Reflective Analysis for Critical Case Study on

Organizational Metaphors

By

Andrew Jaco

LEAD – 6200: Organizational Communication

Dr. Nicole Runyon

Organizational metaphors can be described as: “The understanding and experiencing of one

kind of thing in terms of another (Mumby 2013).” Also, “organizational cultures can be

experienced as families, teams, machines, and so forth (Mumby 2013).” I sometimes have to

describe what I have to do at my organization where I work. Depending on how a person

understands what I do and what the organization is all about after explaining, I may have used a

metaphor here and there with or without realizing it. Like the Disney case in which a family

atmosphere is the overall experience when a family visits the “happiest place on earth” (Smith,

R. et al 1987), we at work also tout the family atmosphere with our customers without saying

that. Our actions as we treat the customers and as we treat each other can give that family

feeling. The company that I work for is divided up into departments and within the departs are

teams. Each team has an immediate supervisor. All of us are under one departmental leader that

is also a team of all of the teams. The family concept at work came up as a metaphor by the

leadership team in order to have some way to explain what sets us apart from the other

competing retail electric providers. Another metaphor that came up from the leadership team is

“The X Factor.” The leadership team askes us: “What is your X Factor?” This is asked in the

context of what do each of us do for each of the customers we each serve. Each of us explains

what we do on a card briefly and turn that in to the department director. The department director

puts that on another preprinted card that is laminated for each of us to post it on the cubicle so as

people walk around the office, it becomes a cultural artifact that people can see along with the

other cultural artifacts (Mumby 2013). In the sales department that I now work in, we hear the

expression that the highest sales person of the month is described as a “sales machine” because

of the high sales for the month and gets recognition because as a company culture we as a

company do recognize high achievers. The head of the department likes to greet us each morning

personally by walking to each of our cubs with a hand shake. What other organization does that

ritual each morning? That person does that again as workers who work the later shifts come in to

their desks and cubicles. These experiences become the fabric in which the organization

operates. These have become the cultural norm at our organization and a way of like. We are

now used to it and embrace it.

I am also a member of Toastmasters International. This is an international organization that

helps leaders become better communicators, better speakers which helps them become better

leaders as the end result. As we each promote the organization, we like to say that it goes beyond

the beginning public speaking classes we took during our undergrad college years by saying that

it is like beginning public speaking on hyper drive or this is beginning public speaking on

steroids as a metaphor to describe what it can do for someone. We also like to use the angle that

some of the fees to join the organization may be reimbursed by the company that I (and we)

work for since I tell others about it at work - so they can join too. Telling about the organization

at work will help keep the organization live and well so it can be part of the work place for future

use. I like to tout to some of the co-workers the awards that I sometime win at one of the

Toastmasters International meetings by a meeting vote. The awards can be an inspiration to

others so they can join thinking that it may happen to them as well. The awards that we get and

also get to post in our cubicles strike up curiosity in getting some dialogue started about

Toastmasters International. The culture of the organization is interesting as well, we do speeches

from varying lengths, formats, and different types of speeches as well as evaluate each other.

Everyone evaluates and critiques each other which makes it a more open culture while being

self-managed and coordinated. Everyone has a job big and small which makes the overall

meeting flow like a volleyball game in which each participant has to be on point in their roles to

help make the overall meeting run smooth along with the smooth speeches. There are no

spectators in these meetings, everyone has to participate and do their part very well – just like

each player in a volleyball team. The only spectators are the prospective members that get to sit

in on one or more of these meeting to see firsthand how we conduct the meetings so the prospect

can see if it would be something that they can actually do as well as if they like to do. When I

experienced what the meetings were like, and that I could get a certificate that would help

provide some kind of evidence of self-improvement, I became interested in joining Toastmasters

International myself. The best description of an organization is the experience of it. We let

prospective members get to see the meetings with the speeches and with the feedback that goes

on in those meetings so they can decide.

When I was on the Employee Advisory team as a 90-day temporary member, I got to

experience the more democratic side of our work place in how certain policies can get modified

as well as created in wakes of issues or problems that come up from some employees that can

impact the smooth operation of our department. This experience illustrates a fairer and a more of

a servant style of leadership that provides a more satisfactory overall place to work, thus placing

the company in the top ten of the top 100 places to work in our city.

References:

Mumby, D.K. (2013) Organizational Communication: A Critical Approach.

Los Angeles: Sage Publications

Smith, R., & Eisenberg, E. (1987). Conflict at Disneyland: A root metaphor analysis.

Communication Monographs, 54, 367-380.