The findings reveal that the participants in the study frequently resorted to metaphors
to explicate their experiences and that these metaphors have affective dimensions that
are mostly negative. A number of these metaphors, such as the rollercoaster and grief
cycle, have become part of the vocabulary of organizational life, as academic and
practitioner literature has shown. Other metaphors are images used by the participants
to graphically reconstruct the impact of change. The study has therefore addressed a
gap in the literature by revealing the widespread use of affect-laden metaphors across
multiple organizational sites, hierarchical levels and types of change. Prior empirical
studies of metaphors of change have produced central themes relevant to specific
organizational contexts, like Barner’s (2008) dark tower and Eilam and Shamir’s (2005)
chain-gang of prisoners. A contribution of the current study is the revelation of the
widespread use of emotion-laden metaphors in different types of organizational change
contexts and the identification of common themes