Organizações de simbolismo intensivo

Wood Jr., Thomaz

doi:10.1590/S0034-75902000000100003

Resumos

Este ensaio introduz o conceito de organização de simbolismo intensivo, um novo tipo ideal em estudos organizacionais. Na virada do milênio, as organizações estão se transformando em "reinos mágicos", em que o "espaço simbólico" é ocupado pela retórica, pelo uso de metáforas e pela manipulação dos significados. As organizações de simbolismo intensivo são caraterizadas por um ambiente organizacional em que: a) a liderança simbólica constitui estilo gerencial; b) líderes e liderados aplicam maciçamente técnicas de gerenciamento da impressão; c) inovações são tratadas como eventos dramáticos; e d) analistas simbólicos formam um grupo importante dentro da força de trabalho. A emergência das organizações de simbolismo intensivo constitui fenômeno associado à teatralização da experiência humana e à consolidação da "sociedade do espetáculo".

Estudos organizacionais; tipos ideais; simbolismo organizacional; metáfora do teatro

This essay introduces the concept of symbol intensive organization, a new ideal type in organization studies. Approaching the new millennium, organizations become "magical kingdoms", where the "symbolic space" is filled with symbol manipulation and rhetoric. Symbol intensive organizations are environments where: a) symbolic leadership is predominant as managerial style; b) both leaders and led apply impression management techniques; c) managerial innovation is treated as a dramaturgical event; and d) symbolic analysts are prevalent within the work force. The emergence of symbol intensive organizations as a phenomenon can be associated to the "theatricalization" of contemporary human experience and to the consolidation of the "society of spectacle".

Organizational studies; ideal types; organizational symbolism; theater metaphor

ORGANIZAÇÃO, RECURSOS HUMANOS E PLANEJAMENTO

Organizações de simbolismo intensivo

Thomaz Wood Jr.

Engenheiro Químico pela Unicamp, Doutor em Administração de Empresas pela EAESP/FGV, Professor do Departamento de Administração da Produção e Operações Industriais da EAESP/FGV e Sócio-Diretor da Matrix Desenvolvimento Empresarial. E-mail: twood@fgvsp.br

RESUMO

Este ensaio introduz o conceito de organização de simbolismo intensivo, um novo tipo ideal em estudos organizacionais. Na virada do milênio, as organizações estão se transformando em "reinos mágicos", em que o "espaço simbólico" é ocupado pela retórica, pelo uso de metáforas e pela manipulação dos significados. As organizações de simbolismo intensivo são caraterizadas por um ambiente organizacional em que: a) a liderança simbólica constitui estilo gerencial; b) líderes e liderados aplicam maciçamente técnicas de gerenciamento da impressão; c) inovações são tratadas como eventos dramáticos; e d) analistas simbólicos formam um grupo importante dentro da força de trabalho. A emergência das organizações de simbolismo intensivo constitui fenômeno associado à teatralização da experiência humana e à consolidação da "sociedade do espetáculo".

Palavras-chave: Estudos organizacionais, tipos ideais, simbolismo organizacional, metáfora do teatro.

ABSTRACT

This essay introduces the concept of symbol intensive organization, a new ideal type in organization studies. Approaching the new millennium, organizations become "magical kingdoms", where the "symbolic space" is filled with symbol manipulation and rhetoric. Symbol intensive organizations are environments where: a) symbolic leadership is predominant as managerial style; b) both leaders and led apply impression management techniques; c) managerial innovation is treated as a dramaturgical event; and d) symbolic analysts are prevalent within the work force. The emergence of symbol intensive organizations as a phenomenon can be associated to the "theatricalization" of contemporary human experience and to the consolidation of the "society of spectacle".

Key words: Organizational studies, ideal types, organizational symbolism, theater metaphor.

Texto completo disponível apenas em PDF.

Full text available only in PDF format.

NOTAS

Uma versão preliminar deste texto foi publicada no livro Transformação e realidade organizacional (São Paulo: Atlas, 1999), coordenado por Miguel P. Caldas e Thomaz Wood Jr.

