Company Rituals: A Valid Management Tool in the Organizational Field

Interpersonal relationships are fundamental both in the private and in the organizational sphere. They must be managed with a strong respect since people can remain wounded as well as blessed by the other. In companies, there are specific organizational tools that can contribute to transform personal wounds into relational blessings, i.e., the organizational rituals. Rituals, indeed, are able to strengthen relational bonds and to increase the sense of cohesion among people belonging to the same organization. However, companies are not always aware of rituals’ presence, or are not able to adequately manage their own rituals. This could happen when – rather than facilitating the transformation of a wound into blessing – control mechanisms exercised within companies generate manipulation practices which ruin relationships. Given this picture, we think that recognizing spontaneous rituals within an organization – through specific managerial leverages – could help to overcome relational wounds and to create an environment favorable to people’s well-being.