Theories of Practice: The Symbolic Frame

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Theories of PracticeThe Symbolic Frame
MPA 8002 The Structure and Theory of Human
Organization Richard M. Jacobs, OSA, Ph.D.
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• For the greater part of the 20th century, the
  objectivity associated with the assumptions and
  concepts of scientific management have guided
  most inquiry into human organizations.

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• While the human resources and political
  theories of practice provided a corrective to
  this emphasis by attending to the subjective
  elements of human organization...

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• all three theories of practice have failed to
  provide a comprehensive analysis identifying the
  specifically subjective elements of human
  organizations, influencing not only
  organizational functioning but also the people
  who populate organizations.

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A SYMBOLIC SCENARIO
Symbolic managers and leaders are sensitive to an
organizations history and culture. They seek to
use the best in their organizations traditions
and values as a base for building a culture that
provides cohesiveness and meaning. They
articulate a vision that communicates the
organizations unique capabilities and mission.
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MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN A SYMBOLIC SCENARIO
Symbolic managers and leaders believe that the
most important part of their job is
inspirationgiving people something that they can
believe in. People will give their loyalty to an
organization that has a unique identity and makes
them feel that what they do is really important.
Effective symbolic managers and leaders are
passionate about making their organizations the
best of their kind and communicate that passion
to others. They use dramatic, visible symbols
that give people a sense of the organizational
mission. They are visible and energetic. They
create slogans, tell stories, hold rallies, give
awards, appear where they are least expected, and
manage by wandering around. Bolman Deal (1991,
p. 364)
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the symbolic frame
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The intuitive and subjective side of human
organizations...

• The symbolic frame asserts that organizations are
  judged primarily on and by appearances...

by giving appropriate emphasis to the beliefs,
meanings, and faith communicated symbolically
through the attempts that people in organizations
make to reconcile the dilemmas and paradoxes
which they experience.
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The concept...

• organizational culture

the way we do things around here (Bower, 1966)
the glue holding the organizational pieces
together (Schein, 1984)
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...the pattern of basic assumptions that a given
group has invented, discovered, or developed in
learning to cope with its problems of external
adaptation and internal integration, and that
have worked well enough to be considered valid,
and, therefore, to be taught to new members as
the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in
relation to those problems (Schein, 1984, p. 3)
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• Organizational culture may be likened to a
  medieval tapestry...

composed of many different strands
each strand giving unique color, hue, and
texture to the composite
with one strand unifying the entire view.
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• the tapestry metaphor provides two views of
  organization...

• the front view

unified
rich
holistic
complex

• revealed by the structural, human resources, and
  political theories of practice

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• the back view

distorted
messy
dull
lacking character

• revealed by the symbolic theories of practice

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By means of contrast...

• the structural frame stresses...

organizational rationality
the objective dimensions of human organizations
The symbolic frame asserts that facts and logic
can tyrannize human beings because organizations
are more fluid and dynamic than the structural
frame assumes.
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• the human resources frame stresses...

what people experience
the subjective dimensions of human organizations
The symbolic frame pushes beyond human needs
theory, asserting that organizations are
populated by people who strive for
self-actualization through cooperative efforts.
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• the political frame stresses...

how people act covertly and overtly
the subjective and objective dimensions of human
organizations
The symbolic frame asserts that human
organizations provide a forum through which
people discover meaning and purpose.
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• the symbolic frame stresses that...

organizations are not characterized by rational,
linear processes
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but by intuitive, creative responses to
environments where

• technology is underdeveloped

• the linkage of means to ends is poorly understood

• effectiveness is difficult to ascertain
  objectively

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• Organizational culture explores how similar
  organizations...

can differ in substantive ways (Carlson, 1996)...
which can explain why some organizations survive
and thrive in their environments while others do
not (Schein, 1990).
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The concept of organizational culture...

• adopted by organizational theorists in the 1980s
  from the social sciences, in particular, cultural
  anthropology...

...integrating anthropological, sociological, and
psychological theories theories of practice
...into a complex analysis of organizational
functioning
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• organizational culture is a qualitative,
  multi-factor variable...

resistant to direct observation
that can only be inferred by examining the
culture itself (Schein, 1992)
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• organizational culture represents...

the self-expression of a community of diverse
people
assumptions
values
norms
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For Schein (1984), people oftentimes discover
that they work in an organization without knowing
its culture, without understanding how the
organization came to be what it is, or how the
organization could be changed were its survival
threatened.
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Were managers and leaders to decipher their
organizations culture, Shein argues, it could
then be reified and related to other important
organizational variables, for example, setting
strategy, aligning structure with purpose, and
ultimately, promoting excellence.
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The management and leadership challenge...

