Managing the Post-Colony South Asia Focus: Metaphors and Narratives of Organising and Managing
Nimruji Jammulamadaka, Abhoy Ojha, Ramya Venkateswaran
Call for Chapters
Last date for expression of interest (250 words, more details below): 31 Aug 2025
The praxistical work of Southern scholars has ensured that decolonizing Management and Organizational knowledge has emerged as a sought after academic pursuit in recent years in management academia (Jammulamadaka et.al, 2021). Given that the first step of pointing out the eurocentrism of management knowledge and sensitizing about the need for knowledge about non-Western ways of managing and organizing has already been taken, it is now time for academia to move towards creating this knowledge of other, non-western ways of managing and organizing (Cuoto et.al, 2021). This second step has received limited attention. Several factors contribute to this situation.
- There is a vast diversity of indigenous[1] knowledges around the world. It therefore creates a problem of critical mass for many of the indigenous knowledges to emerge as significant alternatives to western theorising on organizations. It is true that decolonizing values pluriversality where diverse knowledges of managing and organizing coexist, sometimes in cohesion, sometimes in collision. Yet for this to happen, we need ways by which we can inter-subjective, inter-cultural translations and conversations so that together a critical mass is achieved. However, much work on indigenous is generally focused on showing how it is different from the West, in a reactive stance towards the West (Anzaldua, 2012: 100-101), rather an acting independent of the West to build bridges across knowledges. There is literature from Japan and greater China that has broken away from the West. We think it is time for South Asia to find its own path in the future.
- Whereas indigenous knowledges, especially cultural and cosmological beliefs have been used to posit an indigenous way of organizing, often the cosmological beliefs are appended onto the core sociological features of modern western organization. On the one hand this leads to co-optation of indigenous cosmologies into colonial, extractive, capitalist discourses of managing and organizing, for e.g.. the extensive incorporation of karma philosophy and meditation practices to enable the employees to be more at peace, in order that they may become more productive and effective in a capitalist organization (Jammulamadaka, 2015). On the other, it gives rise to contradictions in the incorporation of native cosmologies into conventional modernist agendas making it difficult to realise the native "value system within western neoliberal institutional frameworks" (Jammulamadaka, 2025a). South Asian society is based on diverse cultures and cosmologies offering great possibilities for knowledge based on ontological and epistemological foundations that are indigenous and fundamentally different from the West.
- A general absence of foundational sociological structural-functional work that is devoid of colonial gaze which could inform non-western ideas of management (Jammulamadaka, 2025b). Whereas management and organization studies has built upon the foundational work of sociologists such as Weber, Parsons, Marx, Comte and may others, comparable works about non-Western societies that provide structural –functional explanations about nonwestern societies is largely absent. Anthropological, sociological and historical, accounts which exist are more often than not imbued with the colonial gaze which implicitly devalues native societies as non-modern, primitive in need of redemption by modernity. The lingering influence of coloniality has also left a deep seated inferiority complex in those who still may hold nonwestern knowledge (Devy, 1992; Ojha & Venkateswaran, 2022). This limits the ability of management scholars to be able to develop non-Western managing and organizing knowledge.
- Even as an increasing number of Southern scholars are keen on introducing nonwestern ways of thinking about organization and management, they often struggle with language and translation issues on the one hand, and on the other material and financial limitations which make it difficult to finally publish their work (Barros & Alcadipani, 2023). Fanon (1955) had critically observed that to speak in a particular language is to assume the weight of a civilization, and therefore how it is difficult to speak for the black in English. Similarly, Wa Thiong'o (1992) had alluded to the difficulty of thinking in a non-native language. The problem of translation (Niranjana, 2023) and the challenge of epistemological incommensurabilities (de Sousa Santos, 2014) in attempting to introduce nonwestern philosophies and cosmologies to modern western ways of managing and organizing have also been critical. Bridging these chasms requires intercultural translation, not just linguistic translation and an explicit recognition of philosophical differences. As already encouraged by some journals, authors may choose to write their articles in a vernacular for local audiences and another (e.g. English) for a global audience to overcome third party translations.
