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Tavistock Institute of Human Relations
Beyond Morgan's eight metaphors:
Adding to and developing organization theory
A special issue guest edited by Anders Örtenblad, Linda Putnam and Kiran Trehan
Human Relations April 2016; Vol. 69, No. 4
ARTICLES
Beyond Morgan's eight metaphors: Adding to and developing organization theory
Anders Örtenblad, Linda L Putnam, and Kiran Trehan
Human Relations April 2016, 69(4): 875–889, doi: 10.1177/0018726715623999
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/4/875?etoc
Abstract
This introduction examines the contributions of articles in this special issue to organization theory, especially efforts to rethink or add to Morgan's metaphors and to generate new organizational images. In general, the articles in this issue offer new metaphors and sub-metaphors and enrich specifications for two of Morgan's images. Moreover, they address ways of rethinking Morgan's images through developing meta-metaphors and comparing his images with other sets of metaphors. In addition, the contributors to this special issue rely on a number of ways to generate new metaphors, namely through evaluation and critique, empirical and experiential observations, fantasy, and conceptual development. This introduction concludes with an appeal for scholars to increase their knowledge of Morgan's metaphors, especially what they are and what they entail.
'Wow! That's so cool!' The Icehotel as organizational trope
Jonathan Pinto
Human Relations April 2016, 69(4): 891–914 doi: 10.1177/0018726715618764
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/4/891?etoc
Abstract
This article introduces the Icehotel, the world's first and largest hotel to be constructed entirely of ice and snow, as a unique and generative organizational trope. As a trope (and metaphor, in particular), it both supplements and complements Morgan's seminal book, The Images of Organization, and generates unique insights with regard to surprise, unifinality, purity, eco-coreness and rebirth. The Icehotel also serves as a lens for examining organizations through each master trope, that is, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche and irony. Evidence of metonymy in language describing the Icehotel is presented. The case for synecdoche is made by arguing that the Icehotel is a species of two genera, that is, temporary organizations and paradoxical organizations. Also, the Icehotel is not only paradoxical (i.e. a form of irony), but also generates four other paradoxes, namely, the ways that organizations are evolutionary yet revolutionary, negative as well as positive, different yet similar and unsustainably sustainable. The Icehotel also exemplifies serious play – a particular approach for managing paradoxes. Finally, the article discusses implications for research and practice.
Imagining organization through metaphor and metonymy: Unpacking the process-entity paradox
Dennis Schoeneborn, Consuelo Vásquez, and Joep Cornelissen
Human Relations April 2016, 69(4): 915–944, doi: 10.1177/0018726715612899
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/4/915?etoc
Abstract
Within organization studies, Morgan's seminal book Images of Organization has laid the groundwork for an entire research tradition of studying organizational phenomena through metaphorical lenses. Within Morgan's list of images, that of 'organization as flux and transformation' stands out in two important regards. First, it has a strong metonymic dimension, as it implies that organizations consist of and are constituted by processes. Second, the image invites scholars to comprehend organizations as a paradoxical relation between organization (an entity) and process (a non-entity). In this article, we build on Morgan's work and argue that flux-based images of organization vary in their ability to deal with the process-entity paradox, depending on the degree to which its metaphorical and metonymic dimensions are intertwined. We also examine three offsprings of the flux image: Organization as Becoming, Organization as Practice, and Organization as Communication. We compare these images regarding their metaphor–metonymy dynamics, the directionality of their process of imagination, and their degree of concreteness. We contribute to Morgan's work, and to organization studies more generally, by offering an analytical grid for unpacking different processes of imagining organization. Moreover, our grid helps explain why images of organization vary in their ability to comprehend organizations in dialectical and paradoxical ways.
