Political Metaphor

In the first two chapters of Images of Organization, the author, Gareth Morgan defines the theory of metaphor and how it is applied to organization. He challenges the reader to examine metaphor as a tool that is used to understand and recognize organization (Morgan, 1998, p. 5). He also cautions against perceptual distortions and bias of metaphor. In chapter two, Morgan presents organization as a machine, illustrating the theories of Frederick the Great of Prussia, Max Weber, and Frederick Taylor.

In their organizing tasks they have to build a structure of working relationships between all of the members in the organization, that best allows them to work together and attain goals.

The Case of Chris Cunningham involves all the different frames. As I read the case, I did my analysis and placed myself in the Structural and Political frames. The case had prime examples of political power from many levels of the organization. The political view of organization might seem strange in light of traditional assumptions of control from the top. These same dynamics of conflict, coalitions, and power are found at every level of human affairs. MANN (1986, 2013)

In the case of “Thomas Green: power, office politics, and a career in Crisis”, it describes the dilemma of Thomas Green who works in a company called Dynamic Display. Thomas was recruited as an account executive, and then five months later, he was promoted as a Senior Market Specialist directly by the President Shannon McDonald. Thomas’s boss Frank Davis hadn’t expected to choose Green as the new senior market specialist, and he was very dissatisfied with Green’s work style and performance three months after the promotion. After being informed that Frank Davis had emailed McDonald about his concerns about Green’s performance, Green was getting really worried about his situation and not sure how to explain his perspective to

Critically analyze the organization from the systems approach. You should consider the inputs, transformation and output elements of the operation and consider how the system creates value.

In Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson give the following definition: “The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another” (5). An obvious focal point of Metaphors We Live By, and the idea this essay will attempt to further explicate, is the notion that the title implies: we live by certain dominant metaphors.

The Hierarchical structure chart is next. This is the chart most people think of, it shows who reports to whom from the bottom to the top. It also shows the relationship between people on the same level (Kokemuller n.d.). The pros of this chart are, everybody knows who their supervisors is, communication, and feedback is streamed lined. This is vital in a small company. The cons are, the people at the bottom will feel separated from the top, and some managers could have a power trip, it does not allow for team building.

An organizational chart shows the internal structure and hierarchies of an organization, like a business, school, or government entity. It creates an easy visual depiction for the ranks of different people, jobs, and departments that make up the organization. Orgizational charts also help determine how authority and information flow between people and departments. (Lucidchart, n.d.)

2. Visualize things for yourself is a technique that can be used in many aspects of leadership.

Pictures are often more effective than words ，巴﹒忌， basketball coaches map out plays on miniblackboards during time-outs; a company's annual reports set out sales figures in a bar graph; and executives study maps of sales regions to identífy account concentration and territory developmen t. Similar pictures often play a role in new product development as evidenced by

This view of an organization can help us to draw useful inferences about its relationships with its environment, (Lawrence & Lorsch, 1967), the role of management (Eisenhardt, 1989), as an interdependent part of a system whose primary function is to exert authority and

According to Lewis (2007), “Metaphors are statements that make comparisons between objects, some literally spelled out, others implied” (p.119). Metaphors shape and define our way of thinking and are often common practices with businesses. How we effectively communicate depends on our word choice. Words more specifically metaphors bring what we are trying to say come to life. Metaphors are useful when trying to communicate ideas that may be difficult to understand. As they use familiar objects as their vehicles to “make a point or reinforce a point” (Miller, 2008, para 6 & 7). This paper will look at the concept of the following business metaphors: business as a journey and my new venture. Included in this paper is the history and reasons for these metaphors. Also, this paper examine the vehicle/tenor relationship, denotative and connotative meanings and the implications and effects of these metaphors. Metaphors are useful in the business world as they build relationships with the target domain it describes. For instance, a business described as a ‘journey’ can be associated with words like adventure, exploration, progress, process and venture. Similarly, the word ‘venture’ can mean deal, enterprise, investment, undertaking or set-up. These are common words associated with the business language. Subsequently, a relationship is created between business and journey/venture. The vehicle/tenor relationship for business as a journey and my new venture are as follows: the tenor is

Human asset divisions are much of the time approached to make authoritative diagrams for their organization to make it simple for officials and

The view and metaphorical analogy of an organization as a machine was the result of the only frame of reference available at

In addition, many researchers have developed modern-day theories such as, for example, Henri Ford's assembly-line work or Max Weber's theory of bureaucracy. Then, Symbolic interpretive perspectives are largely different from modernist theory, especially in the organizational culture that differs in the way of directing, evolving and transforming an organization. Indeed, this theory sees companies much more like a community of people with connections and affinities, the symbolic interpretive focuses on the “ideal employee”. To finish,