Chapter 6: The Use of Metaphor In Consulting For Organizational Change

Metaphors “are central to human discourse and understanding” (Cornelissen, Oswick, Christensen, & Phillips, 2008). Organizational theorists and practitioners have discovered the potential of metaphor and have sought to more deliberately employ its use in theory building and practice. Drawing on these perspectives, the focus of this chapter is to examine how organizational change consultants can use metaphor to help guide their work with clients.

The chapter is divided into three parts. It begins with a brief exploration of insights about metaphor from recent literature. The chapter then turns to four organization metaphors:

The fourth metaphor, the “energy wave” will be introduced as one possible way of looking at postmodern organizations. The final part of the chapter focuses on the implications of metaphor for the practice of organizational change consulting.