. These mechanisms facilitate the propagation of the ideology that the transmission of culture and the experience of MTD are in the interests of the firm and individual managers. Symbolism: An Anthropological PerspectiveIn this section, we draw from socio-anthropology to examine how the MTD-culture dialectic assumes further legitimacy by virtue of the symbolic consequences of the training institute and how the process of MTD serves as a rite of passage. The anthropological perspective is offered here as an additional 'analytical lens' for understanding IP managers' involvement in MTD. In the pursuit of alternative paradigms, earlier studies on culture borrowed indiscriminately from the social sciences, but a more critical literature has since evolved. In this regard, socio-anthropology has proved to be fertile ground. For a critique and review, see, for example, Linstead (1997). Anthropological ideas have been set out in, inter alia, Allaire and Firsirotu (1984), Kamoche (1995), Watson (1994), Smircich (1983) and Wilson (1992). According to Smircich (1983: 347), using culture as a root metaphor helps us to understand organizations 'in terms of their expressive, ideational, and symbolic aspects'. Geertz (1973) has demonstrate d that culture can be treated as a system of shared symbols and meanings. Following Van Maanen (1973) we argue that symbols, symbolic acts and behaviour need to be 'deciphered', i.e. interpreted. Thus, we adopt an analytical-interpretive approach to identify the symbolic nature of the social consequences of MTD that IP managers consider desirable, and the meanings they attach to them.A Totemic Conception of MTDFor indigenous American tribes, a 'totem' signifies clan identity, unity and solidarity. The magico-religious qualities of a totem are well-recognized in anthropology (e.g. Beattie 1964; Durkheim 1964; Levi-Strauss 1964). The material existence of a totem is denoted in the totem-pole; the symbolic qualities th...
