Metaphorical analysis in leadership

Metaphorical analysis in leadership

A metaphorical analysis can be used in leadership to study and change organizational culture. Its unquestionable advantages include high reflectiveness and the possibility of an in-depth exploration of phenomena.

A metaphorical analysis is a highly unorthodox and creative method that is particularly useful for examining and understanding complex processes and phenomena, such as organizational culture.

However, it is worth noting that the use of metaphors in cultural research in management has several limitations.

  1. Although it is a reflective method, it is also non-structured and non-standardized, which narrows down the possibility of applying it to creative aspects rather than broader, systematic analyses and measurements on a larger scale.

  2. Such an interpretation of reality entails a high level of risk. Freedom of comparison can lead to losing cognitive functions and substituting them with the creative function related to the imagination[1].

  3. A metaphorical analysis gives rise to problems connected with distinguishing metaphors from literal phrases. As it is often emphasized, language as such is metaphorical.

  4. There are obvious problems connected with attributing a metaphor to only one paradigm, as everything depends on the way it is interpreted. The meaning of comparison is relatively fluid.

  5. Equating organizational culture with the whole organization is characteristic of non-functionalist paradigms, and it entails the broadening of the sphere of comparisons, as a result of which they become too general and not very specific.

  

The essence and problems of the metaphorical approach to organizational culture presented in this book by no means exhaust the complexity of the phenomenon. It is also worth paying attention to the issue of the multitude of proposals and the lack of consensus about a kind of canon of metaphorical methods in management.

M.J. Gannon mentions the metaphorical understanding of organizational culture as a computer, a tree, a whale, a gene pool, a rainbow, a prism, a school, a skyscraper, or a filter[2].


Metaphorical analysis in leadership bibliography

[1] Oswick C., Jones P., Beyond correspondence? Metaphor in organization theory, “Academy of Management Review”, No. 31(2), 2006, pp. 483–485.

[2] Gannon M.J., Cultural Metaphors: Applications and Exercises, <http://faculty.csusm.edu/mgannon/docs/CULTURALMETAPHORS.pdf>.

Michał Chmielecki