Transformational Processes in Organizational Life: Symbolic Imprinting and Symbolic Triggers

ABSTRACT: Organizational life is multi-focused symbolic reality today, new and existing employees learn, transfer and transform in working experience. Managerial actions give both real and symbolic results. Symbolic contexts, like influence, commitment, shared values, mission clearance in project teams and others, create challenges. The paper discusses symbolic imprinting and symbolic triggers in organizational life, and shares the first cut results of the study through the metaphoric mechanics among business school students with fresh working experience. Symbolic imprinting constitutes stamping in memory some transferring values and meaning interpretations, and symbolic triggers are the external environment signs and images, which make imprints work out in specific thinking, behavioral, and communication mechanisms. Transformational processes – learning, growing, development, - are realized within the symbolic context. Symbolic imprints and triggers transfer specific concept of the organizational life, freeing up the meanings and important orientations for ‘homo symbolicus’. KEYWORDS: symbolic management, transformational processes, organizational life, organizational symbolism, symbolic imprints, symbolic trigger