Following these reasons, the concepts of "organization" and "management" remain largely modern, western (Cuoto et.al, 2021; Ibarra-Colado, 2006, Jammulamadaka, 2022a, 2022b). As Bhambhra (2014) would say, organization and management as epistemic objects remain "disconnected" from non-Western lifeworlds and interactions. For instance, in the Indian and South Asian context, the apriori distinction between the individual and organization that informs much of modern western theorising in management and organization studies need not be true, cosmologically speaking (Jammulamadaka, 2022b). Similarly, Cuoto et.al (2021) point to alternate heterarchical thinking that informs nonwestern world views and suggest that this implies a different kind of organization and management. The state of affairs is such that it creates an impasse in decolonizing management praxis.
This book suggests that one way out of this impasse is to utilize metaphors and narratives for the purpose of theorising about organizations. Metaphors and narratives are linguistic devices. They are rooted in native languages and thus carry in them the civilizational sense of the language they belong to. Use of native language metaphors and narratives recognizes the concerns that Fanon and Wa Thiong'o point out, rather it uses their observations to an advantage by turning attention to native languages and enabling the scholar and practitioner to understand the organization and managing in nonwestern ways. Such metaphors and narratives also work towards furthering intercultural translation (de Sousa Santos, 2014) because of the way these linguistic devices enable cognition.
Technically, within language and literature studies metaphors and narratives have been treated as two distinct categories which are used for persuasion, literary and rhetorical flourish. However, cognitively speaking, both metaphors and narratives are tools which help an individual process, organize and make meaning out of incoming information (Bougher, 2014). They are reasoning tools that provide coherence to our cognitive experiences. To quote from Bougher (2014: 2))
They share a similar history in that they are linguistic constructs that have each been increasingly recognized for their centrality in human cognition (e.g., Bruner, 1986, 1991; Gentner, 2003; Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). Metaphor and narrative provide psychological structures that allow us to piece fragments of information together into a cohesive whole. With metaphor, we piece together bits of information by relying on our existing knowledge structures in other domains; with narrative, we try to fit fragments into a running storyline. In both instances, we use embedded knowledge structures, grounded in everyday life, to make sense of our social world. Metaphor and narrative allow us to draw causal inferences and make predictions based on limited information (Colhoun & Gentner, 2009; Costabile & Klein, 2008). Consequently, they provide efficient heuristics for filling gaps in knowledge...
Given that the need of the hour in decolonizing management and organizational knowledge is to develop nonwestern ways of cognizing the organization and management, metaphors and narratives serve this purpose effectively. Metaphors and narratives provide an integrative structure. Whereas narratives provides chronological ways of structuring information over space-time, which organizing not only the past and the present but also the future, metaphors provide the "cognitive frameworks that can integrate values, beliefs, attitudes, and behavior" cohesively. Taken together, they provide cognitive frameworks for making sense of present situations as well as across time. Both carry dynamism and unleash human agency to create meanings and new understandings (Farquhar, 2010, 22). It has also been found that metaphor and narrative are symbiotically related (Bougher, 2014) in the way they shape meaning making in individuals. To once again quote from Bougher (2014: 5-6)
As Stone (2012) summarized, "on the surface, [metaphors] draw a comparison between one thing and another, but in a more subtle way they usually imply a larger narrative story and a prescription for action" (p. 171). Narrative is often implicit in studies that have focused exclusively on metaphor.... Narrative likewise can structure metaphor. Just as metaphors can elaborate certain points in a narrative, narrative can give meaning to a mix of seemingly unrelated metaphors. In addition, narrative itself can serve as an influential source analog for metaphoric transfer.
Given this facility of metaphors and narratives as cognitive tools, in some ways they enable us to short circuit the problem of missing structural-functional foundational work about non-Western societies. As tools of sensemaking (Weick, 1989) they allow us to bypass some of the cognitive inertia and disadvantage mediated and expressed in language, especially imperial English language in which most management and organization theorising is done. They allow us to overcome the overvaluation of modern western rationality and tap into human capacities of imagination (Ul Haq, 2022) and see, conceptualise and understand organizations in completely novel ways. The use of native language and native cultural metaphors thus enables decolonial thinking and expression reclaiming native subjectivities and knowledges. Metaphors and narratives can make practical epistemic disobedience and delinking (Mignolo, 2007, 2009) within management and organization studies to reclaim nonwestern ways of organizing and managing.