• to define the organizations culture...

by studying its history and traditions
by identifying its patterns of beliefs, norms,
language, and behavior
by explicating its guiding myths and rituals
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as these phenomena become explicit in the way
we do things around here each and every day.
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Requires leaders and managers who...
1. decipher organizational culture
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• involves

• digging below the organizations surface

• identifying the elements of the culture

• interpreting the elements by assessing how each
  element contributes to organizational
  functioning/dysfunction

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Elements of organizational culture...

• organizational history

• shared values and beliefs

• norms and standards

• patterns of behavior

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• history

1. How does the organizations past live on in
the present?
2. What traditions are carried on?
3. What stories are told and retold as folklore?
4. What events in organizational history are
overlooked or forgotten?
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5. Do heroes and heroines exist among the
organizations membership whose idiosyncrasies
and exploits are remembered for the core values
their personal qualities represent?
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6. In what ways are the organizations traditions
and historical incidents modified through
reinterpretation over the years? Can you recall,
for example, an historical event that has evolved
from fact into myth?
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7. Are there storytellers, whisperers, spies, and
rumor-mongers in the organization? How do they
serve to keep the culture alive and intact or act
as a barrier to change?
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• shared values and beliefs

1. What are the assumptions and understandings
shared by the membership, although these
assumptions and understandings may not be stated
explicitly?
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2. What does the organizations philosophy,
mission statement, or creed suggest about the
organization and it purposes?
3. Are there slogans which reveal core beliefs
that have evolved from experience and sort what
works from what does not?
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4. Does the organization have symbols that serve
to narrow the its mission and provide guidelines
for behaviors and decision-making processes?
5. What are the things that the organization
prizes and rewards?
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6. When members talk about the organization, what
are the major and recurring themes underlying
what they say? How do these statements reveal
values?
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• norms and standards

1. What are the oughts, shoulds, dos, and donts
that govern the behavior of the organization?
2. Who determines who gets rewarded and for what?
3. Who gets rewarded and for what?
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4. Who gets punished and for what?
5. What is it that informal communication
networks condemn as wrong and bless as being
right?
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• patterns of behavior

1. Are there rituals which reinforce core
cultural values and permit subcultures to
communicate effectively with one another
for example work routines, gossip networks,
task organization, annual rituals associated with
entrance to and exit from the organization
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2. Does the organization sponsor dramatic
ceremonies which allow its culture to be
experienced, celebrated and transformed from an
idea into a reality?
3. Are there special rituals and ceremonies which
regenerate commitment to organizational ideals?
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4. What are the accepted and recurring ways of
doing things?
5. What are the generally accepted patterns of
behavior?
6. What are the habits and rituals that prevail
in the organizations?
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7. Who stands opposed to the prevailing
organizational culture for a variety of reasons
but views themselves (either individually or
collectively) as upholding the true
organization (i.e., the loyal opposition?
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• The organizations history, shared values and
  beliefs, its norms and standards, as well as its
  shared patterns of behavior symbolize the
  organizations culture...

and provide a listing of the rich variety of
concrete factors influencing what is.
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• once unearthed, identified, and interpreted,
  managers and leaders can

• understand and appreciate the organizations
  idiosyncratic culture

• provide cultural leadership by...

...enhancing (or changing) those intangible
factors that exercise a powerful influence upon
the positive (or negative) behaviors of people
associated with the organization
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• but, managers and leaders first need...

...to search for evidence of the presence (or
absence) of these and other factors
...by looking for how these are manifested with
the organizations culture
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Requires leaders and managers who...
2. reify the culture
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• to infer from the hard data what the artifacts,
  perspectives, values, and assumptions mean

by maintaining objectivity
by endeavoring to understand how the data
interact to influence organizational culture
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• in order to gain understanding...

conceptually to stand under, that is, to
conceive the fragmentary bits and pieces of data
from within a larger context
without imposing a theory of practice upon the
data (Model I behavior, Argyris Schön, 1974)
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Organizational culture...

• does not come into existence over night...

rather, organizational culture emerges through
human interactions
and, over the years and decades, becomes a
tradition
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narrowing the diverse expectations people may
have by directing their individual interests
toward the core values, beliefs, and faith in
what has made for success in that particular
organization
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this tradition then shapes and gives purpose
to the interactions between people in
organizations across generations
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A strong organizational culture...

