Politics, Symbolic Action and Myth Making in Pursuit of Legitimacy
研究四人小团体如何通过象征行动、神话制造和信息控制，在项目推进中操纵他人对复杂组织事件的理解，以营造风险最小化的假象，揭示看似非理性决策背后的政治动机与合法性追求。
This paper focuses on the micropolitical behaviour of a group of four indi viduals who were able to gain acceptance for their interpretation of events as a project unfolded through symbolic action, myth making and control over the flow of information. It is suggested that these devices were resorted to in order to create a façade of project-risk minimization in ways which were in part self-deceptive and ego-enhancing. The research contribution this paper makes is twofold. First, it illustrates the social, symbolic and political processes by which a select group were able to manipulate other actors' understandings of complex organizational events. Second, it suggests that apparently irrational and uninformed decisions may have a rational and intelligible basis when inter preted as politically motivated symbolic acts required for legitimation purposes.