Este artigo baseia-se em pesquisa financiada pelo NPP Núcleo de Pesquisas e Publicações intitulada "Pesquisa exploratória empírica sobre o fenômeno das Organizações de Simbolismo Intensivo".

ALVESSON, M. Organization: from substance to image? Organization Studies, v. 11, n. 3, p. 373-94, 1990.
ALVESSON, M., BERG, P. O. Corporate culture and organizational symbolism: an overview. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1992.
ARMENAKIS, A. et al. Symbolic actions used by business turnaround change agents. Academy of Management Best Papers Procedings Vancouver, Canada, 1995.
BAUDRILLARD, J. The virtual illusion: or the automatic writing of the world. Theory, Culture and Society, v. 12, p. 97-107, 1995.
BECK, B. E. F. Metaphors, cognition and artificial intelligence. In: HASKELL, R. E. (Ed.). Cognition and symbolic structures: the psychology of metaphoric transformation. Ablex: Norwood, 1987.
BERGER, P. Musil and the salvage of the self. Partisan Review, v. LI, p. 638-50, 1984.
BOJE, D. M. Stories of the storytelling organization: a postmodern analysis of Disney as "Tamara-land". Academy of Management Journal, v. 38, n. 4, p. 997-1035, 1995.
BOORSTIN, D. J. The image or what happened to the American dream New York: Atheneum, 1962.
BURREL, G. Modernism, postmodernism and organizational analysis: the contribution of Michel Foucault. Organization Studies, v. 9, n. 2, p. 221-35, 1988.
BURREL, G. Modernism, postmodernism and organizational analysis: the contribution of Jurgen Habermas. Organization Studies, v. 15, n. 1, p. 1-45, 1994.
BYRNE, J. A. Management Meccas Business Week, p. 122- 33, Sep. 18, 1995.
CALAS, M. B., MACGUIRE, J. B. Organizations as networks of power and symbolism. In: TURNER, B. A. Organizational symbolism Berlin: De Gruyter, 1990.
CHIA, R. From modern to postmodern organizational analysis. Organization Studies, v. 16, n. 4, p. 579-604, 1995.
CLANCY, T. The virtual corporation, telecommuting and the concept of team. Academy of Management Executive, v. 8, n. 2, p. 7-10, 1994.
CLEGG, S. R. Modern organizations: organization studies in the postmodern world. London: Sage, 1990.
COOPER, R. Modernism, postmodernism and organizational analysis: the contribution of Jacques Derrida. Organization Studies, v. 10, n. 4, p. 479-503, 1989.
COOPER, R., BURREL, G. Modernism, postmodernism and organizational analysis: an introduction. Organization Studies, v. 9, n. 1, p. 91-112, 1988.
CZARNIAWSKA-JORGES, B., WOLFF, R. Leaders, managers, entrepreneurs on and off the organizational stage. Organization Studies, v. 12, n. 4, p. 529-46, 1991.
DANDRIDGE, T. C. Symbol's function and use. In: PONDY, L. R. et al. Organizational symbolism. Greenwich: Jai Press, 1983.
DANDRIDGE, T. C., MITROFF, I., JOYCE, W. F. Organizational symbolism: a topic to expand organizational analysis. Academy of Management Review, v. 5, n. 1, p. 77-82, 1980.
DAVIDOW, W. H., MALONE, M. S. The virtual corporation New York: HarperBusiness, 1993.
DEAL, T. E., KENNEDY, A. A. Corporate cultures Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1982.
DEBORD, G. The society of spectacle New York: Zone Books, 1994 [1967]
DENZIN, N. K. Images of postmodern society: social theory and contemporary cinema. London: Sage, 1991.
DENZIN, N. K. The cinematic society: the voyeur's gaze. London: Sage, 1995.
DOWD, J. J. Social psychology in a postmodern age: a discipline without a subject. Department of Sociology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 1992.
FRANKEL, M. Museum magic The New York Times Magazine, Dec. 3, 1995.
GAGLIARDI, P. (Ed.). Symbols and artifacts: views of the corporate landscape. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1990.
GIBBS JR., R. W., HALL, C. K. What does it mean to say that a metaphor has been understood? In: HASKELL, R. E. (Ed.). Cognition and symbolic structures: the psychology of metaphoric transformation. Ablex: Norwood, 1987.
