The Oxford Handbook of Metaphor in Organization Studies

Abstract

Abstract This book offers an up-to-date collection of works on metaphors in the area of organization studies. The mission of the book is to increase the interest for metaphor-based and metaphor-oriented research within the area of organization studies; further knowledge on “metaphor” can help to increase the potential of metaphor in organization studies. The book acknowledges the usability of metaphor and metaphors in the area of organization studies and also acknowledges the existence of, explores, and suggests solutions to challenges that metaphor use comes with, in order to stimulate further use of both metaphor and metaphors in organization studies. The book is an effort to offer a smorgasbord of current (at the beginning of the 2020s) works that in one way or another use metaphor or metaphors in the study of organizing and organizations. Some of the contributors are well established within the area of metaphor in organization studies, many of them having played major roles in the development of the field throughout the years. Others have more recently begun using metaphor and metaphors in their studies of organizations and organizing. The book contains, within the area of organization studies—broadly defined—chapters offering theoretical considerations on metaphor; chapters exemplifying the use of metaphors in organization studies; chapters discussing methods for using metaphors in research; chapters dealing with the use of metaphors in teaching as well as in practice; and chapters offering various perspectives on metaphor.