Metaphor analysis of social reality in organizations

Abstract

Many organizational theorists have adopted models of organizations as consensual social realities. These realities are often inadequately described because the process by which they are produced and reproduced in organizations is not discussed. This paper briefly describes how this process takes place in discourse, providing a basis for analyzing organizational social realities. Following research on the metaphorical structure of language, a method of metaphor analysis which reveals these meaning structures is described. Analysis of metaphors displayed in organizational talk allows the explication of the implied possibilities inherent in the current organizational reality.