GILL, J., WHITTLE, S. Management by panacea: accounting for transience. Journal of Management Studies, v. 30, n. 2, p. 281-95, 1992.
GOFFMAN, E. The presentation of self in everyday life New York: Anchor Books, 1959.
HARVEY, D. The condition of postmodernity: an inquiry into the origins of cultural change. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989.
HASKELL, R. E. Gianbatista and the discovery of metaphoric cognition. In: HASKELL, R. E. (Ed.). Cognition and symbolic structures: the psychology of metaphoric transformation. Ablex: Norwood, 1987.
HASSARD, J. Sociology and organization theory: positivism, paradigms and postmodernity. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
HASSARD, J., PARKER, M. (Eds.). Postmodernism and organizations London: Sage, 1993.
HOPFL, H. Organizational rhetoric & the threat of ambivalence. Studies in Culture, Organization and Society, v. 1, n. 2, p. 175- 87, 1995.
JONES, L. B. Jesus CEO: ancient wisdom for visionary leadership. New York: Hyperion, 1995.
KETS de VRIES, M. F. R., MILLER, D. The neurotic organization San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1984.
KILMANN, R. H. Beyond the quick fix: managing five tracks to organizational success. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1984.
KIMBERLY, J. R. Managerial innovation. In: NYSTRON, P. C., STARBUCK, W. H. Handbook of organizational design Volume 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.
LAMMERS, C. J. Transient and persistence of ideal types in organization theory. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, v. 6, p. 203-24, 1988.
LAMPEL, J. Innovation as spectacle: dramaturgical construction of technological change. Chicago, 1995. (Paper presented at Conference on the Social Construction of Industries and Markets).
LINSTEAD, S. After the autumn harvest: rhetoric and representation in an Asian industrial dispute. Studies in Culture, Organization and Society, v. 1, n. 2, p. 231-52, 1995.
MINTZBERG, H. Mintzberg on management New York: The Free Press, 1989.
MORGAN, G. Paradigms, metaphors, and puzzle solving in organization theory. Administrative Science Quarterly, v. 25, n. 4, p. 605-22, 1980.
MORGAN, G. Images of organization Newbury Park: Sage, 1986.
MORGAN, G., FROST, P. J., PONDY, L. R. Organizational symbolism. In: PONDY, L. R. et al. Organizational symbolism Greenwich: Jai Press, 1983.
REICH, R. The work of nations. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.
ROBERTS, W. Make it so: leadership lessons of StarTrek the Next Generation. New York: Pocket Books, 1995.
ROUANET, P. S. O mal-estar na modernidade. IDE, v. 23, p. 40-53, 1993.
RUSS, G. S. Symbolic communication and image management in organizations. In: GIACALONE, R. A., ROSENFELD, P. (Eds.). Applied impression management: how image-making affects managerial decisions Newbury Park: Sage, 1991.
SCHEIN, E. H. Organizational culture and leadership: a dynamic view. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1985.
SIEVERS, B. Work, death and life itself: essays on management and organization. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1994.
SMIRCICH, L., MORGAN, G. Leadership: the management of meaning. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, v. 18, n. 3, p. 257-73, 1982.
STARBUCK, W. H. Organizations as action generators. American Sociological Review, v. 48, p. 91-102, 1983.
TURNER, B. A. Organizational symbolism. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1990.
VAN MAANEN, J., KUNDA, G. Real feelings: emotional expressions and organizational culture. Research in Organization Behavior, v. 11, p. 43-103, 1989.
WOOD JR., T., CALDAS, M. P. Who's afraid of electrofads? Change, identity and convulsive organization therapies. Turku, Finland, 1995. (Paper presented at 13th SCOS).
WOOD JR., T., CURADO, I. B., CAMPOS, H. M. Managers symbolic action and the transformation of culture Calgary, Canada, 1994. (Paper presented at 12th SCOS).

