评论:超越摩根的八种隐喻

Commentary: Beyond Morgan’s eight metaphors

HUMAN RELATIONS · 2016
被引 52
人大 AFT50ABS 4

中文导读

探讨隐喻与转喻在组织理论构建中的相互作用,强调应关注隐喻的动态使用而非抽象认识论,以应对当代组织生活的多维复杂性。

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.

组织理论隐喻与转喻管理社会学认知科学