Metaphors and Mental Models: Sensemaking and Sensegiving in Innovative and Entrepreneurial Activities
探讨创业者如何通过隐喻发展心智模型，在高度不确定的环境中完成意义建构并争取他人支持，对创业者和组织管理者理解认知过程有参考价值。
To be successful, entrepreneurs must be able to cope with significant ambiguity. Entrepreneurial businesses typically operate in unsettled industries or unsettled segments of stable industries. Moreover, starting a new business is an uncertain undertaking creating many ambiguities in itself To cope with these uncertainties, the entrepreneur must develop a “vision” or mental model of how the environment works (sensemaking) and then be able to communicate to others and gain their support (sensegiving). This paper discusses the process of mental model development for entrepreneurs. Metaphor development is proposed to be a significant and important stage in this process. Metaphors provide a common language and a basis for communication within the organization. Through metaphor(s) an organization develops a common language, an understanding of the task environment and a means of interpreting events. Metaphors are particularly useful in communicating broad and sometimes abstract concepts such as organizational mission and strategy and in situations requiring novel concepts and approaches.