The tyranny of metaphors : pathways to freedom

Not understanding is a form of insight. This being the case, we have a great many deep insights into the question of how organisations are constructed and how they work. The question of management, in other words. We have a good grasp, and yet there is much that we do not understand. We do not believe that this is because we are stupid or ignorant, rather that it is due to the deficiencies of the explanations offered.

This book is emancipatory in its purpose. The aim is to provide release from the repression of inadequate explanations. The idea is that we should get a better picture of how organisations work by trying out various methods for reading them better. Our attempt to reveal or render intelligible1 what happens is based on the fact that what happens within organisations, as in their construction, is so often expressed using suggestive descriptions or images. In short, metaphors.

Metaphors make description more comprehensible and easier to sell. But when it comes to organisations, metaphors also suppress our reasoning and our feelings. They control what we are able to see, and how we interpret what we see. It is from this tyranny of metaphors that we will try to liberate ourselves. Often, metaphors themselves will be the tools we will use for revelation. Our liberation will therefore be only partial.

This book is aimed at all those active professionals who are not yet able to vote through solutions without first knowing what the problem might be. Those who have grown tired of simply relying on their gut feeling and who want to understand before saying "No, I don't agree with that" or "ok, I'll go along with that". These members of organisations who are more critical in their thinking cannot be few in number.

At the same time, we also address colleagues carrying out research and higher education students. We believe that the time has come to throw out much of what has been written about organisation and the process of organising. The field is bogged down by a great many theories and models that have lost the explanatory power they once held or may have held. This book aims to be one of the new voices after the clean-up.