Manage to get eastern symbol (4)
I believe the answer is:
rune
'symbol' is the definition.
(rune is a kind of symbol)
'manage to get eastern' is the wordplay.
'manage' becomes 'run' (both can mean to organise).
'to get' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'eastern' becomes 'e'.
'run'+'e'='RUNE'
(Other definitions for rune that I've seen before include "Old Scandinavian letter" , "Mystic symbol" , "Early symbol used in carvings" , "Old alphabet letter" , "Spell" .)