organizations as brains

In Images of Organization Gareth Morgan discusses eight metaphors for organization: machine, organism, brain, culture, political system, psychic prison, flux and transformation, and domination. Relying on Morgan's conceptualization of organization as brain, the authors of your text discuss the brain metaphor in box 3.4. One strength of this metaphor is it promotes the idea of the learning organization, so it goes beyond the organism metaphor that portrays organizations as adapting to their environments. The brain metaphor suggests that organizations enact their environments and can be proactive and reactive.

Still, the brain metaphor suggests a rational approach to organizing and decision making. Yet as you've probably found, organizational decisions are often all but rational. Hidden agendas, personal biases, political maneuverings, and emotions are all involved in how organization members make decisions. This was certainly the case with a professional organization I belonged to for several years. Organization members made several poor decisions in spite of information that would have suggested a different course of action. Personalities became more important than reasoned discussion. The organization--already small--lost several key members due to the conflict.

Although the brain metaphor is useful, Morgan notes "there is a danger of overlooking important conflicts that can arise between learning and self-organizing, on the one hand, and the realities of power and control, on the other hand. . . . Moreover, the process of learning requires a degree of openness and self-criticism that is foreign to traditional modes of management" (p. 117).

Images of Organization is a fascinating book and a classic in the field. I've used it in the past for the BUS/COMM 244 seminar. But the second edition is over 10 years old and I wanted a text that was published more recently. Still, Morgan's book is an essential read for all students of organizational communication.