Therefore this book focusing on showcasing diverse metaphors and narratives that can be used to understand and theorise non-Western ways of organizing and managing.
There is a rich history of use of metaphors in theorising organizations (Cornelissen & Kafouros, 2008). Weick (198) calls metaphors basic building blocks of organization theory and Gareth Morgan, the most well known exponent of metaphor as a way of theorising organization holds that the inherent complexity of organization makes metaphors a more suitable cognitive tools for thinking about and understanding organizations. According to Jakobson (1956/1990) metaphors breed polysemy and therefore allow us to expand the meaning of organization and management (Gibbs, 1994, 1996; Cornelissen & Kafourros, 2008). Cornelissen & Kafouros (2007) define metaphor as "mapping of entities, structures and relations from one domain (called the 'source') onto a different domain (referred to as the 'target') drawing upon Lakoff (1993:203) characterisation of metaphor as a "cross-domain mapping conceptual system". Cornelissen & Kafouros (2008) also discuss two kinds of metaphors- primary and complex, "complex metaphors are made up of primary metaphors that are often grounded in our embodied experiences as human beings; and that (b) complex metaphors can be dynamically elaborated, extended and reinterpreted in novel ways." (2007: 959). Some metaphors could be reinterpreted and renewed. In this context, they also note that "the ability of a metaphor to advance and clarify theoretical understandings of organizations is based upon (1) the degree to which that metaphor is seen to capture multiple salient features of organizations and (2) the ease with which the metaphor is understood" (Cornelissen & Kafouros, 2008: 365). In the context of narratives and stories too, much work has been done by David Boje, Barbara Czarniawska, Monika Kostera and others. Czarinawska (2000:2) assertion that "a student of social life, no matter which domain, needs to become interested in narrative as a form of knowledge, a form of social life, and a form of communication" is particularly relevant here. Stories and narratives enable communication, but do not bound/restrict the meaning, because they leave scope for interpretation (Boje, 1995), this allows stories and narratives to serve as bridges of intercultural translation. Narratives therefore can work both to inform, empower and emancipate.
In this book we are therefore interested in chapters which identify and use metaphors, stories and/or narratives and use them to make sense of, to theorise non-western organization and management. Given the geographical remit of this volume, we are interested in metaphors and narratives from South Asia. These metaphors and narratives can be drawn from textual, scriptural sources, folk wisdom, living practices, art forms and any other sources.
Submission Guidelines
What are the guidelines for chapters?
- Focus: In principle, we are open to a range of different types of chapter (conceptual/theoretical, empirical, methodological, practitioner or activist insights) as long as they address the overarching goal of the book series. Chapters may focus, however, on one of the particular aims expressed above, or come up with its own.
- Word length: at the moment, we are looking for contributions of 7-8000 words long. However, we may be flexible with word length, and seek to have a greater number of shorter pieces in order to maximise the diversity of locations and authors in the volume. In seeking to have piece by practitioners or activists, we are very open to format and different types of contribution.
- Presentation guidelines. Once your expression of interest is accepted, we will provide you with the publisher's preferred in-house style and referencing system.
What will be expected of me as a potential contributor?
To meet the submission deadlines for draft and revised chapter contributions, and to follow the presentation guidelines.
If I am interested in contributing, what should I do next?
- Put together a couple of paragraphs (maximum 250 words) and send these as an expression of interest (EOI) to Nimruji, Ramya or Abhoy. The paragraphs should cover: i) what the focus of your chapter would be; ii) how you think your chapter would match the overarching themes of the volume.
- The last date for sending the EOI is 31 August 2025. Please write to us if you need any support or clarifications..
- We will review your EOI and then confirm your participation in this edited book project.
Contact details
nimruji@iimcal.ac.in, ramyatv@iimcal.ac.in, aojha@iimb.ac.in
Publisher:
The Book will be published as a part of the Springer Book Series "Managing the Post-Colony" Edited by Nimruji Jammulamadaka and Gavin Jack.
References
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