Studying Organizational Symbolism: What, How, Why? (Qualitative Research Methods)

The author discusses the most obvious symbolic aspects of organizations - corporate logos, office sizes, use of titles - as well as focusing on the more subtle aspect of expressive forms of symbolism such as storytelling, institutional jargon and workplace personalization, among others. He carefully defines organizational symbolism and then explains the various methodologies that assist the researcher in documenting them. Finally, the author examines the symbolism inherent in doing research on organizations.