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Explores how myths represent reality in the minds of organizational members of what the organization was, is, and can be. Applies the construct of a mythograph to trace the past transformation journey of the studied organization, which provides a context for envisioning the future journey. Illustrates how a typical modern organization can be stuck in a reductionistic model. Closes with the discussion on how evolution of organizational consciousness is fundamental to organizational transformation that is made possible by using myths as a vehicle.

It is generally considered that the old myths were a way of explaining the origins of the world and of humanity. They also played a vital role in uniting a society. Indeed the idea of the epic story is one which permeates history to such an extent that it can be considered to be omnipresent.

It is argued that this cohesive role remains crucial today and so myths remain relevant to us today. The design of the chapter is to show this relevance in business behaviour. This is explored through a consideration of corporate reporting.

It is demonstrated that these myths continue to be reinvented in modern form. For individuals these myths provide a source of strength and a sense of roots and values; they offer a mirror to reveal the source of our anxieties and the means by which they might be resolved.

In this chapter therefore the modern myths of the hero are explored in the context of managerial behaviour in organisations. In order to explore this there is a need first to consider the psychoanalysis of managerial behaviour before considering the mythic dimension of such reporting.

This paper demonstrates that organisational stories have a vitally important role in organisational cohesion and development.

The psychoanalytic approach provides an understanding which is not available through other methodologies.

We aim to understand what happens when larger social and cultural myths become the incarnate understanding of consumers within the firm. This paper uncovers the varied myths at play in one Finnish company’s status as an inadvertent cultural icon.

Through a qualitative inquiry of Finland’s largest dairy producer and by employing the theoretical lens of myth, we conceptualize the entanglement of broad cultural, social, and organizational myths within the organization.

Macro-mythic structures merge with everyday employee practice giving consumer understanding flesh within the firm (Hallet, 2010). Mythological thinking leaves organizational members inevitably bound up in a form of consumer knowing that is un-reflective and inadvertently effects brand marketing management.

Working through a nuanced typology of myth (Tillotson & Martin, 2014) provided a deeper understanding of how managers may become increasingly un-reflexive in their marketing activities. This case also provides a cautionary tale for heterogeneous communities where ideological conflict underscores development and adoption of contemporary myths.

This chapter examines how proponents of industrialization used multiple modes of communication to socially construct the rational myth of industrialization in the French construction sector after World War II. We illuminate the respective roles of visual and verbal communication in this process. Our findings suggest that actors construct rational myths according to the following step-by-step method: first, they use visuals to suggest associations between new practices and valuable purposes; then they use verbal text to establish the technical rationality of certain practices; and lastly, they employ both verbal and visual communications to convey their mythical features.

The stories told in organizations offer researchers and organizational development practitioners a natural entry point to understanding and intervening in the culture(s) of an organization. Informed by perspectives of social constructivism, organizational symbolism, and critical theory, examines key studies of organizational story and storytelling, identifies multidisciplinary foundations, and presents challenges to the application of story work in organizations.

In terms of the role of myth in decision making, this paper focuses on the way myth obfuscates critical issues related to shared governance in higher education. The result of that obfuscation is a minimization of the realities that work against shared governance by favoring an untenable view based on an idealistic and unattainable vision of shared governance. First, however, a critique of myth is in order to demonstrate not only that myth is no more than ordinary interpretation but also that it is insufficiently based on rationality and can become a dangerous instrument in the hands of policy makers.

While the literature has emphasized the literal and the narrative within organizations, this article will consider the visual and the imaginal. Organizations are known and experienced through images, and these images must be considered if organizational culture is to be understood or changed. We look at the imaginal inventory provided by classical mythology, with special reference to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and explore the potency and persistence of myth in imaginal terms and introduce the concept of the “voice of the shuttle”, which imprints events within the metaphorical weave of the mythical narrative. This “voice”, always present in organizations, leaves significant and revealing images on the cultural fabric. We try to understand these images through the experiences of an organizational participant and of students trying to make sense of their college culture.

This paper explores how Selznick’s approach to leadership can inform contemporary organizational theory and research. Drawing on Selznick’s writing in Leadership in Administration and related works, we characterize organizations as simultaneously technical entities pursuing economic goals and value-laden entities pursuing non-economic goals arising from their members and their role in society. These two aspects of organizations are deeply intertwined and in continual tension with one another, and the essential task of leadership is to uphold both – protecting and promoting values while also meeting technical imperatives. To do so, leaders establish a common purpose that includes values and ideals not just technical imperatives, they create structures and practices that embody this purpose, and they make organizational decisions and personal behavioral choices that are consistent with this purpose. We consider each task of leadership in turn, showing how Selznick’s ideas enrich and extend contemporary research on competing institutional logics, organizational design, culture, and identity, leadership, and meaningful work.

Suggests that a systems approach to the management of organization change is something most business schools assume to be a recent development. Presents a 2,500‐year‐old example of an extremely successful systemic transformation, one which provides a useful stimulus to aid thinking in this field today. Of particular interest is the ancients’ appreciation of an aspect which is often paid little mind in modern systems interventions ‐ organizational mythology, and the notion that perhaps the most important aspect in managing change is providing continuity.

This article considers the role of accounting in organisational decision making. It challenges the rational nature of decisions made in organisations through the use of accounting models and the problems of predicting the future through the use of such models. The use of accounting in this manner is evaluated from an epochal postmodern stance. Issues raised by chaos theory and the uncertainty principle are used to demonstrate problems with the predictive ability of accounting models. The authors argue that any consideration of the predictive value of accounting needs to change to incorporate a recognition of the turbulent external environment, if it is to be of use for organisational decision making. Thus it is argued that the role of accounting as a mechanism for knowledge creation regarding the future is fundamentally flawed. We take this as a starting‐point to argue for the real purpose of the use of the predictive techniques of accounting, using its ritualistic role in the context of myth creation to argue for the cultural benefits of the use of such flawed techniques.