Consider the company that you are working for or another company with which you are familiar. What is one of the primary symbols or cultural artifacts that employees would recognize (not a customer marketing logo or slogan)? Answer the following questions about the
culture of the company:
What makes the symbol or cultural artifact so powerful as a representative icon of the company?
Why does it function so well to illustrate the culture of the company?
What does it really mean, or what purpose does it serve versus the way that it functions symbolically? Does the icon have more than one meaning?
How did the organization or someone in the organization deliberately create the symbol as a rallying point or idea for the employees?
What other symbols or practices of the company represent the nature of the company or how people remember the company, its traditions, or its processes and procedures?
How far back in the history of the organization do you think that these symbols extend?
How do these symbols, practices, traditions, and even corporate myths serve to help create an overall culture of the company?
How would you describe the culture, in general, of this organization?