Beyond Compare: Metaphor In Organization Theory

Cornelissen, Joep

doi:10.5465/amr.2005.18378876

Cited by 355 publications

(418 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…In organization theory, these ideas have generated a debate on the role of metaphors and analogical thinking in the process of generating novel ideas on organization and organizing (Cornelissen, 2005;Gavetti, Levinthal and Rivkin 2005;Morgan, 1980;Oswick et al, 2002;Tsoukas, 1993;Weick, 1989). An important insight from this debate is the suggestion that an emphasis on similarities between domains engendered by analogies and metaphors might be "intuitively conservative and, thus, cognitively prescriptive rather than liberating" (Oswick et al 2002: 298).…”

Section: The Role Of Analogiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Metaphors can encompass the whole range of similarities in attributes and relationships (Gentner, 1989;Tsoukas, 1993), albeit implicitly rather than explicitly and not based on direct comparison ("Boiling mad"). While precise definitions and formulations have been widely debated, the underlying insight is that "analogical reasoning" (Oswick et al 2002: 294) helps us solve problems by providing inferences based on similarity between the target domain in which the problem is embedded and a source domain with which we are familiar.In organization theory, these ideas have generated a debate on the role of metaphors and analogical thinking in the process of generating novel ideas on organization and organizing (Cornelissen, 2005;Gavetti, Levinthal and Rivkin 2005;Morgan, 1980;Oswick et al, 2002;Tsoukas, 1993;Weick, 1989). An important insight from this debate is the suggestion that an emphasis on similarities between domains engendered by analogies and metaphors might be "intuitively conservative and, thus, cognitively prescriptive rather than liberating" (Oswick et al 2002: 298).…”

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confidence: 99%

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The Role of Analogy in the Institutionalization of Sustainability Reporting

Etzion

Ferraro

2010

Organization Science

337

319

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We study institutional entrepreneurship in an emergent field by analyzing the case of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and its efforts to purposefully institutionalize the practice of sustainability reporting. We suggest that analogies affect institutionalization processes through two mechanisms. In early stages of institutionalization, analogy operates primarily as a normative mechanism and adoption is driven mainly by an instrumental logic. This emphasis on similarity to existing institutions stresses conformity and promotes legitimacy. Yet, analogies can also have a cognitive effect on institutional design, especially once initial acceptance from the environment has been secured, by directing attention towards incongruences between the emergent institution and its analogical source. Institutional entrepreneurship can spur innovation and departure from existing institutions by highlighting limitations of the analogical source and providing a compelling value-rational argument underscoring the worth of the new institution. This theoretical contribution helps explain how analogies to existing institutional practices can both provide legitimacy to novel institutions and constitute the basis for a creative process of institutional design.3 Institutional entrepreneurship is a delicate balancing act between two conflicting tasks. On the one hand institutional entrepreneurs must disguise the radical nature of their enterprise in order to engage supporters and evade the wrath of incumbents, while on the other they cannot adhere too closely to existing practices, for by doing so, they will not be able to further any meaningful change (Aldrich and Fiol 1994). Institutional entrepreneurs need to become skilled cultural operatives, fashioning stories in order to attract resources. In this work it is essential to "balance the need for legitimacy by abiding by societal norms about what is appropriate with efforts to create unique identities that may differentiate and is relatively well-studied. However, the role of analogy in shaping institutional design has not been explored in depth. Tropes like simile, analogy and metaphor can help gather political support and legitimacy, but they also lead to analytical closure (Oswick, Keenoy and Grant 2002). Remaining within the confines of a clearly defined analogy cannot lead to evolution to profoundly different institutions (Hoffman and Ventresca 1999). Furthermore, the analogy cannot be discarded at later stages (Ocasio and Joseph 2005) when deeper institutional change is being advocated, as cognitive lock-in has already limited external constituents' receptivity to alternative scenarios. How, then, do analogies shape the construction and evolution of proto-institutions? 4In this article we address the role of analogies in institutional change by presenting a longitudinal case-study of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and its strategies to promote and institutionalize sustainability reporting practices. GRI, a non-profit organization headquartered in Amsterdam, ...

