Metaphor in the Literature of Organizational Analysis: A Preliminary Taxonomy and a Glimpse at a Humanities-Based Perspective

Abstract

This paper reviews the writing on metaphor in organizational analysis. It aims to synthesize developments and draw out trends. It argues that the implications of metaphor, as spelt out by poets, philosophers and linguists, do not seem to have been considered as fully as they might have been by many writers in organizational analysis. It explores possible reasons why this might be the case and what this suggests about dominant assumptions in the field. It concludes by looking at some avenues for research that arise from the study of metaphor from a more humanities-based perspective.

Keywords

humanities metaphor organizational analysis taxonomy

References

Akin, G. and Schultheiss, E. (1990) `Jazz Bands and Missionaries—OD through Stories and Metaphors', Journal of Managerial Psychology 5(4): 12-18.

Barrett, F.J. and Cooperrider, D.L. (1990) `Generative Metaphor Intervention: A New Approach for Working with Systems Divided by Conflict and Caught in Defensive Perception', Journal of Applied Behavioural Science 26(2): 219-239.

Beech, N. (1996) `Organisational Change Interventions: A New Set of Beliefs?', in C. Oswick and D. Grant (eds) Organisation Development: Metaphorical Explorations. London: Pitman.

Bohm, D. (1980) Wholeness and the Implicate Order. London: Routledge.

Brink, T.L. (1993) `Metaphor as Data in the Study of Organisations', Journal of Management Inquiry 2(4): 366-371.

Burgoyne, J. and Reynolds, M. , eds (1997) Management Learning: Integrating Perspectives in Theory and Practice. London: Sage.

Burke, W.W. (1992) `Metaphors to Consult by', Group and Organization Management 17(3): 255-259.

Burrell, G. (1997) Pandemonium-Towards a Retro-organization Theory. London: Sage.

Chia, R. (1996) `Metaphors and Metaphorization in Organizational Analysis: Thinking beyond the Thinkable', in D. Grant , and C. Oswick (eds) Metaphor and Organizations. London: Sage.

10.

Clark, T. and Salaman, G. (1996) `Telling Tales: Management Consultancy as the Art of Story Telling', in D. Grant , and C. Oswick (eds) Metaphor and Organizations. London: Sage.

11.

Cleary, C. and Packard, T. (1992) `The Use of Metaphors in Organizational Assessment and Change', Group and Organization Management 17(3): 229-241.

12.

Cooper, R. and Burrell, G. (1988) `Modernism, Postmodernism and Organizational Analysis: An Introduction', Organization Studies 9(1): 91-112.

13.

Cuddon, J.A. (1991) The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, 3rd edn. London: Penguin Books.

14.

Derrida, J. (1982) Margins of Philosophy. (Translated by A. Bass.) Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

15.

Dunford, R. and Palmer, I. (1996) `Metaphors in Popular Management Discourse: The Case of Corporate Restructuring', in D. Grant and C. Oswick (eds) Metaphor and Organizations. London: Sage.

16.

Dunn, S. (1990) `Root Metaphor in the Old and New Industrial Relations', British Journal of Industrial Relations 28(1): 1-31.

17.

Fairclough, N. and Hardy, G. (1997) `Management Learning as Discourse', in J. Burgoyne and M. Reynolds (eds) Management Learning: Integrating Perspectives in Theory and Practice. London: Sage.

18.

French, R. and Grey, C. , eds (1996) Rethinking Management Education. London: Sage.

19.

Freud, S. (1991) The Interpretation of Dreams. (Translated by James Strachey; edited by Angela Richards.) London: Penguin.

20.

Gergen, K.J. (1992) `Organization Theory in the Postmodern Era', in M. Reed and M. Hughes (eds) Rethinking Organization: New Directions in Organization Theory and Analysis. London: Sage.

21.

Goodrich, C. (1975) The Frontier of Control: A Study in British Workshop Politics. London: G. Bell.

22.

Grant, D. (1996) `Metaphors, Human Resource Management and Control', in C. Oswick , and D. Grant (eds) Organisation Development: Metaphorical Explorations. London: Pitman.

23.

Grant, D. and Oswick, C. , eds (1996) Metaphor and Organizations. London: Sage.

24.

Grant, D. , Keenoy, T. and Oswick, C. , eds (1998) Discourse and Organization. London: Sage.

25.

Greenfield, S. (2000) Brain Story. BBC 2 production, July/August.

26.

Höpfl, H. and Maddrell, J. (1996) `Can You Resist a Dream? Evangelical Metaphors and the Appropriation of Emotion', in D. Grant and C. Oswick (eds) Metaphor and Organizations. London: Sage.

27.

Inns, D. and Jones, P. (1996) `Metaphor in Organization Theory: Following in the Footsteps of the Poet?', in D. Grant and C. Oswick (eds) Metaphor and Organizations. London: Sage.

28.

Kallinikos, J. (1996) `Mapping the Intellectual Terrain of Management Education', in R. French and C. Grey (eds) Rethinking Management Education. London: Sage.

