Using Metaphors in Organizations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Using Metaphors in Organizations - Essay Example This essay stresses that metaphorical way of looking at an organization is a very useful way of understanding the organization, developing new concepts and theories that can help in better management and growth of the organization. This can potentially have a very positive influence on the society and environment as well. The discussion above explains how two different metaphors for the same organization can create completely different perceptions and theories in terms of their operations, people, customers and stakeholders. This paper makes a conclusion that emphasis on metaphors can be considered as one of the oldest, most deeply embedded, even indispensable ways of knowing in the history of human consciousness and also form the basis of some of the most central ideas of understanding a concept. In fact, many theorists have agreed with the three reasons Ortony. These theories state that metaphors provide a compact version of an event; they enable people to predict characteristics that are unnamable, and; they are more vivid emotionally, sensorially and cognitively because they are close to perceived experience. In spite of the power embraced by metaphorical expressions, their exploitation creates lot of misunderstanding of the concept. The positive outcomes of metaphorical expression of organizations as brains can be attributed to the sophistication in information processing systems used by the organization, their capacity to handle huge data, and their ability to think and act strategically.