Metaphors in SEAM: Techniques for Effective Management Consulting

Abstract

Practitioners and consultants work together in the field. Management consultants cooperate with practitioners to diagnose and solve problems, maximize growth and improve organization performance. Consultants deal with the challenge of making the message appealing to practitioners. It is therefore necessary for a consultant to build trust and demonstrate empathy to encourage practitioners to take some action. Moreover, a consultant must find creative and emotive ways of inspiring practitioners through effective communications. This challenge can be met through the use of stories and metaphors. It is proven that better story-tellers make better managers (Boje, 1991a). The use of metaphors and storytelling in business make people listen and engage. Stories and metaphors have been used for centuries by politicians, philosophers, artists, authors, and many others, to educate, convey complex ideas, engage and to elicit emotive feelings and actions. Management consultants have to revisit the power and effectiveness of these tools in the world of business. The Knowledge of utilizing stories and metaphors is an essential part of effective communications, and a skill that consultants must cultivate. This paper provides first a short review of the research on the use of metaphors and storytelling in management. It aims to utilize storytelling and metaphors to improve the communication between management consultants and clients in order to ultimately increase organizational productivity. It mainly portrays the impact of using metaphors into the socio-economic approach to management (SEAM) to stimulate richer and more productive interactions between practitioners and consultants.