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Images of Organization

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Images of Organization

The Executive Edition

Berrett-Koehler,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Text available

What's inside?

Is your organization an organism, a machine, a political system, a microcosm of society, or a brain? Chose your metaphor with care.

Editorial Rating

5

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, thinkers have used evocative images in trying to explain just what a corporation is. Have they succeeded? Gareth Morgan presents a thoughtful, well-documented look at images that arise from our theories and metaphors about reality. He discusses how they shape the way we view the corporation as an entity and how we act. His analysis involves a mix of philosophy, history, sociology, anthropology, biology and organizational examples. He moves from industrial-age notions of the organization as a machine, to biological analogies about the organization as an organism. Other metaphors - the organization as a brain, as social reality, as the source of cultural difference and as an arena for power struggles - shape what occurs within corporations. While this book is not an easy read, it illuminates the dynamics of organizational life. getAbstract recommends this book to executives, and to readers intrigued by serious societal expositions.

Summary

Metaphors Shape Reality

A wide range of organizational and management theories abound regarding how to see the organization, and how to best lead and manage it. However, these theories themselves have great power to shape the way you see things. They help create what is real and important for you, because your view hinges on how you see and categorize things, and on the images you use.

Images and metaphors shape all the theories about organizations and how to manage them. While these images are very powerful, they are incomplete. Each time you decide to look at your corporation in a certain way, you also are discarding other possible views. Since every view will give you a slightly different approach to leadership and management, you must take a broader perspective.

Metaphors give selective, one-sided insights. When they highlight certain interpretations, they force others into the background. Thus, you may end up with valuable - yet misleading - interpretations when you limit yourself to a particular metaphor.

You must recognize that multiple interpretations or realities exist for any situation. Every metaphor can apply to organizational realities in some...

About the Author

Gareth Morgan  is the author of seven books, including Imaginization: New Mindsets for Seeing Organizing and Managing the companion book to Images of the Organization He has worked with such companies as Continental AG, GE, Hewlett-Packard, Northern Telecom, Royal Bank of Canada, Shell and Volkswagen.

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