Metaphor and Organization Studies: Going beyond resonance to further theory and practice

Abstract

Research on metaphor in organization studies has proliferated over the last 40 years. For most of its history, metaphors have been studied and deployed as linguistic and cognitive ‘resources’ to unpack the complexity of organizations and the environments in which they operate. Reviewing classic papers on the topic published in Organization Studies, we synthesize the key characteristics of past work and informed by our review offer a more multi-dimensional theoretical perspective to channel research into new directions. Our new perspective is premised on leveraging dissonance and multimodality in producing and using metaphors. We demonstrate how such a viewpoint draws new perspectives for scholars and practitioners alike. We highlight some of the implications of centring future thinking from this multi-dimensional perspective, including new strategies of deploying metaphors to generate potentially path-breaking theories and ways of studying phenomena.