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Family Metaphors in Business

In: Family Business Metaphors

Author

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  • Alessandra Tognazzo

    (University of Padua)

Abstract

Family metaphors are very common in business studies, still, metaphors may conceal some aspects of the issue under examination. In this chapter, I provide some original views on family root metaphors that are commonly used in business discourse by academics and practitioners in articles, books, writings, and conversations, and try to uncover the hidden aspects of our way of seeing. Even when the family is physically not in the business, the family is metaphorically already in the business. I will focus on the metaphors that see “the business as a baby” or “a son”, “the business as a marriage”, “the business as a family” and “as a home”. The conceptual metaphor of “a company is a family” has an artificial origin. The reality is that the human being is involved in social relationships, that we artificially named “families” and “businesses”. For instance, if we consider the metaphors related to kinesthetic aspects we can argue that they function according to the same logic in giving clues about the relationship of power which take place both in business and in families: positions at a table, tightness or looseness of people can metaphorically signal dominance to the observer in a family and in a business equally.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandra Tognazzo, 2022. "Family Metaphors in Business," Springer Books, in: Family Business Metaphors, chapter 0, pages 53-72, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-05248-4_3
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-05248-4_3
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