The Tyranny of Metaphors: Pathways to Freedom

Metaphores are all around, but what do they really mean? This book will encourage you to think about them critically.

A metaphor can say more than a thousand words. It is a blessing for us – but it can also be a curse. It helps us put into words remarkable phenomena, such as ‘black holes’. Yet it can also obscure our view, throw up smokescreens and extinguish the light of thought ...

Metaphors flourish in the workplaces of organisations. But what do all these words mean, and whom should one believe? Is it really the market that sets market-rate pay? (Or should the most fun jobs pay less?) And what does the hunt for cutting-edge competence mean exactly? Do truly sick organisations exist and, if so, can they be treated with pills or is surgery in the form of outsourcing the only cure?

Östen Ohlsson and Björn Rombach encourage us to look for a metaphor and then to look beyond and around it. They want us to engage in free and conscious thought. By way of help, they present us with a toolset.

The book is a provocative challenge to engage in critical analysis, rather than an attempt at persuasion.


Östen Ohlsson is Professor of Management at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. His research has largely dealt with how reforms and new management concepts are converted into development activities in large organizations. In the past decade, his interest has shifted towards a general criticism of the management discourse.

Björn Rombach is Professor and Head of the School of Public Administration, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He has conducted research on management accounting, leadership and organization mainly in the public sector and published numerous books and articles.