Professional identity: configuration process for leaders of non-governmental organizations

Abstract

Considering the new forms of relation between people and their work which emerge from social, political and economical changes resulting from the so called "post modernity", this research is characterized by narratives referring to personal life and professional career, the configuration of identity of non-governmental organization leaders, aiming to contribute to the expansion of repertoires of psychosocial comprehension that allow our reading of current realities of work in the Colombian context, which differ from work organizations of business type. Interviews made in four cities were deeply used, processed through content analysis and widened through the technique of narrative line, using a theoretical-methodological approach of narrative practices and the production of meaning in daily life. Five big stages along the personal and professional lives were detected, beginning at the positioning concept, which allowed us to outline the development of a career based on identifications, differentiation and ruptures all throughout the narrative of one's own life.