Terms of engagement: On the differential effects of metaphoric utterances in relational stories of organization

Abstract

This paper approaches the nexus of metaphor and story from a novel angle, one that underlines the varying dynamics of metaphoric utterances (metaphors in segments of speech) within stories on organization. Drawing on Bakhtin's theoretical contribution, it examines the dialogism in metaphor, illustrating it with material from different stories that discuss the same inter-organizational relationship. The paper sets out simultaneous contradictions inherent in four metaphorical utterances (‘cash cow’, ‘dragging a child kicking and screaming’, ‘big brother/Big Brother’ and ‘family’). It illustrates how the same metaphoric utterance can be used in different stories to generate different effects (the double voice and intonation in metaphor) or to yield different meanings altogether (the polysemy in metaphor). The paper forwards an ongoing interrelationship between story and metaphor: metaphoric utterances serve as a means of surfacing value judgments and illustrating both resonance and dissonance in organizational stories, while stories define the meaning and the significance of a metaphoric utterance.

Keywords:

• acquisition
• buyout
• difference
• dialogism
• metaphor
• story

Acknowledgement

This paper is based on research supported by the Marsden Fund Council from Government funding, administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand.

Notes

Oxford English Dictionary Online, 2nd edn. 2010. http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50249349.

Pseudonyms have been used for both organizations and participants.

See Note 1.