Making Use of Organizational Identity - Authentic Organizations

expressed in her life story, written down in a book, captured through a video, and expressed
through physical objects that remained relatively stable and unchanging. Therefore, Carrie as a
symbol was portable across place and time. Each time the video was shown individuals across
the organization saw the same expression or articulation of Carrie, her meaning, and her
relationship to Heartland.
Because these tangible expressions of Carrie could be easily reproduced, communications
about Carrie could be made quite reliable. For example, the video about Carrie’s life story was
shown throughout the Heartland Corporation, not only to the marketing department but also to
the distribution department and the cafeteria workers. The video was also shown at new
employee orientation, at their annual meeting and at occasional product launch meetings. At
each of these times, members watching the video saw the same story about Carrie, the same
description of her and the same explanation of why she mattered to Heartland.
The fact that these expressions of Carrie were repeatable meant that the meaning of
Carrie as a symbol could be reinforced over time, because members could see the same
expressions or articulation of Carrie again and again themselves. This permits individuals to
remember Carrie, to have the meaning of Carrie reinforced in their minds, to call back up again
the same emotions that they had perhaps the first time that they saw Carrie, and also to deepen
their understanding of Carrie. Moreover, the fact that these expressions of Carrie were reliable
meant that organization members could store information in these expressions of Carrie -- almost
forgetting about some specific attributes or episodes -- until this information was needed.
Reading the book again or viewing the video again could help them retrieve that information at a
later time (Eoyang, 1983). And even though a symbol’s meaning will be reinterpreted by those
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