The use of Metaphor in Personal and
Organizational Development
February 15, 2011 theknowledgebiz Professional Stuffchange leadership,continuous
improvement, decision making, Gareth Morgan, leadership
development, Metaphor,organization development, self development, story
telling, Symbolic Modelling
My website contains further resources that may be of interest
…
http://www.theknowledge.biz/
The use of Metaphor in Personal and Organizational
Development
“All theories of organization and management are based on
implicit images or metaphors that persuade us to see,
understand, and imagine situations in partial ways. Metaphors
create insight. But they also distort. They have strengths. But
they also have limitations. In creating ways of seeing, they
create ways of notseeing. Hence there can be no single theory
or metaphor that gives an all-purpose point of view. There can
be no ‘correct theory’ for structuring everything we
do.” Gareth Morgan
If you’re interested in organizations and how they function –
and dysfunction – I think Gareth Morgan’s books, ‘Images of
Organization’ and ‘Imaginization’, along with James Lawley
and Penny Tompkins ‘Metaphors in Mind – Transformation
through Symbolic Modelling’, are essential and highly
enjoyable reading.
Images of Organization
The central proposition of ‘Images of Organization’ is that all
theories of organization and management are based on
implicit metaphor and that metaphors play a paradoxical role:

They are vital to understanding and highlighting certain
aspects of organizations
… while at the same time …

They restrict understanding by diminishing or ignoring others.
We understand and define much of our experience of life in
terms of metaphors and then go on to act on the basis of our
metaphors. We draw inferences, set goals, make
commitments, and execute plans, all on the basis of how we in
part structure our experience, consciously and unconsciously,
by means of metaphor.
Take for example the common metaphor that an organization
is like a machine. We think in terms of ‘inputs and outputs’,
maximising ‘production’ and making ‘efficiency the driving
force’. When things are going well we say the organization is
‘running like clockwork’, a ‘well-oiled engine’ or an ‘assembly
line’. When they are not, communication is said to have
‘broken down’ and ‘things need fixing’ because there is ‘a
spanner in the works’. In response we want to get to the ‘nuts
and bolts’ of the operation and intervene at the point of
maximum ‘leverage’. We conduct ‘time and motion’ studies,
regard people as ‘cogs in a wheel’, and attempt to quantify and
measure everything. We establish human ‘resources’
departments, allocate ‘manpower’ and recruit to ‘fill a
slot’. And if we’re really serious we’ll set about ‘reengineering’ the organization. Gareth Morgan says, “One of
the most basic problems of modern management is that the
mechanical way of thinking is so ingrained in our everyday
conception of organizations that it is often difficult to organise
in any other way”. To open up our thinking he seeks to do
three things:
1. Show that many conventional ideas about organizations and
management are based on a small number of unquestioned
images and metaphors.
2. Explore a number of alternative metaphors to create new ways
of thinking about organizations.
3. Illustrate how metaphor can be used to analyse and diagnose
problems and to improve the management and design of
organizations.
Morgan illustrates his ideas by exploring eight archetypical
metaphors for organizations.
Organization as Machine
A metaphor that uses concepts such as efficiency, waste,
maintenance, order, clockwork, cogs, programmes, inputs,
outputs, standardisation, production and re-engineering.
Organization as Organism
A metaphor that uses concepts such as living systems,
environmental conditions, adaptation, life cycles, recycling,
needs, homeostasis, evolution, survival of the fittest, health
and illness.
Organization as Brain
A metaphor that uses concepts such as learning, parallel
processing, distributed control, mind-sets, intelligence,
feedback, requisite variety, knowledge and networks.
Organization as Culture
A metaphor that uses concepts such as society, values, beliefs,
laws, ideology, rituals, diversity, traditions, history, service,
shared vision, mission, understanding and families.
Organization as Political System
A metaphor that uses concepts such as interests, rights, power,
hidden agendas, back room deals, authority, alliances, partyline, censorship, gatekeepers and leaders.
