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