Changing organisations with metaphors

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractDraws on a consultancy project designed to reduce accident rates in four Danish sugar factories. Presents examples of metaphor use in the project and documents a steady decline in numbers and severity of accidents over time. Hypothesises that the use of metaphors is part of the explanation. Following a multi-disciplinary review of the literature on metaphors, suggests that they can be harnessed in three ways: as tools for conscious, creative analysis; as ways of creating emotions; and as ways of fostering unconscious learning processes. Suggests that the effect in the sugar project is due to unconscious learning. Explains how this can happen and stresses the most important. Proposes that consultants use images, stories, narratives, and fairy tales to a larger degree and put less weight on formal conceptual learning when change is the issue. Electronic accessThe research register for this journal is available at

Introduction: changing philosophies

“…Since different answers lead to different philosophies of change, we need to vigilantly expose the often hidden assumptions buried in theories and the metaphors used to communicate them. Metaphors can illuminate the way organizational change works by offering abstract but accessible explanations (Palmer and Dunford, 1996;Oztel and Hinz, 2001;Wood, 2002), liberating thinking from entrenched habits, encouraging creativity with new interpretations of old events, stimulating emotional engagement and fuelling action by probing unconscious archetypes (Green and Ruhleder, 1995;Palmer and Dunford, 1996;Wood, 2002). However, metaphors translate poorly into practical guidance.…”

It’s Just Emotion Taking Me Over: Investigating the Role of Emotions in Knowledge Management Research

“…Von der Trenck et al state that there are massive emotional benefits from knowledge sharing which strongly increase the employees perceived value of knowledge sharing [74]. Öztel and Hinz come to the conclusion that metaphors, which are often particularly used as a way of transferring tacit knowledge, create emotions [47]. Only Caya et al have a critical view on KM processes and believe that team arousal and stress can be a negative outcome of KM, lowering performance of business process teams and preventing KM success [7].…”

Metaphorical perceptions of undergraduate sociology students about Syrian asylum seekers and refugees<p>Sosyoloji lisans öğrencilerinin Suriyeli sığınmacı ve mülteciler hakkındaki metaforik algıları

“…Yabancı literatüre bakıldığında özellikle yönetim ve organizasyon ve piyasa konularını ele alan metafora dayalı birçok çalışma bulunmaktadır (Alvi, 2012;Burgi & Roos, 2003;Lamberg & Parvinen, 2003;Oates & Fitzgerald, 2007;Oswick & Montgomery, 1999;Öztel & Hinz, 2001). Bunun dışında eğitim ve okul kavramları (Zheng & Song, 2010), öğrenme ve öğretme kavramları (Botha, 2009;Bozlk, 2002;Davis 2007;Ishiki, 2011;Nikitina & Furuoka, 2008), internet (Savolainen & Kari, 2004), teknolojik direniş (Turnage, 2013), madde bağımlılığı (Redden, Tracy & Shafer, 2013), akademik edebiyat (Armstong, 2008), şizofreni ve ruhsal hastalıklar (Chopra & Doody, 2007), öğretmenlerin düşünümsel yazımları (Parsons, Brown & Worley, 2004), inançlara dair algılar (Pishghadam & Pourali, 2011) konularıyla ilgili araştırmalar dikkat çekmektedir.…”