Images of Reality: Metaphors, Archetypes, Symbols, and Cultures

Family businesses are the primordial way of social organizing. In this chapter, I talk about the importance of narratives in family business studies, then I propose social constructionism as a theoretical perspective. Based on organizational literature, I offer some definitions of organizational symbolism, metaphors, myths, and archetypes and I discuss the link with organizational culture. Metaphors and other forms of analogical reasoning are considered salient in theory construction. Indeed, metaphors, symbols, myths, and archetypes should not be seen as a poetic delirium or a fake picture of reality, rather, they allow us to access the unconscious, that is the deepest layers of the psyche wherein various perceptions, experiences, emotions, and feelings are stored. In this alive warehouse, phenomena take place in a creative, unconscious, holistic, and intuitive manner; then, they show themselves in the form of metaphoric language and images which guide our actions. Metaphors thus are not only expressions of language, but they are also symbols and signs, without a precise, clear, and unilateral meaning.