The Influence of Organizational Metaphors on Writers' Communication Roles and Stylistic Choices

Abstract

This study examines the influence that organizational metaphors have on reportwriters' framing of their writing tasks and the stylistic, organizational, anddocument design choices they make. The study, conducted at a medium-size organization, uses participant observation, semi-structured individual and group interviews, and protocol analysis to gather data from 23 staff professionals at three fieldsites. The data show that writers see themselves as communication ciphers or conduits and describe their communication activities in mechanistic terms. Thesemetaphors, which complemented the organization's view of itself as a smoothlyoperating machine, help explain why writers were neither aware of nor concernedabout their report readers and why they write difficult-to-read reports. These results indicate that root organizational metaphors significantly influencewriters'perception of their communication role and the rhetorical choices theymake. Altering these writers' composing habits would be a major interventionrequiring a change in the organization's dominant or root metaphor.

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