ABSTRACT
This chapter looks in more depth at behaviour and symbols and their influence in an organisation and hence their impact on culture. The behaviour of all leaders in schools includes the need to behave consistently and according to the policies and espoused requirements. If a person preaches one message while behaving in a different way, will always take the behaviour as the example of what really matters. Leaders of some organisations are much more aware of the use of symbols than others. For example, the Christian church and indeed most religions are usually very conscious about the use of symbols. All organisations use symbols to some extent. Systems are much less popular and for some leaders wearisome or just “more bureaucracy”. This is often because understanding how to design and implement systems can be time-consuming in an organisation where no one seems to have any spare time, especially for Improvement work.
