2006 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Analysing stories and metaphors used by self-help groups : An approach to solving their organisational problems
| Project/Area Number |
15530380
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Social welfare and social work studies
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| Research Institution | Sophia University |
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Principal Investigator |
OKA Tomofumi Sophia University, Department of social services, Professor (50194329)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2006
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| Keywords | Self-help groups / Parent organizations for ill children / Stories / Metaphors / Comparison between Japan and US / Self-organisation / Organisation theory / Patient organisations |
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| Research Abstract |
In this research, I conducted interviews with leaders of parent organisations for children with intractable diseases in Japan and the US, and I analyzed the stories and metaphors that were used by these leaders. An important story that was told by Japanese leaders is the "trapped leader story, " in which the leaders described how they involuntarily assumed their leadership roles. This story might be related to the Japanese cultural values, according to which a "passive leadership style" is appreciated as much as an assertive one. On the other hand, an interesting story often told by US leaders was the "progress story, " in which their group's future was described brightly even if their past might have been full of troubles. Thus the stories told by the leaders were strongly influenced by their respective cultures. Japanese leaders often talked about their organisations as if they were their own property, whereas US leaders seemed to narrate the successes, failures or conflicts among le
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aders in terms of money. Hence in this research, the usage of metaphors of property and money were explored in detail.
I also examined what I see as a new generative metaphor for self-help groups, namely "self-organisation, " and showed the potentiality of this concept by discussing its implications for theoretical and practical development of self-help groups. This is far more important in Japan, where the people have been used to traditional Japanese metaphors for mutual help that often imply mutual surveillance, hence the metaphor of "self-organisation" could be helpful in negating the cultural influence of these traditional metaphors.
While comparing the metaphors and stories of Japan and the US in this study, it was very difficult to judge whether the differences of metaphors and stories used in both countries were produced by their different cultural backgrounds or by their different social systems related to medical services and non-profit organisations. Consequently, my US co-researcher and I found it necessary to discuss research methodology for studying self-help groups before comparing metaphors and stories told by the Japanese and US leaders. Less
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