Symbols in Organizations

“An organization’s culture is revealed and communicated through its symbols,” (Bolman and Deal, 2008, p.254).   According to Bolman and Deal (2008), one of the assumptions of the symbolic frame is, “What is most important is not what happens but what it means.” (p. 253).  The United States Marines Corps (USMC) uses several symbols:  the eagle, gold and anchor emblem, the sword, and rank to award each marine.  The eagle, gold and anchor emblem is used to symbolize the commitment to defend the United States (US) in air, land or sea (USMC, 2014).  It represents pride, world presence and naval traditions (USMC, 2014).   It instills a sense of authority through legitimacy.  Recall that people will obey authority when they perceive it to be legitimate, without legitimacy a leader is powerless (Bolman & Deal, 2008, p. 343) 

The sword is used in ceremonial services as a reminder to Marines of America’s former defenders in the first battle on foreign oil which took place in Tripoli (USMC, 2014).  “Marines had marched across 600 miles of North African desert to rid the “shores of Tripoli” of pirates and rescue the kidnapped crew of the USS Philadelphia” (USMC, 2014, para. 8).  The sword is a reminder of those who served in the past and their unrelenting strength and determination to accomplish their mission.  This symbol helps solidify one’s purpose and reason for serving in the USMC.   

The various insignias for rank serve to identify those who earned great levels of leadership and responsibility; it is issued to those enlisted or in officer positions (USMC, 2014).    It serves as a reminder that she/he possesses recognizable qualities of a leader; helps gain the respect from peers; and motivates the individual to want to escalate up in rank.  If you are motivated, then you see your position as meaningful and valuable. 

According to Sharfritz, Ott and Yang (2008), most people have a desire to have “a high evaluation of themselves, for self-respect, or self-esteem,” (p.175).  Providing opportunities to reach different levels in the hierarchy helps satisfy the self-esteem.   “When the self-esteem is satisfied, it leads to feelings of self-confidence, worth, strength, capability and adequacy of being useful and necessary in the world” (Shafritz et al. 2008, p. 175).  The USMC uses these symbols to unite, motivate, and create commitment to the organization to help accomplish its mission and goals (Bolman & Deal, 2008, p. 253). 

Symbols of the Marines

References

Bolman, L. and Deal, T. (2008).  Reframing organizations. San Francisco, CA: John

            Wiley & Sons, Inc. 

Shafritz, J., Ott, S., Suk Jang, Y. (2008). Classics of organization theory.   Belmont,CA:

            Wadsworth Publishing Company

United States Marine Corps. (2014). Symbols. Retrieved from http://www.marines.com/history-   heritage/symbols

United States Marine Corps. (2014). The symbols of our corps.  Retrieved from     http://www.marines.com/videos/-/video-library/detail/video_symbols