...Signe Bruskin; Elisabeth Naima Mikkelsen Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore whether there is a link between retrospective and prospective sensemaking by analyzing metaphors of past and potential future changes. Design/methodology/approach The article draws on interview data from...

... communication involving stories, metaphors or axioms in fostering socio-cognitive routines necessary for organizational change. The study further examines the empirical link between positive communication and organizational transformation with the survey data from professionals who have experienced...

...Wendelin M. Küpers Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe how a phenomenological approach can help to understand embodied dimensions and compare different and shared qualities, functions and potential, as well as ambivalences and limitations of metaphors and stories in organisations...

...Marja Flory; Alfonso Sauquet; Antonio Gelis‐Filho Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a metaphor of organizations as discursive gravitational fields. Design/methodology/approach The metaphor was built based on Einstein's general theory of relativity and Lacan's theory of discourse...

...Christopher J. Rees; John Hassard; Sharon Purchase; Sid Lowe; Nick Ellis Purpose An earlier researcher, Wood, proposed that cinema is the most appropriate metaphor for interpretation of contemporary life and organizations. The paper adopts the enthusiasm for the cinema metaphor and explores...

.... The negative, rather than any positive, consequences of anthropomorphism in organization literature are discussed. Originality/value A new agenda for organizational studies is suggested where anthropomorphism is avoided together with the fallacy of the human metaphor. Anthropomorphism creates confusion...

...Robert Barner Purpose To provide a descriptive case study showing how the construction of drawings as visual metaphors can help work groups “give voice” to their emotional reactions to organizational change events, and provide groups with a vehicle for interpreting and framing their experience...

...Arthur J. Sementelli; Charles F. Abel Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how mechanistic and organic metaphors might be fused through the application of cultural imagery. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a theoretical examination of metaphor and its application...

...Slawomir Magala; Saku Mantere; John A.A. Sillince; Virpi Hämäläinen Purpose To explore a musical metaphor in making organizational change a potentially pleasurable experience to participants. Design/methodology/approach The paper begins by challenging ideological assumptions behind classical...

...Marianne Ekman Philips; Tony Huzzard Purpose This paper draws on the metaphor of “magic” to explore the role of dialogue conferences and subsequent activities as a tool for organizational development and change. The metaphor is introduced and elaborated as a means of allowing critical reflection...

...Adrian N. Carr; Philip Hancock; Jeff Waistell Purpose This paper aims to examine how metaphors mediate organizational change across space and time. Design/methodology/approach The data consist of 113 speeches by vice‐chancellors of a distance learning university, recorded in texts. Texts...

...Thomaz Wood, Jr The use of metaphoric language has grown in prevalence in recent years. Frontline organizations have become “magical kingdoms”: ethereal places where image and substance rarely coincide, and where metaphors turn into powerful tools for consultants and change agents. At the same time...

... with the cultural aspects of the change. Systems concepts, such as rich pictures and metaphors, were used to generate new perspectives that would stimulate a more holistic approach to organisational change management. Management Engineers Organizational change Metaphors While the engineers used rich...

...Cliff Oswick; John Montgomery This article presents the results of a metaphor‐based investigation of managers, supervisors and team leaders drawn from the UK subsidiaries of a large US multinational. Participants were asked two main questions, namely: if you were asked to compare your organisation...

...Jerry Biberman; Michael Whitty; Lee Robbins The 1899 book and the 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz hold a permanent influence on US culture. In this article we describe how the Wizard of Oz’s story can serve as a metaphor for balancing energies and organizational transformation at all levels. Just...

... for exploring the role of root metaphors in organizational culture and in management development. Literary artists filter “real life” through a personal, but sensitively attuned conduit; so their “findings” and “conclusions” provide a challenging alternative to the traditional case study. If, for example...

...Ian Palmer; Richard Dunford Since the mid‐1980s, there has been strong advocacy of the use of reframing through the application of organizational metaphors as one of the skills of the “new” manager. The reframing approach champions the virtues of analysing and responding to organizational...

...Christa L. Walck Organizational theorists have used metaphors such as organism, machine and language to understand organizations. Develops a new metaphor of place, based on writing about natural places, to imagine how an organization could radically recreate itself so that a healthy ecology...