Analysis of Sas Case Study Using Metaphors

a. The organization as an organism

An organism is composed of one or more cells (employees in the organization) and organs (departments); it is born, evolves, learns and adapts to its environment (market, competitors), in order to grow and survive. In some cases, it dies for failing to evolve/adapt to its delicate environment (market, competitors), which requires a lot of interdependencies (both internal [cells = employees] and external [environment = market, competitors]) (McCrimmon 2010). The cells (employees) and its organs (departments) which compose an organism (organization) cannot live on their own without the support from one another. We can say that it is crucial to the survival of an organism (organization) that all cells (employees) and organs (departments) work harmoniously to achieve a common goal – to survive. However, working together does not necessarily guarantee the survival of the organism (organization), because there are also external factors (e.g. environment) that need to be considered as well which will also determine the survival of the organism (organization).

Within the above context, SAS (organism) survived its first financial crisis (environment) it found itself towards the end of the 1970s by evolving and remodeling itself from a technically-oriented to service oriented organization (organism) through the collaborative efforts of its visionary Managing Director, Jan Carlzon (cell) and its employees (cells) in different departments (organs) which helped brought the airline (organism) back to profitability. Like an organism, the same can be said about the SAS being receptive to the financial crisis or market condition (environment) which explains why remodeling or adapting to the market (environment) was necessary in order to ensure the survival of the organization (organism).

If one or more cells (employees) of the organism (organization) die, the possibility of the organism (organization) being paralyzed is high, as each cell...