Datas de Publicação

Publicação nesta coleção
23 Set 2011
Data do Fascículo
Mar 2000

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

[1] ALVESSON, M. Organization: from substance to image? Organization Studies, v. 11, n. 3, p. 373-94, 1990.

[2] ALVESSON, M., BERG, P. O. Corporate culture and organizational symbolism: an overview. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1992.

[3] ARMENAKIS, A. et al. Symbolic actions used by business turnaround change agents. Academy of Management Best Papers Procedings Vancouver, Canada, 1995.

[4] BAUDRILLARD, J. The virtual illusion: or the automatic writing of the world. Theory, Culture and Society, v. 12, p. 97-107, 1995.

[5] BECK, B. E. F. Metaphors, cognition and artificial intelligence. In: HASKELL, R. E. (Ed.). Cognition and symbolic structures: the psychology of metaphoric transformation. Ablex: Norwood, 1987.

[6] BERGER, P. Musil and the salvage of the self. Partisan Review, v. LI, p. 638-50, 1984.

[7] BOJE, D. M. Stories of the storytelling organization: a postmodern analysis of Disney as "Tamara-land". Academy of Management Journal, v. 38, n. 4, p. 997-1035, 1995.

[8] BOORSTIN, D. J. The image or what happened to the American dream New York: Atheneum, 1962.

[9] BURREL, G. Modernism, postmodernism and organizational analysis: the contribution of Michel Foucault. Organization Studies, v. 9, n. 2, p. 221-35, 1988.

[10] BURREL, G. Modernism, postmodernism and organizational analysis: the contribution of Jurgen Habermas. Organization Studies, v. 15, n. 1, p. 1-45, 1994.

[11] BYRNE, J. A. Management Meccas Business Week, p. 122- 33, Sep. 18, 1995.

[12] CALAS, M. B., MACGUIRE, J. B. Organizations as networks of power and symbolism. In: TURNER, B. A. Organizational symbolism Berlin: De Gruyter, 1990.

[13] CHIA, R. From modern to postmodern organizational analysis. Organization Studies, v. 16, n. 4, p. 579-604, 1995.

[14] CLANCY, T. The virtual corporation, telecommuting and the concept of team. Academy of Management Executive, v. 8, n. 2, p. 7-10, 1994.

[15] CLEGG, S. R. Modern organizations: organization studies in the postmodern world. London: Sage, 1990.

[16] COOPER, R. Modernism, postmodernism and organizational analysis: the contribution of Jacques Derrida. Organization Studies, v. 10, n. 4, p. 479-503, 1989.

[17] COOPER, R., BURREL, G. Modernism, postmodernism and organizational analysis: an introduction. Organization Studies, v. 9, n. 1, p. 91-112, 1988.

[18] CZARNIAWSKA-JORGES, B., WOLFF, R. Leaders, managers, entrepreneurs on and off the organizational stage. Organization Studies, v. 12, n. 4, p. 529-46, 1991.

[19] DANDRIDGE, T. C. Symbol's function and use. In: PONDY, L. R. et al. Organizational symbolism. Greenwich: Jai Press, 1983.

[20] DANDRIDGE, T. C., MITROFF, I., JOYCE, W. F. Organizational symbolism: a topic to expand organizational analysis. Academy of Management Review, v. 5, n. 1, p. 77-82, 1980.

[21] DAVIDOW, W. H., MALONE, M. S. The virtual corporation New York: HarperBusiness, 1993.

[22] DEAL, T. E., KENNEDY, A. A. Corporate cultures Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1982.

[23] DEBORD, G. The society of spectacle New York: Zone Books, 1994 [1967]

[24] DENZIN, N. K. Images of postmodern society: social theory and contemporary cinema. London: Sage, 1991.

[25] DENZIN, N. K. The cinematic society: the voyeur's gaze. London: Sage, 1995.

[26] DOWD, J. J. Social psychology in a postmodern age: a discipline without a subject. Department of Sociology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 1992.

[27] FRANKEL, M. Museum magic The New York Times Magazine, Dec. 3, 1995.

[28] GAGLIARDI, P. (Ed.). Symbols and artifacts: views of the corporate landscape. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1990.

[29] GIBBS JR., R. W., HALL, C. K. What does it mean to say that a metaphor has been understood? In: HASKELL, R. E. (Ed.). Cognition and symbolic structures: the psychology of metaphoric transformation. Ablex: Norwood, 1987.

