How Remythologizing Can Revitalize Organizations.

MYTHOLOGY; ORGANIZATION; STORYTELLING; CORPORATE culture; VALUES (Ethics)

This article describes the development of the remythologizing process and examines how it can revitalize organizations. Although the method is more intuitive than an analytic approach, a typical sequence of stages has been used to identify its development. The social and organizational designs that grow out of remythologizing can be effected according to different design strategies. The rediscovered and reinterpreted myths provide designers with a story from which to derive values, direction, and intent to guide their designs. They also provide critical aspects of the culture to indicate what is acceptable to the members working within the revitalized organization. A formidable obstacle to remythologizing is another set of stories, often mislabeled as myths, that have grown around the founding myths. A time-honored use of remythologizing is to provide for a merger of two founding stories at the occasion of a marriage that unites two great lineages. Thus the merger of two organizations today requires refounding if there is to be common meaning and expectations among the members of the merged organizations. The refounding can be accomplished through a joint storytelling and capturing of the essential values of both organizations.