Organizational culture is created in part from the language people use, their social groups and their identity. Interconnected strings of words can create an identity of self, team, organization or even a nation. The words we choose, the way in which our language is constructed, and the symbolisms that are embedded in such words create a socially constructed reality that seems as real as the things our senses see but often fail to understand. Seeing versus sight that comes from experience and insight. Seeing and Understanding
Organizations and businesses are collectives of human behavior through choices and those choices come from an identity that have developed a cultural lens in which everything in an environment is seen/interpreted. Fostering a strong organizational culture that takes in new information while maintaining the unique identity of that organization leads to increased global competitiveness.
Each team creates a type of identity and that becomes defining for how they view themselves, their roles within the organization and even the rest of the world. You can read about Social Identity Theory to better understand what groups believe and how they form their perception of self. In modern globally competitive organizations, one would want to avoid overly exclusive identities, toxic personalities and language that creates divisions through stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination.
The symbolism of language helps socialize organizational members to a filter by which information is focused, how it is interpreted, conclusions and eventual behaviors. A type of cultural programming. Two different symbolism frameworks are indicative of two different cultures and ways in which symbolism had developed to construct subtle meanings. Organizational leaders can look at how language is used within group identities and how that fosters higher organizational performance (Language and Performance).
Emotions derived from the symbolism of language further influence motivation or demotivation of individuals and groups. To broaden this idea, emotions are influenced by the symbols of language and how they are applied to create pictures and perceptions that prompts on how one should act (Symbolism and Identity). Be careful as a leader what you say because it creates frameworks that once created are difficult to uncreate. If you can understand the symbolism, you can understand the language and how a group is to likely perform under certain circumstances and the prompting cues it carries. Intergroup social influence on emotion processing in the brain
The importance of language and social identity should not be underestimated. Let us say you want to create an organization that is globally competitive and needs to draw in diverse team members to be successful. This study can help highlight how language can create divisions that are unlikely to be helpful to team cohesion. If your going to develop a strong organization master language and symbolism. The Language of Derogation and Hate: Functions, Consequences, and Reappropriation language and constructed reality
The dangers of group think can impact any group, organization, or society when poor decisions become increasingly worse leading to financial and market loss. Having a healthy flow of information, ideas and people while maintaining core group symbolism and identity can lead to stronger organizations. That will require a functional understanding of applied psychology and groups within organizations. Groupthink: Overcoming Its Dangers in Decision-Making
A Few Points:
-Language contains symbolism and that is an inherent reflection of values and beliefs.
-Each person and culture may see the same thing but understand something different and that world view is the catalyst for conflict and future change. One can learn to hedge its power to transform organizations.
-Language creates identities that can be inclusive or exclusive.
-Leaders can frame the language of a group, its symbols and beliefs.
-People rely on language patterns to prompt them in behavior and thought. Social psychology
-It is possible to construction language, perception, and thoughts for organizations.
-Once an identity and language pattern is created it is difficult to undo or change.
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