Organization as Psychic Prison
A metaphor that uses concepts such as conscious and
unconscious processes, repression, regression, ego, denial,
projection, coping, defence mechanisms, pain and
dysfunction.
Organization as Flux and Transformation
A metaphor that uses concepts such as constant change,
dynamic equilibrium, flow, self-organization, systemic
interactions, attractors, chaos, complexity, butterfly effect,
emergent properties, dialectics and paradox.
Organization as Instrument of Domination
A metaphor that uses concepts such as alienation, repression,
imposing values, compliance, charisma, maintenance of
power, force, exploitation, discrimination and corporate
interest.
In describing how each metaphor is used by different
organizational experts, Morgan’s book contains a
comprehensive synthesis of almost every management theory
ever developed! If you want an overview of Taylorism and
time and motion studies, open systems theory, organizational
ecology, cybernetic and holographic thinking, corporate
culture, conflicts and power, psychoanalytic theory, selforganising systems or framing and reframing, they are all in
this book.
The final chapter of ‘Images of Organization’ presents an
example of Gareth Morgan’s organizational analysis applied to
a small firm employing 150 people. He splits the process of
analysis into two stages. First he uses each of the eight
metaphors described above as a frame through which to view
the organization and to produce multiple diagnostic
readings. Then he engages in a critical evaluation of each
reading to produce a storyline that brings them together in a
meaningful way and signposts a course of action.
Imaginization
Building on the theoretical, ‘Imaginization’ provides a
practical guide to the use of metaphor for organizational
analysis and creative management and, with cartoons and
large print, it has has a completely different style to its
predecessor. Throughout the book, the principle is “It is
impossible to develop new styles of organization and
management while continuing to think in old ways”. It shows
how metaphors can be applied to organizational change,
resolving conflict, identifying primary causes, understanding
and reshaping teams, creativity, and rethinking products and
services.
Although Morgan is careful not to favour any one metaphor
over another, it is clear that he prefers a relativistic, selforganising approach to management. For example, he offers
the metaphor of a spider plant when considering how to
manage multiple decentralised teams and projects. To
illustrate this, here’s an exercise.
1. Select an organizational unit for the exercise (a team,
department, project, or whole organization).
2. List as many of the characteristics of the spider plant as you
can. (e.g. Spider plants begin to grow new shoots when they
outgrow their pots. As the plant reaches out to search for new
ground it receives nourishment from the mother plant. When
the new plant has established roots and is able to sustain itself,
the linking shoot is no longer necessary.)
3. For each characteristic, identify where there are, and where
there are not, parallels in your organizational unit.
4. Consider how well the metaphor fits your organization, and
the new insights this creates.
5. Letting your imagination run wild, ‘stretch’ the metaphor of
the spider plant to think about how your
organization could be. In other words, use the metaphor as
the basis for a new organizational design.
6. What are the differences between the newly designed and
the existing organization? What new insights for shaping
management processes emerge?
An example of the kind of thinking that emerges from this
exercise follows.
Say your reading of your current company (step 3) is that
“Unlike a real spider plant, the only thing growing in this
organization is what’s in the pot. The central plant is being fed
by the offshoots. Their life is being drained away”. You might
realise (step 4), “If this carries on the offshoots will die, and
the central plant will suffer. In fact it has already started to
wither”. The metaphor can now be used to create a new
design (step 5), “If the stems of the offshoots represent the
flow of resources and values, they need to be strong and
healthy so that resources can flow both ways. That would
encourage more offshoots rather than stifle new
initiatives”. You might conclude (step 6), “We’ve been so
focussed on the competition between the pot and the offshoots
we’ve never thought of developing the stems. We could even
use them to integrate the whole organization”.
