Managerial and Organizational Communication in Terms of the Conduit Metaphor

Abstract

Linguistic conceptions regarding what Reddy (1979) calls the “conduit metaphor” are applied to the teaching and practice of organizational communication. The argument is advanced that in “everyday” discourse and even current management textbooks, organizational communication frequently is explicated in terms of the conduit metaphor. Furthermore, it is suggested that the conduit metaphor implicitly engenders the assumption that successful communication is easy and requires little effort. The practical and research implications of this argument are examined.