Search results

Motivated by Morgan’s (1997) analysis of the “paradoxical” role of metaphors in understanding and managing organisations, the purpose of this paper is to assess in what respects organisations using integrated reporting (IR) are on a “journey” of organisational change.

The paper analyses IR practitioner literature to interpret the IR journey metaphor more precisely. The authors then use in-depth interviews to assess the extent to which this metaphor captures how six early adopter organisations in Australia implement IR, and what changes result, over four years.

The journey metaphor implies substantive and holistic organisational change. By contrast, the authors find organisations use IR in contextual, instrumental and piecemeal ways. The authors propose a “toolbox” metaphor to help (re)present how organisations adapt their reporting to fit decisions already made, and challenges presented, through ordinary and ongoing strategic management.

Morgan (1997) stresses metaphors are invariably used to both describe and manage organisations. The authors’ analysis identifies specific ways the IR journey metaphor is descriptively misleading. The authors’ “toolbox” metaphor suggests different ways organisations are, or could, manage IR to create value.

This is the first paper to provide a systematic analysis of the IR journey metaphors, and to assess in what respects this metaphor captures actual organisational practice. The findings also challenge the broader notion in academic research that reporting frameworks can lead organisational change.

The paper seeks to propose the adoption of an alternative metaphor to that of the “journey”, currently the most pervasive characterisation for the student's experience of doctoral education.

The paper adopts a conceptual and rhetorical approach.

The paper offers a critique of the journey metaphor as a characterisation of the student's doctoral experience and proposes instead the metaphor of the Quest, a cultural and literary form found in most societies. It argues that the six elements of the Quest identified by W.H. Auden resonate with the contemporary doctoral experience and emphasise the uncertainty involved in research rather than the linearity implied by the journey metaphor.

The paper argues that the quest metaphor offers a cross‐cultural basis for both staff and student development activities through which sense can be made of the research experience, student concerns can be surfaced, and potentially difficult issues raised for discussion in an unthreatening way.

The paper is the first to apply the quest as a metaphor for the student's doctoral experience and offers a new way of interrogating that experience which will be of use to those involved in supporting research students.

This study aims to propose a conceptual framework to capture the essence of memorable experiences.

A conceptual framework based on the service marketing and tourism literature is proposed to understand how memorable experiences are co-created. A particular context is presented to test the hypotheses using structural equation modelling. The quantitative findings are further explained using qualitative data.

The findings show that co-creation, novelty, theming and storytelling serve as antecedents of entertainment, education, escapism and esthetics, consequently resulting in positive memorable experiences.

This study aids researchers and managers in understanding and co-creating memorable customer experiences.

The metaphor of the journey may help to rethink business models by implementing practices suggested by both marketing and tourism research.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the interactive element in social and environmental reporting during a controversy between business organisations and a stakeholder over environmental performance.

The paper adopts Aristotle's triangular framework of the rhetorical situation to examine how the writer, the audience, and the purpose of communication interact in the choice of rhetorical strategies used to persuade others of the validity and legitimacy of a claim during a public controversy. The analysis focuses on the strategies (i.e. moves and their rhetorical realisations) in the form of logos (appealing to logic), ethos (appealing to authority), and pathos (appealing to emotion), with a particular emphasis on metaphor, used to achieve social and political goals. The authors base the analysis on a case study involving a conflict between Greenpeace and six organisations in the sportswear/fashion industry over wastewater discharge of hazardous chemicals. The conflict played out in a series of 20 press releases issued by the parties over a two-month period.

All six firms interacting with Greenpeace in the form of press releases eventually conceded to Greenpeace's demand to eliminate hazardous chemicals from their supply chains. The paper attributes this to Greenpeace's ability to harness support from other key stakeholders and to use rhetoric effectively. Results show the extensive use of rhetoric by all parties.

The authors regard legitimacy construction as reliant on communication and as being achieved by organisations participating in a dialogue with stakeholders. For this purpose, the paper develops an analytical framework which situates environmental reporting in a specific rhetorical situation and links rhetoric, argument, and metaphor.

This paper investigates the specialist learning undertaken in graphic design classrooms and its relationship to industry practices. It considers how well students are prepared for work and the nature of this vocational preparation.

The paper is based on an empirical study using a qualitative, case study approach. A situated perspective on design learning and knowledge was adopted, and a strong focus on studio discourse developed. An analytical method based on respondents' use of metaphor in practice‐oriented discourse evolved, providing an interpretive framework for the study.

The paper describes the difficulties involved in undertaking research into design classrooms, outlining how these were resolved to allow the unique learning activities of the design practicum to be identified. It discusses the lack of recognition of design pedagogies, and considers their characteristic strengths and weaknesses. Key metaphorical discourses structuring design learning, teaching and practice are identified. Shared discourses in use across graphic design education and industry suggest the alignment of these contexts, providing a perspective on them as overlapping “circles of practice”. Conclusions are drawn about the effectiveness of graphic design vocational education.

The study suggests a means of researching practice‐oriented discourses and activities across a range of settings. It offers ways of considering the alignment of educational and professional contexts by using a modified “situated” perspective on learning. This perspective allows for recognition of types of learning that do not meet traditional, “academic” criteria and of the vocationally‐referenced pedagogies that promote them.

