Politics, Symbolic Action and Myth Making in Pursuit of Legitimacy

Abstract

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.