Creativity In Organizations (Part 1 of 9)

Organizations are made of people. They are microcosms of a larger social body. These groups perform and behave in distinct (and sometimes predictable) ways. They can be businesses, families, collectives, cults, or nations. It could be argued that all businesses are cults, but that’s another topic for another time. 

These organizations are so complex that we have turned to metaphor in order to comprehend and understand them.

In his 2006 book, Images of Organization, Gareth Morgan writes, “Metaphor is often regarded just as a device for embellishing discourse, but its significance is much greater than this. The use of metaphor implies a way of thinking and a way of seeing that pervade how we understand our world generally. For example, research in a wide variety of fields has demonstrated that metaphor exerts a formative influence on science, on our language, and on how we think, as well as on how we express ourselves on a day-to-day basis.” 

Whether an organization identifies as a machine, a hive mind, a band of pirates, or a party of explorers, they must find a path to trust and cohesion as they seek to achieve and face the unknown together.

​The cultural hallmarks of any functioning organization (or community of people) are how they communicate and what they create together — from music to meaning to marketing plans.

read part 2