Organization as a Person
The Organization as a Person: Utilizing Metaphoric Analysis to Transform Organizations
Leadership Advance Online– Issue XV, Winter 2008
by Antonio G. Marchesi
What is an organization? Is it a place, a process or a person? Individuals at all levels of employment often wrestle with what many deem to be the daunting task of succinctly articulating the nature of the organization. Countless texts exist that attempt to provide a model for describing the construct and function of organizations. However, depending upon one’s worldview, tolerance for abstraction and personal presuppositions, many conflicting perspectives may exist within a single organization. Most leaders emphasize matters related to organizational behavior over those that help to elucidate corporate identity. The work loosely informs identity rather than vice versa. Organizations that hope to maintain a competitive edge in the 21st century, while resisting the temptation to downsize, may arrive at the startling realization that they are suffering from dissociative identity disorder. For those organizations hoping to initiate a plan to remedy or to prevent this state of being, alternative thinking or experimentation is required. The solution to this malady may not be as easily accessible, organized and available as those conveniently found in the business section of the local Barnes and Noble bookstore. Despite the reluctance that some leaders may have to delve deeply into a critical analysis of the relationship of organizational identity to the climate and output of the organization, Margaret Wheatley (2007) makes a strong case for its absolute necessity: Mort Meyerson, the former chairman of Perot Systems, said in an interview in Fast Company magazine several years ago, that the primary task of being a leader is to make sure that the organization knows itself. That is, the leader’s task is to call people together often, so that everyone gains clarity about what they’re doing, who they’ve become
Leadership Advance Online– Issue XV, Winter 2008
by Antonio G. Marchesi
What is an organization? Is it a place, a process or a person? Individuals at all levels of employment often wrestle with what many deem to be the daunting task of succinctly articulating the nature of the organization. Countless texts exist that attempt to provide a model for describing the construct and function of organizations. However, depending upon one’s worldview, tolerance for abstraction and personal presuppositions, many conflicting perspectives may exist within a single organization. Most leaders emphasize matters related to organizational behavior over those that help to elucidate corporate identity. The work loosely informs identity rather than vice versa. Organizations that hope to maintain a competitive edge in the 21st century, while resisting the temptation to downsize, may arrive at the startling realization that they are suffering from dissociative identity disorder. For those organizations hoping to initiate a plan to remedy or to prevent this state of being, alternative thinking or experimentation is required. The solution to this malady may not be as easily accessible, organized and available as those conveniently found in the business section of the local Barnes and Noble bookstore. Despite the reluctance that some leaders may have to delve deeply into a critical analysis of the relationship of organizational identity to the climate and output of the organization, Margaret Wheatley (2007) makes a strong case for its absolute necessity: Mort Meyerson, the former chairman of Perot Systems, said in an interview in Fast Company magazine several years ago, that the primary task of being a leader is to make sure that the organization knows itself. That is, the leader’s task is to call people together often, so that everyone gains clarity about what they’re doing, who they’ve become
References: Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, NY: Random House. Marchesi, A.G. (2008). The highly human side of leadership. Unpublished Journal Article. Morgan, G. (1998). Images of organization. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Wheatley, M. (2007). Finding our way: Leadership for an uncertain time. San Francisco, CA: BerrettKoehler. Leadership Advance Online – Issue XV, Winter 2008 © 2008 School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship Regent University, ISSN 1554-3757, www.regent.edu/lao