An Organizational Metaphor for the 4th Industrial Revolution: The Organization as Cyborg

Abstract

New frameworks are needed to understand how the Fourth Industrial Revolution is changing how individuals, organizations, and societies function. Here we continue the work of Gareth Morgan by formulating the metaphor of the “organization as cyborg,” which reflects an emerging post-human reality. The metaphor highlights the cyborg-like characteristics possessed by certain contemporary organizations, including their clearly bifurcated human–machine structure; their use of technology to monitor and augment human workers; their “techno-empowerment” of machines to make autonomous decisions; and their evolution toward new types of “technoizations.” The metaphor provides a tool for analyzing current trends and anticipating future organizational developments.