Explaining the Position of Symbol in Organizational Culture Based on the Islamic Point of View

Organizational culture and studying it in today's organizations is considered as one of the most important and complicated subjects in management studies. Most of the studies in this area have been carried out by scholars related to the symbolic-interpretive school of thought. The impressive results and implications of their findings about organization and management knowledge are undeniable. In the meantime, attention to symbol, which is a part of culture, and its impact on employees’ behavior is regarded as a new discussion in the area of studies on organizational behavior. Among the obstacles, paying attention to the position of symbol in Islamic management studies are the theoretical principles and assumptions governing the symbolic-interpretive school, which is based on subjective cognition, fear of being stricken in symbolism, or encountering some so-called Muslims in facing symbols, who regard believing in symbols as polytheism. The present descriptive-analytical study seeks to review the viewpoints of some Islamic scholars about symbol and the position of symbol in Islamic management studies. Based on the words of great scholars such as Allameh Tabatabaei, martyr Motahhari and etc., the findings show the especial outlook of the religious scholars on symbol. Of course, their attaching importance to symbols relies on epistemological principles and Islamic assumptions. The data collection in this research is library-based.