I heard recently that unions were now using a giant inflatable bed bug instead of the inflatable rat for their picket lines. Just yesterday as I was walking to work I came across this giant bed bug in front of the Affinia Manhattan Hotel. I stared in awe a this ugly thing, and I thought...what could possibly be the point....and then it occured to me just how effective it was in front of a hotel!! As we will be discussing the Symbolic Frame today I think it is worth thinking about the effects of protests. What kinds of pressure does the symbolism of a protest put onto an organization? Add to that a rat, and given the current problem of bedbugs in the city - how geniously effective on the part of labor unions to use a giant bed bug. However, had I not heard previouslty about the switch from the giant rat to the giant bed bug I would have looked at the giant inflatable monstronsity yesterday and thought "what the heck is that" and moved on...I kind of wonder, does the message get lost if people don't know what the symbolism means?
view an image in this article here: http://gothamist.com/2010/11/10/inflatable_union_rat_fired_inflatab.php
-Ken
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ReplyDeleteI believe the inflated rats or bed bugs is pretty old, but it can be effective for the workers because they used the bed bug in front of the hotel to hurt the hotels business. Many people don't know what is going on or why people are protesting in front of a business, so by showing up in front of a hotel with a huge bed bug, this may be suggesting to outsiders that the hotel has bed bugs, which would hurt the hotels business.
ReplyDeleteDec. 2, 2010 comment by Victoria Warren
ReplyDeleteIn response to the Bed Bug Strike Post by Ken I think you made a great comparison to the symbolism in the whole bed bug epidemic to strikes conducted by labor unions. The nature of a strike is completely symbolic. Strikers want to show a united from while putting pressure on labors heads to fight for raises, benefits, better working conditions, and more. I think that the biggest issue with society today is the reactive nature of work. The problems that these strikers complain about are probably evident, and have been bought up in the confines of the agency but when the pressure is put on that’s when real talks happen. Mediators are bought in, and now instead of classic avoidance, you have head on confrontation much like the bed bug epidemic. When the public outcry begin, and this issue was given media coverage, and people seem to care that’s when it was aggressed. Organizations cannot continue to treat issues like the bed bug epidemic by putting plastic over it or just shooing them away. The problem only comes back bigger and more prevalent.
ReplyDeleteShawnta Washington.
Ken, I think you bring up a good point with your question on whether the symbol must be recognizable to be effective. This seems to me to be one of the key considerations for approaching leadership and management from a symbolic perspective. A fiction writer once told me that a good story is "interesting things happening to people you care about". In the theater of the symbolic frame, the story needs to hold the attention of the audience long enough to communicate the underlying message.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the theory behind the symbolic frame is easy enough to understand, its mastery seems to me - more than any of the other frames - to be more of an art than a science. I have observed and/or participated in numerous efforts on the part of leaders in my organization to unite staff around common goals or initiatives or identity through a symbolic act or ritual with marginal effectiveness. The ritual may have been carried out with good design and the best of intentions and yet somehow it's a flop. Your post and our class reading makes me think that part of the "science" of the symbolic frame is choosing symbols that are recognizable and meaningful to staff.