I love the idea of applying metaphors. It not only helps us better understand but we can apply different perspectives to our subject, which in this case is organizations. When we think of organizations as machines, it seems to take away any humanity and feeling. When we think of organizations as an organism, it creates the feeling that each part (or employee) is important and affects the other parts and vice versa. I'm not sure if I fully agree with the practical view of organizations because of the belief that culture can be changed from the top. In some cases, culture can be changed from the bottom or within. I don't think it always comes from the top because in many cases, it is things that happen on the bottom or within that alter culture within an organization. Often times, it is those at the top that try and maintain a particular culture and those at the bottom desire a change.
Another topic from the web lecture that struck me was workplace surveillance. I never thought of workplace cell phones and pagers as "surveillance" but looking deeper, I can understand why. With a workplace phone or pager, you are literally tied to the workplace. There is no going home and fully relaxing because beep beep!- your phone just went off and your boss needs something done asap. While we love technology, it is like wearing a parolee ankle bracelet and we are forever connected to our job. Every email and webpage we access is documented somewhere. You better not get on myspace at work! Someone will know about it. In fact, I knew someone who got fired from their job because they were on myspace at work (and obviously, they weren't supposed to be). As more and more technology creeps into our world, employees will have to deal with the reality that their every move is being monitored.
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13 years ago
Thank you for commenting on my web lecture. I find the notion of metaphors fascinating, mostly because we don't notice them in the language we use. Using different metaphors for organizations changes the ways people think about organizations and how they communication with and in them. There's no doubt that organizations as machines continues to dominate organizational life.
ReplyDeleteThe research I've done on surveillance is depressing. Most people we surveyed and interviewed agreed that surveillance was okay. Organizations argue that surveillance is necessary for employee productivity and safety and to prevent theft. Yet the biggest thefts are from the upper levels of the organization--where there's no surveillance. Consider the collapse of the banking industry. It was the people at the top instituting poor policies that led to the end of many large and well-established organizations.