Recontextualizing Anthropomorphic Metaphors in Organization Studies: The Pathology of Organizational Insomnia

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

In this article, the authors discuss critically the use of anthropomorphic metaphors in organization studies (e.g., organizational knowledge, learning, and memory). They argue that, although these metaphors are potentially powerful, because of frequent usage they are at risk of becoming taken for granted and contextually disconnected from their source domain, the human mind. To unleash the heuristic potential of such metaphors, it is necessary to take into account the inherent dynamics and bidirectionality of metaphorical language use. Therefore, the authors propose a methodology for the context-sensitive use of metaphors in organization studies. They illustrate this approach by developing the new metaphor of organizational insomnia, which is informed by recent neuroscientific research on human sleep and its disruptions. The insomnia metaphor provides an alternative way of explaining deficits in organizational knowledge, learning, and memory, which originate in a state of permanent restlessness.
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Management Inquiry
Volume22
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)435-450
Number of pages16
ISSN1056-4926
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10.2013
Externally publishedYes

    Research areas

  • Management studies
  • organization theory, organizational communication, metaphor, sleep, insomnia

DOI

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Simple relay non-linear PD control for faster and high-precision motion systems with friction
  2. Introduction: The representative turn in EU studies
  3. Model Based Logistic Monitoring of Assembly Areas
  4. Teachers’ temporary support and worked-out examples as elements of scaffolding in mathematical modeling
  5. A slow-fast trait continuum at the whole community level in relation to land-use intensification
  6. Disentangling who is who during rhizosphere acidification in root interactions: combining fluorescence with optode techniques
  7. Using rating scales for the assessment of physical self-concept
  8. Contracting for Space
  9. Combined MRI-PET dissects dynamic changes in plant structures and functions
  10. Value of large-scale linear networks for bird conservation
  11. On the Hausdorff dimension of fractals given by certain expansions of real numbers
  12. Lehrer-Kooperation im JeKi-Kontext
  13. Thanking and responding to thanks in American English: Language patterning and contextual appropriateness
  14. Discriminative clustering for market segmentation
  15. User Authentication via Multifaceted Mouse Movements and Outlier Exposure
  16. Telecoupling as a framework to support a more nuanced understanding of causality in land system science
  17. Methodological Challenges in Sustainability Science: A Call for Method Plurality, Procedural Rigor and Longitudinal Research
  18. Examining how AI capabilities can foster organizational performance in public organizations
  19. Probing turbulent superstructures in Rayleigh-Bénard convection by Lagrangian trajectory clusters
  20. Prior entry explains order reversals in the attentional blink
  21. The Application of Extended Producer Responsibility in Germany
  22. Is the market classification of risk always efficient?
  23. Methodological and empirical insights from gender vulnerability and adaptation responses to climate change in South Asia–a systematic review
  24. A Motion-Sensorless Control for Intake Valves in Combustion Engines
  25. Impacts of offshore wind farms on sediment structure and the water column during construction, and changes in bottom topography during the operation phase
  26. “We cannot let this happen again”
  27. Increasing knowledge through cooperation
  28. Cultural change in Asia and beyond
  29. The Diffusion of Values among Democracies and Autocracies
  30. Assoggettamento/Soggettivazione
  31. Domain adaptation of POS taggers without handcrafted features
  32. Exploring Affective Human-Robot Interaction with Movie Scenes
  33. Logic
  34. Dynamische Bestandsdimensionierung
  35. The recent double paradigm shift in restoration ecology
  36. Is the reverse J-shaped diameter distribution universally applicable in European virgin beech forests?