Organizations as Constructions and Destructions of Meaning

Abstract

Organizations are dynamic processes through which meaning is simultaneously constructed and destroyed. Organizations may be conceived of as continua along which meaning varies according to its degree of coincidence. On the one hand, organizations are stable because coincident concepts, relationships, and values are developed through socialization. These coincident meanings eventually become crystallized as informal and formal structures and are sustained if powerful organizational leaders can suppress the expression of competing interpretations. On the other hand, organizations are precarious because coincident meanings are also regularly destroyed through action-taking. Destruction of meaning has its origin in fundamental contradictions, which, if raised, create the potential for individual and organizational transformation.