'Curiouser and curiouser!': Organizations as Wonderland – a metaphorical alternative to the rational model
Darren McCabe
Human Relations April 2016, 69(4): 945–973, doi: 10.1177/0018726715618453
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/4/945?etoc
Abstract
The metaphors in Morgan's (1986) Images of Organization largely imply order, rationality, stability and manageability. This reflects that the text is concerned with facilitating the design and management of organizations. This article draws on Lewis Carroll's (1865) novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to propose Wonderland as an alternative metaphor that places at centre stage issues such as absurdity, irrationality, uncertainty and disorder. Rather than a marginal or temporary aberration, it is argued that such conditions need to be understood as an everyday experience for many. This metaphor is important because those who are tasked with managing organizations may find it stressful and puzzling that they are so inept, when they compare their experiences and achievements with the rational model. In this sense, it offers both comfort and perhaps encouragement, but it should also foster humility and caution in terms of what those at the top can achieve. Likewise, those on the receiving end of irrational decisions or who reside in absurd worlds can gain solace from knowing that they are not alone, whilst those concerned with resisting such conditions can find strength in the knowledge that those in positions of authority are not omniscient/omnipotent.
'Trapped' by metaphors for organizations: Thinking and seeing women's equality and inequality
Linzi J Kemp
Human Relations April 2016, 69(4): 975–1000, doi: 10.1177/0018726715621612
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/4/975?etoc
Abstract
Gender was consistently identified as a major force in all editions of Images of Organization (Morgan, 1986, 1997, 2006), yet 30 years after publication of Morgan's (1986) seminal work, women's equality remains elusive in twenty-first-century workplaces. This state of affairs became the stimulus for the present research study, and its purpose the exploration of influences on women's equality and inequality from the eight metaphors contained in Images of Organization (Morgan, 1986, 1997, 2006). Data were collected from a sample of 70 articles in 30 leading academic journals that referenced Images of Organization (Morgan, 1986, 1997, 2006), and were analyzed for within-domains similarity between the eight metaphors and imageries of women in organizations. The results were then investigated for women's equality and inequality via content analysis. Four themes of influences on women's equality and inequality were identified from these metaphors for organizations. The implications of these findings are discussed, and two novel images are introduced to progress equality for women. The contribution to scholarly knowledge from this study is the proposition that the influence of these metaphors for organizations has in effect trapped ways of seeing and thinking regarding women's equality and inequality. The practical value of the current study lies in the proposal of new images to release organizational praxis for women's equality to become a real force in twenty-first-century organizations.
Metaphors, organizations and water: Generating new images for environmental sustainability
John M Jermier and Linda C Forbes
Human Relations April 2016, 69(4): 1001–1027, doi: 10.1177/0018726715616469
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/4/1001?etoc
Abstract
Research across the social sciences and related fields has made it clear that metaphors underwrite both scientific and everyday thinking. Gareth Morgan's work in this area, most vividly developed in his classic book Images of Organization, illustrates how metaphors underwrite thinking about organizations and the important role they can play in generating new thinking. In this study, we use and extend Morgan's (2006) thesis of 'organizations as instruments of domination' (IoD) to reflect on critical issues in organizational studies related to water and the broader natural environment. We find extending the IoD image to be helpful: (i) in deriving and elaborating a metaphor that reflects a risky trend ('organizations as water exploiters'); and (ii) in generating and developing a new metaphor that is explicitly normative and nature-centered ('organizations as water keepers'). The water keeper image brings needed attention to water problems and invites further research on activist organizations (businesses and others) seeking to change thinking and practice related to environmental sustainability. We illustrate the water keeper metaphor (and the significant move away from the paradigmatic assumptions of hard anthropocentrism) with examples from environmental champion Patagonia, Inc. We then take up Morgan's challenge to move beyond the IoD metaphor to envision non-dominating forms of organization. We revisit classic nature-inclusive metaphors and the under-explored paradigm of ecocentrism to evoke and reflect on broader notions of agency, interdependence, connectedness and social relations in transformed organizations.
