IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sek/iacpro/11313240.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Leading with Purpose: Framework for Recontextualizing Organizations Through Metaphors

Author

Listed:
  • Domagoj Hru?ka

    (Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb)

Abstract

This paper is based on the assumption that the concept of organization and explanation of organizational life relies heavily on the foundation of metaphorical description. With the use of metaphors, leaders can simulate theories of action and find solutions for organizational problems. We propose that the sensemaking process is influenced by one element of flow of experience that is used for recognition of existing meaning as well as for construction of novel meaning. That element serves as a governing metaphor. Seen from the contextual perspective, the governing metaphor is the productive character of meaning construction that has a pivotal role in the problem solving process. This theoretical paper proposes four influences of metaphors in leading organizational change: they convey concentrated meaning, they provide incentives for sensemaking, they communicate novel perspective and finally determine level of strategic change. Further on, we argue that the process of extraction of the governing metaphor from flow of experience is conducted through the process of selective attention and propose an integrative model of change management based on leader's ability to recognize, extract and implement the novel governing metaphor.

Suggested Citation

  • Domagoj Hru?ka, 0000. "Leading with Purpose: Framework for Recontextualizing Organizations Through Metaphors," Proceedings of International Academic Conferences 11313240, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    • Handle: RePEc:sek:iacpro:11313240
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://iises.net/proceedings/2020-international-academic-conference-lisbon/table-of-content/detail?cid=113&iid=003&rid=13240
    File Function: First version, 0000
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nonaka, Ikujiro & Yamanouchi, Teruo, 1989. "Managing innovation as a self-renewing process," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 4(5), pages 299-315, September.
    2. Joep P. Cornelissen, 2006. "Metaphor and the Dynamics of Knowledge in Organization Theory: A Case Study of the Organizational Identity Metaphor," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 683-709, June.
    3. Haridimos Tsoukas & Robert Chia, 2002. "On Organizational Becoming: Rethinking Organizational Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(5), pages 567-582, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shahzad Khurram & Sandra Charreire Petit, 2017. "Investigating the Dynamics of Stakeholder Salience: What Happens When the Institutional Change Process Unfolds?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 485-515, July.
    2. Guiette, Alain & Vandenbempt, Koen, 2017. "Change managerialism and micro-processes of sensemaking during change implementation," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 65-81.
    3. Misbah Haque & Imran Ali, 2016. "Uncertain Environment and Organizational Performance: The Mediating Role of Organizational Innovation," Asian Social Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(9), pages 124-124, September.
    4. Lise Arena & Anthony Hussenot, 2021. "From Innovations at Work to Innovative Ways of Conceptualizing Organization: A Brief History of Organization Studies," Post-Print hal-03290300, HAL.
    5. Beth A. Bechky, 2006. "Gaffers, Gofers, and Grips: Role-Based Coordination in Temporary Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 3-21, February.
    6. Dragos Vieru & Pierre-Emmanuel Arduin, 2016. "Sharing Knowledge in a Shared Services Center Context: An Explanatory Case Study of the Dialectics of Formal and Informal Practices," Post-Print hal-01458031, HAL.
    7. Tang, Ryan W., 2023. "Institutional unpredictability and foreign exit−reentry dynamics: The moderating role of foreign ownership," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(2).
    8. Daniel Hjorth & Bengt Johannisson, 2008. "Building new roads for entrepreneurship research to travel by: on the work of William B. Gartner," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 341-350, December.
    9. Dean A. Shepherd & Jeffery S. Mcmullen & William Ocasio, 2017. "Is that an opportunity? An attention model of top managers' opportunity beliefs for strategic action," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 626-644, March.
    10. Orlikowski, W. J. & Scott, Susan V., 2015. "Exploring material-discursive practices," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 57600, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Claus Dierksmeier, 2020. "From Jensen to Jensen: Mechanistic Management Education or Humanistic Management Learning?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 73-87, September.
    12. Jackson, Stephen & Philip, George, 2010. "A techno-cultural emergence perspective on the management of techno-change," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 445-456.
    13. Oliver Laasch & Dirk C. Moosmayer & Frithjof Arp, 2020. "Responsible Practices in the Wild: An Actor-Network Perspective on Mobile Apps in Learning as Translation(s)," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(2), pages 253-277, January.
    14. Raghu Garud & Arun Kumaraswamy & Peter Karnøe, 2010. "Path Dependence or Path Creation?," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 760-774, June.
    15. Vieru, Dragos & Rivard, Suzanne, 2014. "Organizational identity challenges in a post-merger context: A case study of an information system implementation project," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 381-386.
    16. Elena Tavella & L. Alberto Franco, 2015. "Dynamics of Group Knowledge Production in Facilitated Modelling Workshops: An Exploratory Study," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 451-475, May.
    17. Parrish, Bradley D., 2010. "Sustainability-driven entrepreneurship: Principles of organization design," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 510-523, September.
    18. Paris Chrysos, 2018. "Empathy in the business model: how Facebook and Google Maps manage external problem-solving processes," Working Papers halshs-01897205, HAL.
    19. Verena Komander & Andreas König, 2024. "Organizations on stage: organizational research and the performing arts," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 74(1), pages 303-352, February.
    20. Sérgio Cavalcante, 2014. "Preparing for business model change: the “pre-stage” finding," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 18(2), pages 449-469, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Leadership; change management; governing metaphor; sensemaking;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M10 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - General
    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sek:iacpro:11313240. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klara Cermakova (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://iises.net/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.