Metaphor and urban studies-a crossover, theory and a case study of SS Rotterdam

Table 3 Morgan’s metaphors and examples of theory

Metaphor	Example of theory and application
1. Machine	Weber’s bureaucracy, applied to organizational design and structure
2. Organism	Open systems theory and contingency theory, applied to organization and its environment
3. Brains	Theory of learning organizations, applied to knowledge management and learning principles
4. Culture	Theory of organization culture, applied to enactment of shared reality (mission, behaviour, shared frames of reference)
5. Political system	Theory of organizational politics, applied to interests, conflicts, leadership
6. Psychic prison	Theory of group think, applied to decision making^a
7. Flux and transformation	Theory of chaos and complexity, applied to leadership, strategy and management of change
8. Domination	Theory of social domination and control: applied to companies influencing government, employees, consumer preferences, etc

^aOn the one hand the trap of favored ways of thinking that can lead to the decline of an organization, e.g. Kodak did not want to believe in digitalization, European companies did not want to believe in Japanese ‘just in time’ manufacturing. On the other hand the realm of the unconscious—Frederick Taylor, the creator of what was called later ‘scientific management’ was totally preoccupied with control, was an obsessive, compulsive character (Morgan 2006, 212)