City Research Online

Abstract

Research on metaphor in organization studies has proliferated over the last 40 years. For the majority of its history, metaphors have been studied and deployed as linguistic and cognitive ‘resources’ to help scholars and practitioners understand the complexity of organizations and the environments in which they operate. Reviewing classic papers on the topic published in Organization Studies, we synthesise the key characteristics of past work and informed by our review offer a more multi-dimensional theoretical perspective to channel research into new directions. The new perspective that we offer is premised on leveraging dissonance and multi-modality in producing and using metaphors and we in turn demonstrate how such a viewpoint draws out new vistas for both scholars and practitioners alike. We highlight some of the implications of centring future thinking from this multi-dimensional perspective, including new strategies of deploying metaphors to generate potentially path-breaking theories and ways of studying phenomena.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Reuse is restricted to non-commercial and no derivative uses.
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Departments:	Bayes Business School Bayes Business School > Management
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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