Commentary: Beyond Morgan's eight metaphors
Gareth Morgan
Human Relations April 2016, 69(4): 1029–1042, doi: 10.1177/0018726715624497
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/4/1029?etoc
Abstract
This article focuses on the interplay between metaphor and metonymy in the construction of organization theory. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the relationship between the use of metaphor as a way of thinking and a way of being, and the specific metaphors that are produced through this process. It suggests that too much emphasis is often placed on metaphors as abstracted epistemological constructs rather than on understanding the more dynamic and changing role they play in the interactive modes of engagement through which people seek to grasp, concretize and act on their world. Developing the approach and ideas first presented in Images of Organization, this article suggests that a flexible use of metaphor can help us engage and understand the multidimensional and paradoxical nature of organizational life and help us to deal with the emerging issues shaping the contemporary socio-political–technological–organizational landscape. The article suggests that because most current approaches in social science are overly-focused on the study of abstracted metonymical constructs, they will have difficulty dealing with the multidimensional complexity we now face.
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CRICITCAL PERFORMATIVITY VIRTUAL ISSUE
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This virtual special issue brings together several articles looking at critical performativity.
All included content will be free to access until 20 March and can be found here:
http://hum.sagepub.com/site/misc/VSI/critical_performativity.xhtml
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APRIL FREE ACCESS ARTICLE
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Free to access until 30 April 2016
Conducting global team-based ethnography:
Methodological challenges and practical methods
Paula Jarzabkowski, Rebecca Bednarek and Laure Cabantous
Human Relations 2014 68(1): 3–33
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/68/1/3.full.pdf+html
Abstract
Ethnography has often been seen as the province of the lone researcher; however,
increasingly management scholars are examining global phenomena, necessitating a shift
to global team-based ethnography. This shift presents some fundamental methodological
challenges, as well as practical issues of method, that have not been examined in the literature
on organizational research methods. That is the focus of this article. We first outline the
methodological implications of a shift from single researcher to team ethnography, and from
single case site to the multiple sites that constitute global ethnography. Then we present
a detailed explanation of a global team-based ethnography that we conducted over three
years. Our study of the global reinsurance industry involved a team of five ethnographers
conducting fieldwork in 25 organizations across 15 countries. We outline three central
challenges we encountered: team division of labour, team sharing and constructing a
global ethnographic object. The article concludes by suggesting that global team-based
ethnography provides important insights into global phenomena, such as regulation, finance
and climate change among others, that are of interest to management scholars.
Keywords: ethnography, globalization, global practice, team-based research
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WHY PUBLISH IN HUMAN RELATIONS?
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Human Relations is an A* journal – the highest category of quality – in the Australian Business Deans Council (ABCD) Journal Quality List 2013. It is also ranked 4 in the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS) Academic Journal Guide 2015. Human Relations is a top 5 interdisciplinary social sciences journal:
2-year impact factor: 2.398 - Ranked: 35/185 in Management and 5/95 in Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary
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Source: 2014 Journal Citation Reports® (Thomson Reuters, 2015)
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RECENT ONLINE FIRST PREVIEW ARTICLES
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Social comparisons and organizational support:
Implications for commitment and retention
James M Vardaman, David G Allen, Robert F Otondo, Julie I Hancock, Lynn M Shore, and Bryan L Rogers
Human Relations, first published on April 5, 2016 as doi:10.1177/0018726715619687
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/04/01/0018726715619687.abstract
Abstract
Organizational support theory (OST) suggests that employees develop a general perception of the extent to which the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being (perceived organizational support – POS), and respond to that support through attitudes and behaviors that are beneficial toward the organization. Although OST emphasizes both social exchange and self-enhancement processes, most accounts of POS's effects are rooted in social exchange. For example, POS's linkages with commitment and retention have been explained as an exchange of support for positive attitudes and continued employment. This research sheds light on self-enhancement's less-understood role in fostering these reactions by demonstrating the influence of social comparison effects. Drawing on a sample of 342 employees nested in 82 work-units of a US hospitality company, our analysis demonstrates that favorable POS comparisons with peers in one's work-unit are positively associated with commitment and retention, whereas unfavorable comparisons are negatively related. Results also show that comparisons taking place in less-supported work-units have stronger impact than comparisons made in those with better support. Our findings extend OST by revealing the importance of social comparisons in engendering responses to organizational support, and in so doing potentially explicate the differential ways social exchange and self-enhancement operate with regard to POS.