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Section: The Role Of Analogiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

The Role of Analogy in the Institutionalization of Sustainability Reporting

Etzion

Ferraro

2010

Organization Science

337

319

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“…Using work on metaphor in the field of organizational studies, we reflect on the metaphor of entrepreneurial growth. Metaphors (figurative language that represents one thing in terms of another) exert powerful and often unacknowledged forces on the creation of new knowledge about organizational phenomena (Cornelissen 2005(Cornelissen , 2006Weick 1999). Growth itself is one such metaphor, brought from the domain of biology into conversation with economics, and affording a conceptual array of related theoretical terminology (evolution, branches, adaptation etc.).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, we critically reflect on the heuristic value of biological metaphors used to theorise entrepreneurial growth. First we explore the powerful role of metaphor in the development of theory (Cornelissen 2005) and the opportunity this gives us to re-examine underlying assumptions. Next, we conduct a critical review of the principal image-schema or root metaphors of the entrepreneurial growth process, tracing the emergence of an extended period of interaction between the domains of biological and social science grounded in two related metaphorical domains: (a) the metaphors of organismic growth redeployed in the form of life-cycle and stage models of the growth process; (b) and the metaphor of evolution applied to aspects of entrepreneurial growth in natural selection and population ecology (Hannan and Freeman 1977).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-imagining the growth process: (co)-evolving metaphorical representations of entrepreneurial growth

Clarke

Holt

Blundel

2014

Entrepreneurship & Regional Development

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We investigate the role and influence of the biological metaphor 'growth' in studies of organizations, specifically in entrepreneurial settings. We argue that we need to reconsider metaphorical expressions of growth processes in entrepreneurship studies in order to better understand growth in the light of contemporary challenges, such as environmental concerns.Our argument is developed in two stages: first, we review the role of metaphor in organization and entrepreneurship studies. Second, we reflect critically on three conceptualizations of growth that have drawn on biological metaphors: the growing organism, natural selection and co-evolution. We find the metaphor of co-evolution heuristically valuable but under-used and in need of further refinement. We propose three characteristics of the co-evolutionary metaphor that might enrich our understanding of entrepreneurial growth: relational epistemology; collectivity; and multidimensionality. Through this we provide a conceptual means of reconciling an economic impetus for entrepreneurial growth with an environmental imperative for sustainability.

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“…Weaving further the insight that visual artifacts have a mediating and bridging role with regard to incongruent ideas, we suggest that visual stylistic devices could also include oxymorons, paradoxes, and irony (see, e.g., Burke, 1989) to produce this effect. Overall, research on visual tropes can equally inspire organization and management research, as does current work on verbal tropes (e.g., Cornelissen, 2005;Sillince & Barker, 2012). Differently from verbal language, however, the 'factual' appearance of the visual makes the argumentation disappear without making its mandatory or normative nature explicit.…”

Section: Incorporating Visual Languagementioning

confidence: 95%

The Visual Dimension in Organizing, Organization, and Organization Research: Core Ideas, Current Developments, and Promising Avenues

Meyer¹,

Höllerer

Jancsary

et al. 2013

The Academy of Management Annals

142

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(2013) The visual dimension in organizing, organization, and organization research: Core ideas, current developments, and promising avenues. Academy of Management Annals, 7 (1). pp. 489-555. ISSN 1941-6520 This version is available at: http://epub.wu.ac.at/4991/ Available in ePub WU : April 2016 ePub WU , the institutional repository of the WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, is provided by the University Library and the IT-Services. The aim is to enable open access to the scholarly output of the WU.This document is the version accepted for publication and -in case of peer review -incorporates referee comments. There are minor differences between this and the publisher version which could however affect a citation. Abstract. With the unprecedented rise in the use of visuals, and its undeniable omnipresence in organizational contexts, as well as in the individual's everyday life, organization and management science has recently started to pay closer attention to the to date under-theorized 'visual mode' of discourse and meaning construction. Building primarily on insights from the phenomenological tradition in organization theory and from social semiotics, this article sets out to consolidate previous scholarly efforts and to sketch a fertile future research agenda. After briefly exploring the workings of visuals, we introduce the methodological and theoretical 'roots' of visual studies in a number of disciplines that have a long-standing tradition of incorporating the visual. We then continue by extensively reviewing work in the field of organization and management studies: More specifically, we present five distinct approaches to feature visuals in research designs and to include the visual dimension in scholarly inquiry. Subsequently, we outline, in some detail, promising avenues for future research, and close with a reflection on the impact of visualization on scientific practice itself.

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Beyond Compare: Metaphor In Organization Theory

Cited by 355 publications

References 75 publications

The Role of Analogy in the Institutionalization of Sustainability Reporting

The Role of Analogy in the Institutionalization of Sustainability Reporting

Re-imagining the growth process: (co)-evolving metaphorical representations of entrepreneurial growth

The Visual Dimension in Organizing, Organization, and Organization Research: Core Ideas, Current Developments, and Promising Avenues

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