More on Metaphor: Why we Cannot Control Tropes in Administrative Science

Abstract

Gareth Morgan In the December 1982 issue of ASQ, Pinder and Bourgeois (Controlling Tropes in Administrative Science) attempted to highlight dangers stemming from the use of metaphor and related tropes in administrative theory and research. Specifically, they argued that the use of tropes may be misleading and impede the development of administrative science and a body of knowledge useful to practitioners. Hence they suggested thatthe use of metaphorand related tropes should be severely constrained, that administrative science should avoid from other fields of inquiry, and that the discipline can best develop by using a literal language based on observable organizational characteristics (or characteristics of the individuals and groups within them). They suggested that administrative scientists should focus on the comparison of organizations and organizational phenomena to one another, using analytic taxonomy as a first step and using strategies and techniques suited to the study of organizations, rather than borrowing from elsewhere (1982: 650-651).