A dual-mode framework of organizational categorization and momentary perception
Kimberly D Elsbach and Heiko Breitsohl
Human Relations, first published on March 23, 2016 as doi:10.1177/0018726716631397
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/03/23/0018726716631397.abstract
Abstract
We examine how both automatic and motivated modes of categorization are integral to understanding momentary perceptions of organizations, including perceptions of organizational identity and legitimacy. We begin by discussing how extant organizational research has relied, primarily, on single modes of categorization to describe how we form momentary perceptions of organizations. These 'single-mode' frameworks have explained momentary organizational perceptions as the result of either automatic categorization (i.e. driven by unconscious cognitive processes) or motivated categorization (i.e. driven by individual needs and desires). While these frameworks explain much about momentary organizational perceptions, we provide some notable examples that do not follow the paths they predict. To more fully explain momentary organizational perceptions, we present a framework grounded in psychological research that considers how both motivated and automatic modes of categorization influence these perceptions. In doing so, we illustrate how such a 'dual-mode' framework might better account for organizational perceptions that seem counter-intuitive when viewed through a single-mode lens. We conclude by outlining some theoretical and practical implications of our framework, and presenting an agenda for future research on organizational categorization and perception that may capitalize on our dual-mode framework.
Social organization, classificatory analogies and institutional logics:
Institutional theory revisits Mary Douglas
Danielle M Logue, Stewart Clegg, and John Gray
Human Relations, first published on March 15, 2016 as doi:10.1177/0018726715614637
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/03/11/0018726715614637.abstract
Abstract
As a social theory of organization, it is unsurprising that institutional theory draws upon the profound and ambitious work of the late anthropologist Mary Douglas. One of the foundational concepts of organizational institutionalism, institutional logics, directly draws upon her work. Yet, in recent times this foundational role has faded from view. This is unfortunate for there is much continuity in current work with that of Douglas, it now being 50 years and 30 years respectively, since the publication of two of her formative works. The deep analogies that underpin classificatory systems and the processes by which they are sustained remain significant areas under continued investigation by institutional theorists. Thus, in this article we revisit Douglas' core arguments and their connections to institutional theorizing. We specifically explore her contribution of 'naturalizing analogies' as a way of accounting for the unfolding of change across levels of analysis, extending, modifying and enriching explanations of how institutional change is reified, naturalized and made meaningful. We do this by providing empirical descriptions of meta-organizing analogies and field-level applications. We explain how Douglas' major theoretical works are of considerable relevance for current institutional theorizing, particularly in informing accounts of institutional logics.
Bourdieu and the gendered social structure of working time:
A study of self-employed human resources professionals
Steve Vincent
Human Relations, first published on March 15, 2016 as doi:10.1177/0018726715612898
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/03/11/0018726715612898.abstract
Abstract
This article uses the sociology of Bourdieu to explore the social structure of working time and uses this approach to analyse interview data from 25 self-employed human resources professionals practicing in the UK. Bourdieu's approach to exploring resources, as forms of capital that are deployed strategically by actors within social fields, is used to compare outcomes for respondents with different working time patterns. The findings demonstrate that self-employed professionals' uses of resources are affected by distinctive and gendered temporal rhythms within and between social fields. These temporal patterns typically serve the interests of well-resourced (more typically male) actors who structure their lives according to specific routines. Self-employed people with less working time often struggle to synchronize their lives with their environments and so are often at a disadvantage in accessing and using resources. The analysis, which develops novel propositions about the ways in which actors become differentially adapted to the social structure of time, facilitates a more fine-grained and relational appreciation of gendered advantages within self-employed careers, which is likely to have wider applicability and the potential for broader impact.
