want to help and how much I can help” [A-Director, author’s emphasis]. The observations suggest that managers still find themselves mired in the capacity gridlock when nurturing their improvement culture. The inherently contradictory logics are not wiped out but vigilantly, temporarily downplayed by managers using their Insight logic. For example, one of the drawbacks to involving interpreters in the daily operation is that “no one is actually as full-time as the Director”, who frankly admitted that there is “not many human resources to really support”, and

“It’s very difficult to keep up with this” due to the large number of registered interpreters:

The kind of support I talk about is me. I describe lots of situations that might possibly appear in the appointment, tell them what to study, email them some links about the information, and then check on them afterwards, how’s going on…After that they know they need to do homework; if they have any problems they need to report back. [B-Director]

Behind the surface reality, Insight’s commercial obligations still put its claimed professionalism at risk, because to materialise quality assurance procedure requires expertise as well as corporate capacity. Nonetheless, Insight logic constitutes a coping

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strategy to combat the multiple sources of institutional pressure. It allows organisational actors to improvise responses to the competing logic demands and seek opportunities for change in a compromising position.