According to the culture metaphor, successful managers should devote their attention to the people associated with their organizations and to the values, beliefs and philosophies held dear by those people. People act accord- ing to how they see the world, and it is through the interactions between people that organizations take their form and derive their success or failure. Corporate culture refers to the familiar and persistent ways of seeing and acting in a particular organization. Managers need to be stewards of corporate culture ensuring there is su⁄cient shared ground so that people pull together and damaging long-term con£ict is avoided, but also maintaining enough freedom of thought to encourage original thinking and innovation. Critics of the culture metaphor claim that it distracts Creativity and metaphor 35 attention from other important aspects of organizational success, such as achieving goals, designing appropriate structures, managing resources, etc. It can also lead to the ideological manipulation of employees.