‘Images of Organization’ was written from a consultant’s
viewpoint. But in ‘Imaginization’ Morgan engages with
people within organizations and the ways in which they can
describe their own metaphors and create new ones. He
concludes, “The challenge facing the modern manager is to
become accomplished in the art of using metaphor: To find
appropriate ways of seeing, understanding, and shaping the
situations with which they have to deal”. This is not some
‘nice to have’ tool, but an indispensable skill. Whether we
realise it or not, we are all using metaphors all the time … and
are taking decisions based on those metaphors.
Metaphors in Mind – Transformation through
Symbolic Modelling
Building on the approach detailed in ‘Imaginization’, of using
metaphor to understand organizations and management,
Symbolic Modelling focuses exclusively on using the
metaphors generated by those who work in
organizations. This approach is aimed at facilitating
individuals who are themselves embedded within the systems
to understand and change themselves and their
organizations. Symbolic Modelling can be used as an
alternative, or as a supplement to Gareth Morgan’s
methodology. My source is James Lawley and Penny
Tompkins ‘Metaphors in Mind – Transformation through
Symbolic Modelling’ (2000).
Furthermore, Lawley and Tompkins combine Symbolic
Modelling with the use of a technique developed by David
Grove called Clean Language. This establishes, what I think is,
a fascinating and highly productive approach to individual and
organizational development.
When someone says “I keep running up against a wall in this
company,” Grove assumes the metaphor is a perfect
description of their experience. Thus, what kind of wall it
is, where it is, its size and shape, and the direction of the
running will all be symbolic of what it is like to have that
person’s experience.
In addition to Grove’s work, ‘Metaphors in Mind’ incorporates
ideas from cognitive linguistics, self-organising systems
theory, evolutionary dynamics and Neuro-Linguistic
Programming.
Embedded Metaphors
Ordinary conversation is littered with (mostly unconscious)
metaphors. In fact it is ‘hard’ to ‘put together’ an ‘everyday’
sentence which does not ‘contain’ a ‘hidden’ metaphor.



My mind has just gone blank
There’s a gap in my knowledge
I’m feeling down today.
These sentences are not obviously metaphoric until ‘blank’,
‘gap’ and ‘down’ are examined more closely. We call these and
similar expressions embedded metaphors since their
metaphoric nature is disguised in familiarity and
ordinariness. But once we start to recognise embedded
metaphors we notice them everywhere.
Clean Language
David Grove discovered that when we ignore another person’s
metaphors or introduce our own, we unwittingly ‘contaminate’
their experience. This is fine in ordinary conversation, but not
if you want to facilitate that person to become aware of their
inner symbolic world that has such an influence on the way
they think, feel and behave. So how can we help another
person discover and develop their own
metaphors without introducing our own? To meet this
challenge Grove devised a number of very simple questions
and a way of asking them called Clean Language.
In ‘Images of Organization’, Gareth Morgan might analyse a
company and decide that it is being run like a machine. Or in
‘Imaginization’ he might suggest that a manger use the
metaphor of a spider plant to help re-design their
organizational. This is in sharp contrast to Symbolic
Modelling where Clean Language is used to facilitate the
manager to discover their own metaphor for the organization,
and then use that metaphor to help them achieve their
outcome.
In the following example, ‘M’ represents a manager, ‘C’
represents a coach, and bold text highlights the format of
some common Clean Language questions. These can be asked
of any metaphor.
M: I want to understand why my organization is not more
successful.
C: And when you want to understand why your organization
is not more successful, your organization is like what?
M: You could say it’s like a machine.
C: And what kind of machine?
M: It’s like a combine harvester I suppose.
C: And is there anything else about that combine
harvester that your organization’s like?
M: It’s flexible with interchangeable parts depending on the
type of crop.
C: And is there anything else about it being flexible with
interchangeable parts?
M: Timing is so important. Too early or too late and you miss
the opportunity. It’s no good harvesting until the crop is
ready.
C: And then what happens?
M: We go through the whole cycle again.
C: And where could that cycle come from?
