Examples of more powerful metaphors

Innovative Global Management through Metaphor (Part #4)

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One of the basic "points" implied by this paper is that to a large extent the patterns of understanding appropriate to social innovations for global management cannot be effectively presented in the conventional linear mode of which this paper is an example. It is indeed possible to present a highly articulated argument, but the exercise bears some resemblance to the classic attempt to describe a spiral staircase verbally. The description, although exact, is not meaningful.

To be consistent with the argument, the kind of insights to be gained from metaphors is presented using selected metaphors as examples of relevance to global management. The metaphors are presented in some detail as annexes. In Annex 1 (/metcoop_x_h_1) is given a review of 12 metaphors through which the successes and failures of cooperation over the past three development decades may be explored. The possibilities of richer metaphors are explored in Annexes 2 to 4. These are based on:

• Ecology (see Annex 2, /meteco_x_h_1). The use of a complex ecosystem as a metaphor to articulate understanding of the dynamic relationships between different perspectives (represented by species) would seem to offer a conceptually elegant device to explore issues of sustainable development.
• Crop rotation (see Annex 3, /metcrop_x_h_1 ). In searching for appropriate metaphors to illustrate the need and functioning of cycles of policies, there is a certain appropriateness to using a process which has traditionally been considered basic to sustaining the productivity of the land.
• Resonance hybrid (see Annex 4). In a world community characterized by distinct and often opposing views, the possibility of interrelating them so as to form the basis for an overarching structure, without denying the distinctness of those structures, can be usefully illustrated by a concept from chemistry. Chemical resonance hybrids are in fact basic to the molecular structures characteristic of living organisms.

A total of 80 such examples have been explored in a special section in the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential