Twenty-first International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations

Abstract

The time period of the Pax Romana is not only intriguing from a historical perspective, but it offers valuable insight into how relationships were established among the “global” network of the Roman Empire, how it managed environmental relations from an economic and political perspective, and how it maintained and promoted its own identity while appreciating cultural influences of its territories. This paper presents the metaphor of organizations as the Roman Empire to contribute to the study of how metaphors contribute to the understanding of organizational theory and organizational life of international organizations. This study used the metaphor of the Roman Empire during the period of the Pax Romana to explore organization theories and concepts such as globalization, organizational lifecycle theory, organizational boundaries, and cooperation theory. The metaphor of organizations as the Roman Empire and the study of the period of the Pax Romana of the Roman Empire contributes to the literature regarding organizational theories and concepts.