M: It’s the natural order of things. That’s right. We have to
educate the new recruits in the nature of the cycle. They try to
rush things or they give up too quickly. If they knew about the
cycle …
This short exchange demonstrates the fundamentals of Clean
Language. Clean questions are ‘clean’ because the facilitator is
careful only to ask about the client’s metaphors, to use
their exact words to do so, and not to introduce any metaphors
of their own. Because of this, clean questions can be used in a
remarkably wide range of circumstances.
What follows are experiences described by James Lawley of
how Symbolic Modelling has worked for him, in three
organizational contexts, i.e. executive coaching, new product
development, and creating a corporate metaphor. These
examples will help you better understand the process and
apply it to yourself or your clients.
Case 1: From Bombs to Batons
The initial coaching session with a manager in a multinational
company revealed he wanted “to be able to hold the line
against aggressive senior managers.” As I (James Lawley)
listened to him describe his work, I noted down some of his
metaphors: “I have to defend my people, “I blew up,” “I was in
a Catch 22 situation,” “His method is to drill you and then
attack,” “The troops are falling by the wayside,” “His
lieutenant had a word with me,” “I can lose it in the heat of the
battle.” When these expressions are taken together it is easy
to identify the manager’s underlying metaphor … Work is a
battle.
When I repeated his exact words back to him he said he was
“shell-shocked,” and we laughed. I asked “And where does
being in ‘the heat of the battle’ come from?”. He replied
immediately, “You must defend your territory to be on the
winning side.” Then I enquired, “And when you must defend
your territory to be on the winning side, what would
you like to have happen?” Traces of emotion flickered across
his face before he shook his head and said “Not to have to
defend myself.” I asked him what metaphor he would prefer
instead. After trying on and rejecting the idea of a sports
team, he settled on an orchestra — which I then helped him
explore by using Clean Language. Later, he used this
metaphor to gauge his, and others’ behaviour: Am I
participating like a member of an orchestra? When am I the
first violinist and when am I playing the triangle? When I
chair a meeting, are we all playing the same tune and am I
conducting appropriately?
The manager recognised that seeing his work as a battle had
significantly influenced the way he responded to his
colleagues, and in particular those “higher up the command
chain.” Over the next few months he gradually altered his
behaviour to more closely fit his orchestra metaphor. And
surprise surprise, senior managers started acting differently
towards him.
Case 2: Launching New Balloons
I recently worked with a Director of a company who was about
to launch a new product which needed a high degree of
autonomy. He was unsure how the product could be seen to
be an integral part of the existing company. Through the
process of Symbolic Modelling he devised a metaphor of a
central launch pad from which a hot air balloon could rise and
descend. The balloon was navigated by its own captain and
yet was always connected to the launch pad by a cable which
both defined its scope and provided safety. This arrangement
allowed for other balloons to be launched, and the possibility
that when a balloon became large enough the cable could be
severed and replaced with a looser, even more autonomous
form of organization. Clean Language facilitated the Director
to explore a multitude of aspects of the metaphor: the balloon,
the qualities of the captain, the launch and landing gear, the
relationship with outside observers, the round table strategic
plans, the effect on the public looking at the balloon as it was
flying, etc.
One interesting feature of this approach is that I had no idea of
the product in the Director’s mind because I was working
entirely within the logic of the metaphor. Also, one of his
colleagues who was observing the process felt compelled to
join in saying she had never had such a clear insight into his
thinking. She added suggestions to the way the balloon
arrangement could work and was able to voice her concerns by
questioning the metaphor. They later noted how staying
within the metaphor eliminated the defensiveness which often
occurs in such situations.
Creating a Corporate Metaphor
Many companies have created corporate mission and vision
statements, but few have created a corporate metaphor. New
Information Paradigms (NIP), a niche software development
company specialising in knowledge management systems, is
one that has. Assisted by consultant Caitlin Walker, each of
the 16 staff identified a number of metaphors for ‘the company
and where it is going’, for ‘me as a member of NIP’, and for
‘my relationship to NIP and the way I would like it to
become’. As a result, an entire wall next to the coffee machine
became adorned with symbolic drawings and metaphor maps.