On temporary organizations: A review, synthesis and research agenda
Catriona M Burke and Michael J Morley
Human Relations, first published on March 8, 2016 as doi:10.1177/0018726715610809
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/03/04/0018726715610809.abstract
Abstract
Despite the ascendency of temporary organizations to common practice in many industries, and their expansion as an area of academic inquiry, research evidence on their genesis, development and impact remains fragmented across diverse fields, many of which fail to engage with each other. Our purpose in this article is to bring greater systematics to the scholarship on temporary organizations through documenting their evolution and assembling their bricolage. To this end, we first define and delineate the concept of the temporary organization and we develop an inductively derived framework for organizing the literature comprising individual/team attributes and interior processes, task attributes, tensions between the temporary organization and the permanent organization, networks and organizational fields and performance/outcomes of temporary organizations. Following an explication of these attributes and the dominant relationships between them, we suggest how this nascent area of inquiry might advance through the identification of a number of significant research opportunities. Finally, we highlight the consequences for broader management and organization theory development.
Safety climate and increased risk: The role of deadlines in design work
Kevin Daniels, Nick Beesley, Alistair Cheyne, and Varuni Wimalasiri
Human Relations, first published on March 3, 2016 as doi:10.1177/0018726715612900
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/03/03/0018726715612900.abstract
Abstract
Although much research indicates positive safety climate is associated with reduced safety risk, we argue this association is not universal and may even be reversed in some contexts. Specifically, we argue that positive safety climate can be associated with increased safety risk when there is pressure to prioritize production over safety and where workers have some detachment from the consequences of their actions, such as found in engineering design work. We used two indicators of safety risk: use of heuristics at the individual level and design complexity at the design team level. Using experience sampling data (N = 165, 42 design teams, k = 5752 observations), we found design engineers' perceptions of team positive safety climate were associated with less use of heuristics when engineers were not working to deadlines, but more use of heuristics when engineers were working to deadlines. Independent ratings were obtained of 31 teams' designs of offshore oil and gas platforms (N = 121). For teams that worked infrequently to deadlines, positive team safety climate was associated with less design complexity. For teams that worked frequently to deadlines, positive team safety climate was associated with more design complexity.
Injustice hurts, literally: The role of sleep and emotional exhaustion in the relationship between organizational justice and musculoskeletal disorders
Caroline Manville, Assâad El Akremi, Michel Niezborala, and Karim Mignonac
Human Relations, first published on March 3, 2016 as doi:10.1177/0018726715615927
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/03/03/0018726715615927.abstract
Abstract
The physical health consequences of perceived injustice at work are an important yet underexplored area of research. Using the job-stress recovery literature as an overarching framework, we argued that incomplete recovery because of sleep disorders and subsequent emotional exhaustion is a possible underlying mechanism through which organizational justice relates to employee musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). Using both self-administered questionnaires and medical examination to assess MSD, we tested our argument in two studies. Based on a randomly selected sample of employees from a variety of organizations, Study 1 found organizational justice to be negatively related to MSD through diminished sleep-related disorders. Using a sample of employees in nursing homes for the elderly, Study 2 extended these results by showing that the organizational justice–MSD relationship is sequentially mediated by sleep disorders and emotional exhaustion.
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CALLS FOR PAPERS
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Special issue: Global supply chains and social relations at work – submit by 30 April 2016
http://www.tavinstitute.org/humanrelations/special_issues/Global%20supply%20chains.html
Special issue: Politicization and political contests in contemporary multinational corporations – submit by 30 September 2016
http://www.tavinstitute.org/humanrelations/special_issues/Politics%20and%20MNCs.html
Special issue: Organizing feminism: Bodies, practices and ethics – submit by 30 November 2016
http://www.tavinstitute.org/humanrelations/special_issues/Organizing%20feminism.html
Special issue: The changing nature of managerial work – submit by 31 January 2017
http://www.tavinstitute.org/humanrelations/special_issues/Managerial%20work.html
Human Relations welcomes critical reviews and essays:
- Critical reviews advance a field through new theory, new methods, a novel synthesis of extant evidence, or a combination of two or three of these elements. Reviews that identify new research questions and that make links between management and organizations and the wider social sciences are particularly welcome. Surveys or overviews of a field are unlikely to meet these criteria.
- Critical essays address contemporary scholarly issues and debates within the journal's scope. They are more controversial than conventional papers or reviews, and can be shorter. They argue a point of view, but must meet standards of academic rigour. Anyone with an idea for a critical essay is particularly encouraged to discuss it at an early stage with the Editor-in-Chief.