Organizational Symbolism Research Articles

Sociological Aspects of Organizational Symbolism

Sociological Aspects of Organizational Symbolism

Organizational Symbolism.

Organizational Symbolism.

Practical and Emancipatory Interests in Organizational Symbolism: A Review and Evaluation

The purpose of this article is to review and evaluate the contribution of the study of organizational symbolism to the larger study of organization. We adopt Habermas' (1971) epistemological framework for the paper. This framework describes knowledge creation in the service of three key human interests: the technical, the practical, and the emancipatory. The literature on organizational symbolism is evaluated in the light of the framework. The following questions are addressed: What is the potential of the study of organizations oriented by symbolism with respect to these interests, especially the practical and emancipatory? How successfully has any such potential been realized in inquiry to date? What might account for organizational researchers' degree of success/failure? How might the potential be achieved more fully?

Special Issue on Organizational Symbolism

Special Issue on Organizational Symbolism

Spinning on Symbolism: Some Developmental Issues in Organizational Symbolism

Spinning on Symbolism: Some Developmental Issues in Organizational Symbolism

Concepts of Culture and Organizational Analysis

Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the International Communication Association/Speech Communication Association Conference on Interpretive Approaches to Organizational Communication, Alta, Utah, July 1981, and the Eastern Academy of Management meetings, Baltimore, Maryland, May 1982. I would like to express special appreciation to Mike Pacanowsky and Linda Putnam for organizing the Interpretive Conference, which provided the impetus as well as encouragement for the development of these ideas. Thanks also to Gareth Morgan, Linda Pike, Lou Pondy, and Karl Weick for their various forms of inspiration. This paper examines the significance of the concept of culture for organizational analysis. The intersection of culturetheory and organization theory is evident in five current research themes: comparative management, corporate culture, organizational cognition, organizational symbolism, and unconscious processes and organization. Researchers pursue these themes for different purposes and their work is based on different assumptions about the nature of culture and organization. The task of evaluating the power and limitations of the concept of culture must be conducted within this assumptive context. This review demonstrates that the concept of culture takes organization analysis in several different and promising directions.

Organizational Symbolism: A Topic To Expand Organizational Analysis

Our basic purpose in this paper is twofold: (1) to call attention to “organizational symbolism,” an important aspect of all institutions that has been virtually ignored, and (2) to suggest questions for a comprehensive research program for studying this topic.

Organizational Symbolism: A Topic to Expand Organizational Analysis

Organizational Symbolism: A Topic to Expand Organizational Analysis