In a message dated 96-01-19 22:08:45 EST, you write:
>I just used Gareth Morgan's list of 8 metaphors for organization in the
>introductory lectures of a course in Environmental Management (Master's
>level) here at Lund University. It confused the hell out of the students,
>most of whom have technical, science, and legal backgrounds. Saying that
>we see organizations as fundamentally different "things" depending on our
>points of reference, and that this plurality of images should be used
>consciously by researchers and managers to avoid being trapped by what we
>otherwise take for granted, resulted in a debate which became rather
>hostile at times.
>The emergence of irritation and anger in practitioners when confronted by
>the postmodern, interpretive paradigms is itself a very interesting
>subject. It has been 17 years since Burrell & Morgan's seminal book -
>what is going on?
Hi Ralph,
I can sympathize with your predicament, as I often run into groups of
people who are very "concrete" in their outlook and language and regard
metaphors with suspicion (engineers, lawyers and accountants often feature
in this category). I have found it helps to start with their experience
and work back to the metaphors rather than to start with the images. For
instance, you can ask them "If your organization was a vehicle (animal, if
you are feeling bold) of some kind what would it be? Why? Draw a picture
of it." If they do this on their own and then discuss it in groups, pick
the best image, draw it (as a team) and present it, it goes a long way
toward breaking down their hostility toward the discussion of the use of
metaphor. Rather like Moliere's character, who found he had been speaking
prose all his life, they find that they have been using metaphors all
their lives!
-- Best wishes, David Hurst Speaker, Consultant and Writer on Management dhurst1046@aol.com