Symbolic Management – Harnessing the Search for Identity in Today’s Economy

This paper aims to find some insight into a simple to ask, yet difficult to answer question: How can we use a deep understanding of the Symbolic Nature of Man and of our Search for Positive Self Identity to theory-craft better methods and systems of Management? If we were to have such a thing as a Symbolic Management, what would it focus on? What would be the key human drives it addresses, and what would be its understanding of how individuals are most effectively managed. The key to these questions is to be found in the relationship between our symbolic nature and our positive identity seeking. People are symbolic creatures who seek to form a positive identity. Drawing on insights from systems that study personality and the self, such as MBTI, Human Design or the Gene Keys, and from Behavioral Economics which studies among others Symbolic Utility, this paper attempts to offer an overview of many streams that all tie into one unified conflux: Symbolic Management. It is an attempt to unify the understanding of Identity with the understanding of Symbolic Utility in order to bring about a new paradigm in Management, one that focuses on the Symbolic needs of the individuals and particularizes those needs according to each individual’s uniqueness.