Metaphors of Organization
Gareth Morgan's Metaphors of Organizations
Introduction
Metaphors help simplify complex concepts by integrating an already know term to a new term, therefore making it more comprehensible to the readers. In his book, Images of Organization, Gareth Morgan (2006) simply applied metaphors in bringing to our understanding the different perspectives and faces of organizations (Bottero, K, 2013) This paper would pinpoint and attempt to examine the major metaphoric postulations of Gareth Morgan’s Images of Organization. As Morgan would say, the entire management and organizational theories essentially emanate from implicit mind frames or metaphors that attempt to convince humans to see, know and visualize situations in partial ways. He went on to say that metaphors create and same time truncate insights. Morgan equally understood that no single theory could lay claim credit for providing all-purpose management viewpoint, besides to having a perfect theory for structuring the activities of diverse individuals. Morgan’s metaphors include the following, which he advocated organizations could be viewed as: machines, organisms, brains, cultures, political systems, psychic prisons, transformation systems, and instruments of domination.
Images of Organization The main thesis of the book, Images of Organization, by Gareth Morgan (2006), essentially advocates that all the ever known theories of organizations and management totally hinge on implicit metaphor, which ironically plays paradoxical roles. At some point they are very helpful towards expounding the meaning of organizations, but in same token, hinder the knowledge of other essentials of organizations (Lawly, J.,2001) Explaining further, Gareth asserts that our assumptions, and things we often ignore are the very things that constrains and dictates our perceptions. For instance, finding a solution to a problem could be hampered by what we ask and the means applied to
Introduction
Metaphors help simplify complex concepts by integrating an already know term to a new term, therefore making it more comprehensible to the readers. In his book, Images of Organization, Gareth Morgan (2006) simply applied metaphors in bringing to our understanding the different perspectives and faces of organizations (Bottero, K, 2013) This paper would pinpoint and attempt to examine the major metaphoric postulations of Gareth Morgan’s Images of Organization. As Morgan would say, the entire management and organizational theories essentially emanate from implicit mind frames or metaphors that attempt to convince humans to see, know and visualize situations in partial ways. He went on to say that metaphors create and same time truncate insights. Morgan equally understood that no single theory could lay claim credit for providing all-purpose management viewpoint, besides to having a perfect theory for structuring the activities of diverse individuals. Morgan’s metaphors include the following, which he advocated organizations could be viewed as: machines, organisms, brains, cultures, political systems, psychic prisons, transformation systems, and instruments of domination.
Images of Organization The main thesis of the book, Images of Organization, by Gareth Morgan (2006), essentially advocates that all the ever known theories of organizations and management totally hinge on implicit metaphor, which ironically plays paradoxical roles. At some point they are very helpful towards expounding the meaning of organizations, but in same token, hinder the knowledge of other essentials of organizations (Lawly, J.,2001) Explaining further, Gareth asserts that our assumptions, and things we often ignore are the very things that constrains and dictates our perceptions. For instance, finding a solution to a problem could be hampered by what we ask and the means applied to
References: Morgan, G. (2006). Images of Organization. Sage Publications Inc. Thousands Oaks, CA Bottero,K Lawley,J.(2001) Metaphors of Organizations-Part 1 http://www.cleanlanguage.co.uk/Metaphors-of-Orgs-1.html Morgan, G. (1997) Images of Organization. London: Sage Taleb, N.(2007) The Black Swan, The Impact of the Highly Improbable Lambert 111, J. (2009) Morgan’s Images of Organization Review, Retrieved from: https://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/complicity/.../7147 Yousefi, H.(2005) Organizational Metaphors. Retrieved from: http://www.mhy-page.com/images/1.pdf Prince, L.(2007) Organizational Analysis retrieved from http://www.lesleyprince.com/Organisational%20Analysis%20Notes%20and%20Essays.pdf