Considering Workplace Metaphors
As a language teacher, I am rather fond of metaphors, and among those I have analyzed with my students are a number of workplace metaphors. For example, the metaphor of the tree and the shadow represents the difference between true character and reputation, and the metaphor of the shark portrays the attitudes and behaviours of the workplace bully.
This blog post will take more of a bird’s eye view of the workplace. Whether you would liken your place of work to a home, a military establishment, a prison, or a lunatic asylum may be a personal matter, and the list of possibilities is extensive. A thorough internet search can produce dozens if not hundreds of possibilities that have already been used – though of course it is always nicer to invent one’s own. For now, let’s examine some of the workplace metaphors found on the internet and see if any are especially suited to educational institutions. Here are some from the Creative Think blog by Roger van Oech:
•Our company is like a supertanker. It's large and powerful, but moves slowly. Also, once the course is set, it's tough to change.
•Our company is like the sun shedding light on the computer world.
•Working here is like a nightmare. You'd like to get out of it but you need the sleep.
Horse metaphors are common in describing the workplace from the leader’s point of view as Nancy Lowery explains in her article “The Perfect Metaphor”. She illustrates the idea using these examples: "Handing over the reins of responsibility", "Leading the charge" and "Don't put the cart before the horse".
Sports metaphors are popular in the workplace, as in “touching base”, being “in the zone” and “winning the game”. The “family” metaphor is also common; however, as Dale Dauten argues in his article “We are Family. Really?”, one doesn’t want employees to feel like children in relation to managers. He proposes the “group of allies” metaphor instead as allies bond through a shared cause without necessarily having to be friends or “family”; they simply recognize that by helping each other, they are furthering their cause.
While interesting, these metaphors may not be particularly relevant to the teaching/learning experience though I suspect many students (and probably teachers and administrators) might identify with the “nightmare” one!
The metaphor of “bringing the whole world into the classroom” (used by Norwegian teachers to describe the introduction of smart boards to Norwegian schools) would be one of the most relevant to our current educational mission. With the faster internet the Lebanese government has promised, our teaching should more easily bring the world into our classrooms for the benefit of our ambitious, knowledge-hungry students and our society as a whole.
Posted by May Mikati on 12 September 2011, 1:51 AM
As a language teacher, I am rather fond of metaphors, and among those I have analyzed with my students are a number of workplace metaphors. For example, the metaphor of the tree and the shadow represents the difference between true character and reputation, and the metaphor of the shark portrays the attitudes and behaviours of the workplace bully.
This blog post will take more of a bird’s eye view of the workplace. Whether you would liken your place of work to a home, a military establishment, a prison, or a lunatic asylum may be a personal matter, and the list of possibilities is extensive. A thorough internet search can produce dozens if not hundreds of possibilities that have already been used – though of course it is always nicer to invent one’s own. For now, let’s examine some of the workplace metaphors found on the internet and see if any are especially suited to educational institutions. Here are some from the Creative Think blog by Roger van Oech:
•Our company is like a supertanker. It's large and powerful, but moves slowly. Also, once the course is set, it's tough to change.
•Our company is like the sun shedding light on the computer world.
•Working here is like a nightmare. You'd like to get out of it but you need the sleep.
Horse metaphors are common in describing the workplace from the leader’s point of view as Nancy Lowery explains in her article “The Perfect Metaphor”. She illustrates the idea using these examples: "Handing over the reins of responsibility", "Leading the charge" and "Don't put the cart before the horse".
Sports metaphors are popular in the workplace, as in “touching base”, being “in the zone” and “winning the game”. The “family” metaphor is also common; however, as Dale Dauten argues in his article “We are Family. Really?”, one doesn’t want employees to feel like children in relation to managers. He proposes the “group of allies” metaphor instead as allies bond through a shared cause without necessarily having to be friends or “family”; they simply recognize that by helping each other, they are furthering their cause.
While interesting, these metaphors may not be particularly relevant to the teaching/learning experience though I suspect many students (and probably teachers and administrators) might identify with the “nightmare” one!
The metaphor of “bringing the whole world into the classroom” (used by Norwegian teachers to describe the introduction of smart boards to Norwegian schools) would be one of the most relevant to our current educational mission. With the faster internet the Lebanese government has promised, our teaching should more easily bring the world into our classrooms for the benefit of our ambitious, knowledge-hungry students and our society as a whole.
Posted by May Mikati on 12 September 2011, 1:51 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment