‘Wow! That’s so cool!’ The Icehotel as organizational trope

Abstract

This article introduces the Icehotel, the world’s first and largest hotel to be constructed entirely of ice and snow, as a unique and generative organizational trope. As a trope (and metaphor, in particular), it both supplements and complements Morgan’s seminal book, The Images of Organization, and generates unique insights with regard to surprise, unifinality, purity, eco-coreness and rebirth. The Icehotel also serves as a lens for examining organizations through each master trope, that is, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche and irony. Evidence of metonymy in language describing the Icehotel is presented. The case for synecdoche is made by arguing that the Icehotel is a species of two genera, that is, temporary organizations and paradoxical organizations. Also, the Icehotel is not only paradoxical (i.e. a form of irony), but also generates four other paradoxes, namely, the ways that organizations are evolutionary yet revolutionary, negative as well as positive, different yet similar and unsustainably sustainable. The Icehotel also exemplifies serious play – a particular approach for managing paradoxes. Finally, the article discusses implications for research and practice.