Archetypes at Work – Notes for a book #3

Archetypal Descriptors are evident in the work of Handy, Morgan and Neville & Dalmau. In most cases a formal mythological framework is used. Most commonly this tends to be Greek Mythology, since this is a symbolic structure with a wide currency. Having set out the limits to the approaches already developed in this area, the Archetypal Casting Toolkit  which I have developed is contrasted with this metaphorical approach. The work of Morgan is central to metaphor and organisations. My development in this field sets out to demonstrate that analysis of this form is a useful background to more detailed specific work on individual analysis.

In interpreting the interactions of communities as they exist in the organisational context, it is important to ensure that the overall approach avoids the tendency to over-simplify. This is the weakness of a metaphorical approach alone that focuses too much on the organisation as an entity in itself, rather than unravelling in more depth the interactions and complexities of the numerous scripts that are in evidence.

However, the use of archetypes as themes that can be used as overlays, can generate evidence of the type of culture that prevails, a way of interpreting what is going on.