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Metaphor Or Reification: Are Radical Humanists Really Libertarian Anarchists?

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  • Tony Tinker

Abstract

Metaphors may enlighten our theoretical understanding of affairs, and they may be used to mystify and distort our view of social reality. In a recent series of papers, Gareth Morgan has proposed increasing metaphorical usage, to enrich management and organizational theory. This paper argues that Morgan's advocacy of metaphorical usage is too indiscriminate. By favouring a relativist (rather than a rationalist) theory of knowledge, he invites a proliferation of metaphorical ideology. Morgan's preference for an unbridled metaphorical usage is attributed, in part, to what Edgely (1984) describes as‘liberal dogmatism’, and also to his neglect of the social processes that generate and disseminate metaphors. The paper uses a variety of previous metaphorical contributions to management thought ‐ cybernetic, psychological, biological, systemic, mechanical, neurological ‐ to argue that, in general, metaphorical usage in organization studies has always been socially partisan, and that Gareth Morgan's proposals will intensify a mode of partisanship that is clearly at variance with his sympathies expressed elsewhere.

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  • Tony Tinker, 1986. "Metaphor Or Reification: Are Radical Humanists Really Libertarian Anarchists?," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 363-384, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:23:y:1986:i:4:p:363-384
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.1986.tb00423.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Amernic, Joel & Craig, Russell, 2017. "CEO speeches and safety culture: British Petroleum before the Deepwater Horizon disaster," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 61-80.
    2. Giustiniano, Luca & Cunha, Miguel Pina e & Clegg, Stewart, 2016. "Organizational zemblanity," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 7-21.
    3. Renate E. Meyer & Markus A. Höllerer, 2014. "Does Institutional Theory Need Redirecting?," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(7), pages 1221-1233, November.
    4. Walters, Melissa & Young, Joni J., 2008. "Metaphors and accounting for stock options," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 805-833.

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