SYMBOBLIC INTERATIONISM: A METHODOLOGICAL SUGGESTION FOR A RESEARCH IN ADMINISTRATION

Abstract

Throughout a theoretical discussion, this article aims at offering a general view upon a methodological perspective frequently discussed in the works on sociology and on social psychology: the symbolic interationism.
According to Schlenker (1980), the symbolic interationism emphasizes the symbolic meanings and how the symbols relate with the social interaction. The interationism could be understood as a school of microsociology, besides constituting not only a theoretical perspective, but also a methodological orientation within the social psychology. While attempting to insert the symbolic interationism within the organizational field, we have tried to locate it within the social research and within the perspectives of the organizational theory, present its essential characteristics and its methodological implications. As suggested themes where this theoretical perspective could be adopted for the understanding of the organizations we mention: communication in the organizations, organizational change, organizational culture, power and institutional theory.