Storytelling in organisations: supporting or subverting corporate strategy?

Abstract

Storytelling in organisations: supporting or subverting corporate strategy? Structured abstractPurpose: Storytelling is claimed to be an effective way of communicating corporate strategy within organisations. However, previous studies have tended to focus holistically on storytelling in organisations rather than investigating how different groups may use and be influenced by stories. This paper addresses these gaps in the literature by investigating how storytelling in internal communication can either support or subvert corporate strategy.Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative study was conducted into storytelling in two large companies in the UK energy industry. Data was collected through 70 semi-structured interviews, documentary research, and observation research.Impression management theory was used to analyse how stories supported or subverted corporate strategy. Findings:Storytelling by employees in the corporate and customer service areas of the organisations showed the greatest support for corporate strategy. There was more subversive storytelling in the operational areas, particularly by lower level employees. Stories subverted corporate strategy by recounting incidents and encouraging behaviour that contradicted the organisation's vision/goals and values.Originality/value: The study shows the important contribution of employees to the collective sensemaking process in organisations, by narrating supportive or subversive stories. Engaging employees in storytelling can enhance support for corporate strategy, however managers should also see subversive stories as an opportunity to identify and address problems in the organisation.

Telling a different story: How nonprofit organizations reveal strategic purpose through storytelling

“…The paper responds to a call for research into storytelling within the nonprofit context (Merchant et al, 2010) and contributes to an emerging research conversation about communicating organizational strategy through storytelling (Spear & Roper, 2016). Against this background, the research focused on understanding how these megabrands use storytelling to signal differentiation or typicality.…”

“…The third element of the story construct identified in literature is the attributes of the stories told, "the what" (Spear & Roper, 2016), labelled here as "content." Traditionally researched separately, it is only through bringing these three components of the story construct together that a more holistic understanding of strategic purpose can be explored.…”

“…The paper responds to a call for research into storytelling within the nonprofit context (Merchant et al, 2010) and contributes to a research conversation about communicating organizational strategy through storytelling (Spear & Roper, 2016). The purpose of the research was to understand the relationship between the conscious choice of the story constructed by an organization and the strategic purpose driving that storytelling.…”

“…However, research to date has focused on understanding story structure and layout (Janssen et al, 2012; Pera et al, 2016; Woodside, 2010), the gap between story theory and practice (Spear & Roper, 2013), and unintended consequences (Nguyen, 2015). Through understanding the stories that organizations carefully select to engage these vital audiences, the strategic purpose of the organization is revealed (Spear & Roper, 2016). This paper contributes to this growing body of knowledge.…”

Using the Balanced Scorecard for Strategic Communication and Performance Management

“…In this kind of alignment, the organizational communication comes from the higher echelons of the company in order to align the strategy into the employees' daily goals (Kaplan, 2001). The communication of the corporate strategy to the employees is critical as it guides their behavior and drives organizational performance (Spear & Roper, 2016). In the past, managers claimed that it was impossible to measure the impact of communication on their organization because of its intangible nature (Ritter, 2003).…”