A Shift in Perceiving Organisational Metaphors among Business Administration Students in an EU Country: A Window into the Current Thinking of Future Employees

摘要

This article aims to offer an insight into which metaphors future employees use to perceive an organisation as a concept. The results of inductive content analysis, based on a sample of 208 business students, show that students offer a varied set of metaphors that are vivid and provide new perspectives. The metaphor of the organisation as a machine and a living organism is still frequently used, although most often an organisation is understood in terms of linkages among social entities. Nevertheless, the ability to comprehend multiple perspectives and use critical judgments is a necessary skill educators must pass on to future generations living in a world characterised by rapid, almost unlimited access to information through the Internet and other media.