Shaping Brand Ambassadors: How Symbolism in a Total Institution Serves as a Form of Managerial Control and Promotes Identity Formation

• In Event: Scholar to Scholar VI

Abstract

The present research study attempts to explicate the key internally directed symbols of the Target Corporation that offer the team member identity with the company and thus serve as a form of managerial control. Secondly, the research addresses the communicative behaviors being performed within each store that promote the internally directed symbolism of the Target Corporation. In order to explore these concepts, an ethnographic approach is taken, supplemented by other qualitative methods, such as interviews.

Author

• David McNamara, Target Corporation