29.

Keenoy, T. and Anthony, P. (1992) `HRM: Metaphor, Meaning and Morality', in P. Blyton and P. Turnbull (eds) Reassessing HRM. London: Sage.

30.

Keizer, J.A. and Post, G.J.J. (1996) `The Metaphoric Gap as a Catalyst of Change', in C. Oswick and D. Grant (eds) Organisation Development: Metaphorical Explorations. London: Pitman.

31.

Knights, D. (1992) `Changing Spaces: The Disruptive Impact of a New Epistemological Location for the Study of Management', Academy of Management Review 17(3): 514-536.

32.

Lacan, J. (1977) Ecrits: A Selection. (Translated by Tavistock Publications Ltd.) London: Routledge.

33.

Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. (1980) Metaphors We Live by. London: University of Chicago Press.

34.

Lakoff, G. and Turner, M. (1989) More than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

35.

Leach, E. (1972) `Anthropological Aspects of Language: Animal Categories and Verbal Abuse', in P. Maranda (ed.) Mythology. Middlesex: Penguin Books.

36.

Lemaire, A. (1977) Jacques Lacan. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

37.

Levin, S.R. (1977) The Semantics of Metaphor. London: Johns Hopkins University Press.

38.

Levin, S.R. (1979) `Standard Approaches to Metaphor and a Proposal for Literary Metaphor', in A. Ortony (ed.) Metaphor and Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

39.

Marshak, R.J. (1996) `Metaphors, Metaphoric Fields and Organizational Change', in D. Grant and C. Oswick (eds) Metaphor and Organizations. London: Sage. Morgan, G. (1986) Images of Organization. London: Sage.

40.

Morgan, G. (1996) `An Afterword: Is there Anything more to be Said about Metaphor', in D. Grant and C. Oswick (eds) Metaphor and Organizations. London: Sage.

41.

Nowottny, W. (1962) The Language Poets Use. London: Athlone Press.

42.

O'Connor, E. , Hatch, M.J. , White, H.V. and Zald, M.N. (1995) `Undisciplining Organisational Studies: A Conversation across Domains, Methods and Beliefs', Journal of Management Inquiry 4(2): 119-136.

43.

Ortony, A. , ed. (1993) Metaphor and Thought (2nd edn). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

44.

Oswick, C. (1996) `Insights into Diagnosis: An Exploration Using Visual Metaphors', in C. Oswick and D. Grant (eds) Organisation Development: Metaphorical Explorations. London: Pitman.

45.

Oswick, C. and Grant, D. , eds (1996a) Organisation Development: Metaphorical Explorations. London: Pitman.

46.

Oswick, C. and Grant, D. (1996b) `The Organization of Metaphors and the Metaphors of Organization: Where Are We and Where Do We Go from Here?', in D. Grant and C. Oswick (eds) Metaphor and Organizations. London: Sage.

47.

Palmer, I. and Dunford, R. (1996) `Understanding Organisations through Metaphor', in C. Oswick and D. Grant (eds) Organisation Development: Metaphorical Explorations. London: Pitman.

48.

Pinder, C.C. and Bourgeois, V.W. (1982) `Controlling Tropes in Administrative Science', Administrative Science Quarterly 27(4): 641-652.

49.

Reed, M. (1990) `From Paradigms to Images: The Paradigm Warrior Turns Postmodernist Guru', Personnel Review 19(3): 35-40.

50.

Ricoeur, P. (1978) The Rule of Metaphor-Multi-disciplinary Studies in the Creation of Meaning in Language. (Translated from the French by Robert Czerny.) London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

51.

Sackmann, S. , (1989) `The Role of Metaphors in Organisation Transformation', Human Relations 42(6): 463-485.

52.

Sarup, M. (1993) An Introductory Guide to Post-structuralism and Postmodernism. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

53.

Schön, D.A. (1993) `Generative Metaphor: A Perspective on Problem-solving in Social Policy', in A. Ortony (ed.) Metaphor and Thought (2nd edn). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

54.

Smith, K.K. (1982) `Philosophical Problems in Thinking about Organizational Change', in P.S. Goodman (ed.) Change in Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

55.

Srivastva, S. and Barrett, F. (1988) `The Transforming Nature of Metaphors in Group Development: A Study in Group Theory', Human Relations 41(1): 31-64.

56.

Tinker, T. (1986) `Metaphor or Reification: Are Radical Humanists Really Libertarian Anarchists?', Journal of Management Studies 23(4) 363-385.

57.

Tsoukas, H. (1991) `The Missing Link: A Transformational View of Metaphor in Organisational Science', Academy of Management Review 16(3): 566-585.

58.

Tsoukas, H. (1993) `Analogical Reasoning and Knowledge Generation in Organization Theory', Journal of Management Studies 23: 363-384.

59.

Whitehead, A.N. (1985) Science and the Modern World. London: Free Association Books.