metaphors and organizing

Chapter 1 in the Cheney et al. book introduces the notion of metaphor in examining organizational communication, providing a list of possible metaphors on page 5. I find the notion of metaphors intriguing because they tend to go unnoticed, yet impact how you think and act.

In 1980 Lakoff and Johnson published Metaphors We Live By. The authors argued that metaphors embedded in the language communicators use shape how they interpret and create messages--that is, how individuals respond to their worlds. SJSU lecturer Dr. Janice E. Patten provides a useful summary of the book's key points on her website, The Literary Link.

About 10 years ago one of communication studies faculty tried to impose a metaphor on the department--a village. While that action seems innocuous, metaphors influence how you think about organizations (and other things as Lakoff and Johnson argue, such as love, war, and ogres--Shrek says to Donkey, "Ogres are like onions") and, in turn, the process of organizing. For example, if you think of organizations as machines, then you just replace parts (people) when they're broken. It doesn't matter who the person is, just as long as you have someone for each part of the machine. In contrast, if you think of organizations as organisms, then you become concerned with the organization's health, and the health of the people who make up the organization.

In the "village" case, faculty members not only thought that the metaphor was inappropriate, but that having someone dictate the metaphor certainly didn't reflect a cooperative sort of village. (Maybe something closer to a fiefdom.) As another example, one faculty member I know at a university in the midwest unmentioned referred to his department
as a "pit of vipers." That strong metaphor speaks volumes about faculty relationships.

At a conference I heard someone describe the internet as more of a city than an unknown space. I like that metaphor for organization as well. "City" suggests the complexity of organization, with parts that you know well (your neighborhood), parts you somewhat know, and parts you really don't know at all. City also suggests diversity in people, activities, ways of transiting, and ways of communicating. There's structure, but not necessarily rationale or logical reasons for that structure. Cities are in continual flux, embedded in (and often in power struggles with) larger social structures such as counties, regions, states, and countries. Different cities have different rhythms--Santa Cruz sort of eases into the day, San Francisco is awake all night, and Seattle settles in for an early evening to start at dawn the next day. Finally, cities have their charms, but also their dark sides.

Although metaphors are useful in understanding organizing, organizations, and organizational communication, these linguistic devices always foreground some things while hiding others.

~ Professor Cyborg