Content area
Full Text
Introduction
Healthcare management challenges have long considered the use of metaphors to address healthcare business and delivery intricacies (Mustacchi and Krevans, 2001; Trogen, 2017). The global nature and complexity of communication for dissemination of information and outcomes is challenging, unless it can be expressed in an easy to formulate and interpret manner such as through metaphors (CWRU, 1989; Trogen, 2017). Metaphors are critical to assisting with the overall framing of problems and solutions, however, according to Mustacchi and Krevans (2001) there are over 3,800 metaphors currently available to managers, and the direction an organization should select for their mission is an ongoing challenge. Mustacchi and Krevans (2001) discuss that in healthcare there are also concerns that ethical or religious foci are being replaced instead with business-focused metaphors. For example, cosmetics surgeons bid for customer business online, and healthcare treatment is viewed as a common product instead of a service (Mustacchi and Krevans, 2001).
A metaphor is a method used to compare two things which are not exact; the metaphor provides the ability to map terminology, allowing comprehension of complex topics or new scenarios (Moser, 2000). Metaphors are a means to gain further insights into human activity and the world, and through quantitative or qualitative metaphors, a mechanism is created to allow individuals to understand abstract concepts, and each psychological process utilizes an illusion to create sameness with every thought being at least in part a metaphor (Minsky, 1987; Long et al., 2000). Metaphors are used commonly in business, and organizational metaphors often drive the way organizations work and how the organizations make decisions (McCrimmon, 2016). Typically, metaphors are designed with appropriate richness and with usage constrains, such that the metaphors can be utilized across varying cultures and contexts nationally and internationally (CWRU, 1989). For example, organizations may use a ship metaphor, bringing new employees “on board” and “running a tight ship” (McCrimmon, 2016). The organizations also “sail” toward specific destinations as determined by their “captain” or CEO (McCrimmon, 2016). Organizations may use sports as a metaphor, building a “team,” “keeping the ball in play,” and “winning against the competition” (CWRU, 1989).
When a manager or administrator selects a metaphor, they are also selecting a similar knowledge set (Cornelissen, 2005). Metaphors allow conceptual mappings between...