diary companies are described as 'hyperactive, fast-paced and results-oriented', the Centre is 'conservative and bureaucratic'. Resourceful managers put political activity to good personal use, while rationalizing it on the basis of its value for social integration and business success. The totemic construction of reality at IP is thus achieved through overt political behaviour, whereby the legitimacy of the MTD/culture ideology comes to be defined, not merely in terms of shared values, but in terms of political activity to reconcile and satisfy individual and corporate interests .MTD and LiminalityThe element of 'passage' is implied by, inter alia, the mechanics of socialization and the dynamics of career advancement through the IP community. Van Gennep (1908/60) applied the concept of 'rites of passage' to the elaborate ritual processes associated with the individual's passage from one phase to another in the society. He posited the twin notions of the 'sacred' and the 'profane' to highlight the socio-spiritual dimension of these passages. Hence, the passage removes one from the mundane world -- the profane -- to the sacred world in which they are imbued with the spirituality, status and responsibilities of their new social condition. Anthropologists have tended to focus on events such as birth, adolescence and initiation, marriage and death. Glaser and Strauss (1971) have identified the prevalence of 'status passage' to other areas, such as the medical field, sociology and organizations. One could also include college matriculation and degree ceremonies, promotion ceremonies, street-gang initiation beatings, and suchlike.Rites of passage are defined by three main phases: separation (or preliminal), transition (liminal) and incorporation (post-liminal). The liminal phase is the most relevant one for our purposes here: MTD is a transition phase towards senior positions and the high-status 'club'. Trice and Beyer (1984) argue that rites...
