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Metaphors were used to teach systems thinking and to clarify concepts of organizational theory in an introductory MBA management course. Gareth Morgan's metaphors of organization were read by students and applied as frames to analyze a business case. In addition, personal metaphors were written by individual students in order to describe the organizations where they worked. Writing personal metaphors enabled students to report subjective images that otherwise could be difficult to describe in normal, declarative language. Students chose metaphors such as a dysfunctional family, hungry bear, ant hill, budding flower, subway, and an alien spaceship to exemplify their organizations. Systems theory was introduced to the students as a particularly useful metaphor for analyzing organizations.
Keywords: metaphor; systems theory; organization theory
Using Metaphors in Organization Theory
Organizations have unique meaning for each person in them. Members might think of their organization as good or bad, powerful or weak, static or dynamic. Organizational identity also may reside in metaphoric images held by members. Metaphorically, the organization could have properties analogous to those of a computer-all components work together seamlessly to function as a unit; a bamboo tree-flexible, a bamboo tree will bend, rather than break in a strong wind; or a religious cult-a cult receives its vision from its supreme guru. Organizational identity is difficult to assess directly because it is an abstract, multidimensional construct; moreover, not all individuals can readily access their personal feelings and ideas and express them clearly in written or oral language (Schooler & Fiore, 1997). I felt that metaphor writing could be used as a tool for management students to discover their subjective meanings and mental models of organizations and to serve as a medium for expressing those meanings.
My rationale for using metaphors to describe organizational phenomena is based on the premise that human thought is largely image-based, not language-based (Pinker, 1994). Metaphors, too, are image-based. Although it is true that metaphors involve language, metaphoric language can evoke clear, vivid, visual images. Metaphors provide a means of generating, transmitting, and decoding language using visualization.
METAPHOR AS A MEDIUM FOR COMMUNICATING
Management courses often use experiential exercises to promote skill development in "micro" management or organizational behavior topics such as communicating, decision making, planning, problem solving, motivating, goal setting, leading, and...