[30] GILL, J., WHITTLE, S. Management by panacea: accounting for transience. Journal of Management Studies, v. 30, n. 2, p. 281-95, 1992.

[31] GOFFMAN, E. The presentation of self in everyday life New York: Anchor Books, 1959.

[32] HARVEY, D. The condition of postmodernity: an inquiry into the origins of cultural change. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989.

[33] HASKELL, R. E. Gianbatista and the discovery of metaphoric cognition. In: HASKELL, R. E. (Ed.). Cognition and symbolic structures: the psychology of metaphoric transformation. Ablex: Norwood, 1987.

[34] HASSARD, J. Sociology and organization theory: positivism, paradigms and postmodernity. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

[35] HASSARD, J., PARKER, M. (Eds.). Postmodernism and organizations London: Sage, 1993.

[36] HOPFL, H. Organizational rhetoric & the threat of ambivalence. Studies in Culture, Organization and Society, v. 1, n. 2, p. 175- 87, 1995.

[37] JONES, L. B. Jesus CEO: ancient wisdom for visionary leadership. New York: Hyperion, 1995.

[38] KETS de VRIES, M. F. R., MILLER, D. The neurotic organization San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1984.

[39] KILMANN, R. H. Beyond the quick fix: managing five tracks to organizational success. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1984.

[40] KIMBERLY, J. R. Managerial innovation. In: NYSTRON, P. C., STARBUCK, W. H. Handbook of organizational design Volume 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.

[41] LAMMERS, C. J. Transient and persistence of ideal types in organization theory. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, v. 6, p. 203-24, 1988.

[42] LAMPEL, J. Innovation as spectacle: dramaturgical construction of technological change. Chicago, 1995. (Paper presented at Conference on the Social Construction of Industries and Markets).

[43] LINSTEAD, S. After the autumn harvest: rhetoric and representation in an Asian industrial dispute. Studies in Culture, Organization and Society, v. 1, n. 2, p. 231-52, 1995.

[44] MINTZBERG, H. Mintzberg on management New York: The Free Press, 1989.

[45] MORGAN, G. Paradigms, metaphors, and puzzle solving in organization theory. Administrative Science Quarterly, v. 25, n. 4, p. 605-22, 1980.

[46] MORGAN, G. Images of organization Newbury Park: Sage, 1986.

[47] MORGAN, G., FROST, P. J., PONDY, L. R. Organizational symbolism. In: PONDY, L. R. et al. Organizational symbolism Greenwich: Jai Press, 1983.

[48] REICH, R. The work of nations. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.

[49] ROBERTS, W. Make it so: leadership lessons of StarTrek the Next Generation. New York: Pocket Books, 1995.

[50] ROUANET, P. S. O mal-estar na modernidade. IDE, v. 23, p. 40-53, 1993.

[51] RUSS, G. S. Symbolic communication and image management in organizations. In: GIACALONE, R. A., ROSENFELD, P. (Eds.). Applied impression management: how image-making affects managerial decisions Newbury Park: Sage, 1991.

[52] SCHEIN, E. H. Organizational culture and leadership: a dynamic view. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1985.

[53] SIEVERS, B. Work, death and life itself: essays on management and organization. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1994.

[54] SMIRCICH, L., MORGAN, G. Leadership: the management of meaning. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, v. 18, n. 3, p. 257-73, 1982.

[55] STARBUCK, W. H. Organizations as action generators. American Sociological Review, v. 48, p. 91-102, 1983.

[56] TURNER, B. A. Organizational symbolism. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1990.

[57] VAN MAANEN, J., KUNDA, G. Real feelings: emotional expressions and organizational culture. Research in Organization Behavior, v. 11, p. 43-103, 1989.

[58] WOOD JR., T., CALDAS, M. P. Who's afraid of electrofads? Change, identity and convulsive organization therapies. Turku, Finland, 1995. (Paper presented at 13th SCOS).

[59] WOOD JR., T., CURADO, I. B., CAMPOS, H. M. Managers symbolic action and the transformation of culture Calgary, Canada, 1994. (Paper presented at 12th SCOS).

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Organizações de simbolismo intensivo

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