• enables people to identify themselves and their
  aspirations with the organizations transcendent
  purpose

• can heighten peoples faith and confidence in the
  organization in the midst of environmental
  turbulence and adversity

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A weak organizational culture...

• people form attachments to symbols and symbolic
  activity

what Winnicott calls teddy bears (1964)
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• when the attachments are severed

this change creates a loss of meaning and purpose
...these people experience great difficulty in
letting go
These existential wounds require symbolic healing.
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Requires leaders and managers who...
3. relate the culture to other organizational
variables
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Managing and leading organizations involves...

• conveying what the organization stands for and
  how people can embody what the organization
  values and cherishes

• by connecting people in the present with what was
  valued and cherished in the past

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Managing and leading organizations requires...

• creating, managing, and sustaining what gives
  meaning people today by

...embodying organizational values
...telling and retelling the sagas which
concretize the organizations purpose
...enabling people to achieve cherished
organizational objectives
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Some implications of the symbolic frame for...
1. meetings...
2. planning...
3. evaluating...
4. bargaining...
5. power...
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Cultural tasks for managers and leaders...
1. to attend to socializing new members into the
organization
2. to emphasize diversity
3. to manage and lead by example
4. to use and develop code language
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5. to tell stories
...to keep sacred traditions alive
...to provide exemplars to guide behavior
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6. to incorporate humor and play into
organizational life
...to reduce tension
...to encourage creativity
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7. to punctuate organizational purposes, values,
and mission with rituals and ceremonies
8. to remain aware that informal cultural players
make disproportionate contributions both
positively and negatively
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9. to remember that soul is the secret of
success
managing and leading people is not so much a
matter of conducting an orchestra...
as it is playing in a jazz band (DuPree, 1992)
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Managers and leaders do not change
organizational culture...

• they contend with it...

by designing a pathway that enables people to
learn new values, to adopt and adapt them to the
current situation, and to form a new synthesis,
one melding what is with what can be
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The pathway to organizational effectiveness...

• is to be discovered within the organization
  (Deal, 1985) as managers and leaders...

capture the imagination of the people in
organizations
revitalize the demoralized
generate enthusiasm for cooperative efforts to
achieve shared goals
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Using symbolic theory...
prophets
effective managers and leaders are
poets
inspiring others
whose primary concerns are
framing experience
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Abusing symbolic theory...
fanatics
ineffective managers and leaders are
fools
smoke and mirrors
whose primary concerns are
mirages
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Strengths of the symbolic theory of practice...
personal
meaningful
inspiring
motivational
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Limitations of the symbolic theory of practice...
impractical
abstract
overly complex
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Integrating reflective practice, conceptual
pluralism, and organizational analysis...
Reflecting upon organizational behavior through
four frames inculcates the conceptual pluralism
managers and leaders need to diagnose the issues
underlying the problems manifesting themselves in
human organizations.
the structural frame
a more complicated conceptual view of
organizational functioning
the human resources frame
the political frame
the symbolic frame
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This module has focused on...
The cultural theories that managers and leaders
can utilize in practice episodes...
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...as these theories of practice provide managers
a frame of reference to inform decision making...
the symbolic frame
...offers managers and leaders guidance about the
strengths and limits of cultural theory
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A SYMBOLIC SCENARIO
Symbolic managers and leaders are sensitive to an
organizations history and culture. They seek to
use the best in their organizations traditions
and values as a base for building a culture that
provides cohesiveness and meaning. They
articulate a vision that communicates the
organizations unique capabilities and mission.
75
MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN A SYMBOLIC SCENARIO
Symbolic managers and leaders believe that the
most important part of their job is
inspirationgiving people something that they can
believe in. People will give their loyalty to an
organization that has a unique identity and makes
them feel that what they do is really important.
Effective symbolic managers and leaders are
passionate about making their organizations the
best of their kind and communicate that passion
to others. They use dramatic, visible symbols
that give people a sense of the organizational
mission. They are visible and energetic. They
create slogans, tell stories, hold rallies, give
awards, appear where they are least expected, and
manage by wandering around. Bolman Deal (1991,
p. 364)
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the symbolic frame
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The next module will focus on...
ETHICS
to conceptualize how managers and leaders might
integrate virtue into the decision-making process
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