Metaphors that facilitate Organisational Understanding: Reaching for the New and How Machine and Organism Metaphors do not enable Sustainable Development

Abstract

The challenge in this paper is that the in using machine and organism metaphors a story is being perpetuated that dehumanises and de-prioritises us (humans) at the expense of the organisation (the abstract) which in turn becomes a prioritised subject. This is a result that is not consistent with the whole of humanity narrative and the moral way of acting that is entwined with the sustainable development concept. To develop this the paper reviews sustainable development through a metaphor lens, discusses the limitations of the machine and organism metaphors and brings forward results from prior research that illustrates how some organisational leaders are thinking in humanising ways and are a pointer towards new sources of sustainable development congruent metaphors.