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Places and Spaces: The Role of Metonymy in Organizational Talk

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  • Gill Musson
  • Susanne Tietze

Abstract

Cultural meaning making as reflected in, and constituted by, organizational talk is an established field of interest in organizational analysis. However, the discursive mechanics of the process whereby this cultural meaning making is created and maintained are less well understood. The premise of this paper is that taken‐for‐granted assumptions embedded in organizational talk can be explored through the analysis of metonymy, a trope which is under explored in the linguistic turn in organization studies. This lack of focus on metonymy is, we believe, related to the fundamentally conventional nature of the trope in use, which expresses ideas, values and relationships that seem natural, normal and routine but which are culturally bound. We address this gap and carry out a metonymical analysis of organizational talk about physical places and spaces in one organization, to show how cultural norms and meanings are reflected, maintained, and potentially changed in these figures of speech. We show how metonymic chains based on buildings can reflect, reify and simplify the symbolic order of the organization, how these symbolic meanings can be transferred on to other inanimate objects and the constructions thereby spread, how people can be constructed within this symbolic chain, and how these metonymic chains can be invoked to potentially confirm, challenge or change the organizational order.

Suggested Citation

  • Gill Musson & Susanne Tietze, 2004. "Places and Spaces: The Role of Metonymy in Organizational Talk," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(8), pages 1301-1323, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:41:y:2004:i:8:p:1301-1323
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2004.00476.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gabriel, Yiannis, 2000. "Storytelling in Organizations: Facts, Fictions, and Fantasies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198297062.
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    1. Thomson, Kelly & Jones, Joanne, 2016. "Colonials in Camouflage: Metonymy, mimicry and the reproduction of the colonial order in the age of diversity," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 58-75.

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