The aim of this chapter is to discuss the communicative side of modern companies operating in the food industry, paying attention to the CSR discourse conducted in online communication. In this contribution, an attempt is made to show how the dialogue on corporate social conscience taking place at corporate websites shapes the way companies can be perceived in terms of organizational metaphors and how this perception mirrors the performance of CSR-oriented companies.

The approach applied in this chapter relies on both discursive and social theories, characteristic of investigating metaphors. To narrow the scope of the research exclusively to one sector and its online identity, the author focuses on the role of websites and their discursive content to study the CSR communication in the food industry.

The analysis of online corporate representation related to CSR practices in the selected companies operating in the food industry has led to the creation of six metaphors that can be used to discuss the performance of modern food producers from the metaphorical perspective.

The chapter concentrates on analysing the selected websites of Polish and Italian food companies, without dividing the alimentation sector into subtypes.

The topic discussed in this study may be interesting not only for the specialists and academics interested in CSR but also for the broadly understood stakeholders of the alimentation sector.

The chapter draws the readers’ attention to the role of communication in the relation between organizations and stakeholders and how it may shape organizational identities.

The issue of CSR-oriented communication in the food industry has not been studied in detail as far as organizational metaphors are concerned. As has been shown in this chapter, organizational metaphors facilitate the understanding of corporate identity in the alimentation sector, stressing its focus on corporate social conscience.

The purpose of this paper is to better understand the “black box” of how coaching is enacted and how it unfolds in practice. Indeed, some of the mixed results concerning the efficacy of executive coaching appear anchored to the confusion and surrounding ambiguity of the episodic and processual nature of coaching. In this conceptual paper, the authors turn to the power of metaphor to explore how executive coaches, either consciously or subconsciously, approach and enact their role.

This paper is a conceptual or theory paper with a heavy practitioner focus. The authors did augment and enhance their assertions with semi-structured interviews of coaches, a therapist, a pastor and physical trainers. Institutional review board approval was granted.

The authors identify two core metaphors that enjoy some dominance in how executive coaches make sense of their role and duties: coach-as-pastor and coach-as-therapist. Considering some of the limitations of the existing metaphors, the authors offer an alternative metaphor, coach-as-physical trainer, that may offer a more compelling, comprehensive and accurate portrayal of the executive coach.

The metaphors that coaches embrace, inarguably, impact how they perceive and enact their role. For these reasons, the authors suggest that expanding the domain of possible metaphors serves both the study and practice of executive coaching. The authors offer a new, alternative, metaphor that may change how coaches think about and execute their role.

The authors challenge two widely accepted metaphors that are often used in how coaches approach and enact their roles. They provocatively dissect these metaphors to expose limitations and inaccuracies. Given these limitations, the authors offer a new metaphor in which to view the study and practice of coaching.

This chapter examines our leadership journey as Black female social justice leaders and culturally responsive leaders from the Caribbean Diaspora in Canada. Borrowing from Mullen, Fenwick, and Kealy (2014) and Campbell’s (2008) notion of leadership as a journey, we critically examine what it means to navigate educational leadership contexts. Through our lived experiences as racialized leaders, border crossing spaces and cultures, and with a deep sense and agency to resolve social inequities and injustice we critically gaze at our leadership contexts. This chapter examines ways we, as critical leaders, challenge inequities, issues of power and marginalization, and find transformative actions and purpose by critically reflecting on our leadership journey. This work will add to the educational leadership discourse by positing ways that leaders can develop agency and engage in leadership that is transformative – bringing theory into action.

This article, which is exploratory in nature, considers the experiences of migrant students enrolled in the transnational degree program of an accredited American college located in the Czech Republic. Migrant students have considerable experience in negotiating the different national cultures of their college and of the new country in which they live. Students, participating in a Cross-culture Management course, were asked to maintain reflective journals in which they recorded their experiences of national culture difference. The purpose was to encourage consideration, reflection, and the growing internalization of cross-cultural appreciation and negotiation.

Participants were asked to maintain reflective journals during the semester, in which they identified and considered critical incidents and defining issues in their cross-cultural experiences. Journals were analyzed from an inductive phenomenological perspective with no preconceived imposition of structure, although participants had been informed that the root-metaphor of the journal should be that of “journeys”. Ten emergent themes were identified and a number of these, which seemed to impact national culture adaptation, are discussed. In an attempt to retain the authentic voice of participants, verbatim quotations are reproduced in some detail.

The emergent themes identified give insight into the range of national cultural complexities that these migrant students confronted. Sharing these issues with those who have less national culture experience might increase their understanding of the adaption process. More importantly, the journal increased reflection, prompted deeper sensemaking, and allowed participants to articulate their experiences. Making explicit their own cultural adaption problems may also be beneficial for these participants.

Cross-culture education has often taken a didactic approach that emphasized teaching and learning. The reflective journal focuses on an experiential approach to making sense of cultural experience. From a learner perspective, the use of a reflective journal stimulates reflection and contributes to resolution. From an instructor perspective, journals provide valuable insight into issues significant in a developing awareness of a national culture. Journals also provide an unrecognized insight into the personal experiences of international and transnational students that may have implications in their general learning and broader education.