The staff were taught Clean Language so they could
respectfully investigate each other’s metaphors. Next, each of
the company’s four teams was facilitated to incorporate their
personal maps into a group metaphor. With this
accomplished, the teams paired up to discuss areas of overlap,
disagreement and synergy, and to produce an integrated
metaphor. Finally, all four teams combined to produce a
single composite corporate metaphor.
And the result? A far better understanding of what they were
collectively trying to achieve and how they could work
together. NIP found that “meetings are shorter, more
constructive and we reach a common understanding
quicker. We are more able to remain objective and yet it
allows people to access their emotions without having to be
overt about it.” Caitlin Walker adds that the process gives
them another perspective from which to find agreement and
uncover problems: one group metaphor contained a river, and
when they saw there was no way for people to cross the river,
they realised “there it is, that’s the problem!”
Recognising a good thing, the company has devised its own
applications for Symbolic Modelling. When a NIP customer
has difficulty specifying their requirements, the sales team use
Clean Language to help them create a metaphor for what they
want. When the metaphor is translated into traditional
business-speak, the customer feels understood and NIP knows
it has high-quality information. For example, take the
company that considered its information system as like a
series of interconnecting reservoirs where water levels
dynamically changed depending on the amount of rain,
evaporation and usage. The customer wanted to more closely
monitor water levels, predict when new reservoirs are needed,
and not get caught out in a severe drought. Once explored, the
metaphor was converted into the language of demand
forecasting, contingency planning and quality control. Back at
the office, the sales people relayed this information and the
customer’s metaphor to the software designers.
NIP says metaphors provide a ‘common definition language’
with which to discuss a project and to get to the underlying
reasons why something is the way it is. The software
developers create their own metaphors to help explain the
technical design features to the sales and marketing teams,
who in turn use these in their presentation to customers. In
the process the software developers have found unexpected
uses for their systems.
New Information Paradigms has identified three main
advantages of using metaphor. In their words:


“Metaphors work because they transmit enormous amounts of
information and richness.”
“Presenting ideas and situations as metaphors gives the
receiver the opportunity to understand the message being
communicated to them, in their own terms. Perhaps more
importantly, any points raised, or criticisms voiced about the
metaphor (with its inherent gaps, flaws etc.) isn’t personal —
the scope for taking offence is greatly reduced … there is ‘room
to manoeuvre’ without being ‘pinned down’ … to get all
metaphorical.”

“Encouraging participants, in a group, to come up with their
own metaphors for (apparently) the same thing — a product, a
customer situation etc. — often creates a mental or virtual
‘shared space’. In this ‘shared space’, it becomes possible to
explore individual metaphors, there is scope to merge or use
them as stepping stones towards a metaphor that everyone has
contributed to, or at least that can be subscribed to.”
Facilitating an individual or group to recognise the
unconscious metaphors that shape their worldview, that guide
their decisions, and that constrain their choices, encourages
insight and heightens self-awareness. To
facilitate withoutsuggesting, presupposing or imposing your
own metaphors requires the skilled use of Clean Language.
And the whole process can be taken to a deeper level by
facilitating an individual or group to symbolically self-model
the way their system works. Then, rather than trying to make
change happen, new learning occurs, problems get solved and
creativity is stimulated organically, as a by-product of the selfmodelling process.
Sources
Morgan, G. (1997 – first edition 1987). ‘Images of
Organization’, Sage.
Morgan, G. (1997). ‘Imaginization’, Sage.
Lawley, J. and Tompkins, P. (2000). ‘Metaphors in Mind –
Transformation through Symbolic Modelling’.
My website contains further resources that may be of interest
…
http://www.theknowledge.biz/