Examining the Strategic Leadership of Organizations Using Metaphor

Abstract

Over the years, metaphors have been used to explain and describe the nature of organizations. Weick (1969) used metaphors to describe organizations as processes of interconnected and interlocked behaviors, where the influence of one person is contingent on the behavior of another. Morgan (2006) used metaphors, such living brains and organizations as flux and transformation, to describe organizational life. As living brains, organizations are represented as decision making systems within which information is processed, patterns are recognized, and memory plays a key role in organizational functioning. As flux and transformation, organizations are viewed as emergent self-organizing phenomenon by which small nudges to the system hold potential to create large effects. By studying organizations using metaphors, strategic leaders can embrace new paradigms from which they improve communication, become better equipped to facilitate organizational learning, and develop into more effective change agents.