Challenges of Storytelling in an Organization

Challenges of Storytelling in an Organization

Abstract

The art of storytelling is seen and believed to be an efficient way of conveying information, especially in the corporate world. The use of this corporate communication strategy has prompted a need for research that tends to focus holistically on storytelling and the challenges that come with it. The study focuses on how to address the gaps and challenges, especially in the recent past. Both internal and external problems and how they can be subverted forms the basis of this paper. That paper will also seek to show the critical contributions of employees within the organization to the collective sensemaking process in the organization in a bid to make the storytelling process successful.

Introduction

The purpose of this chapter, in line with the overall research problem, is to outline the challenges that organizations have to overcome to use storytelling more consistently as a communication method. It seeks to give specific prevalence to issues in society especially on the last year that is hindering the giant marketing opportunity of storytelling. Notably, the use of storytelling is a fundamental knowledge management strategy which anchors so profoundly as part of the general culture among the organizations that is quite easy to implement to meet management goals and objectives. For the seek of this research, a story entails the sequence of decisions, actions, and business moves both past, present, and future that incorporates individuals within an organization and it addresses both business challenges and opportunities. Based on what a story entails, it is imperative, therefore, to note that storytelling involves

  • The choice of practices, how to be told and the use of proper technologies
  • Storytellers, this includes the team of personnel tasked with telling the story
  • The audience, this entails the target group.

Methodology

The research design and methods for this paper is a qualitative one, and it will use secondary data collected through documents, reports, and online surveys. The choice of this methodology is consistent with my research due to the following features brought out by this method. Qualitative method is efficient since our study is concerned about the efficiency of a strategy, a process and it does not need a hypothesis to be proved; therefore, the method is flexible since it is an open-ended approach. Also, the technique offers an in-depth understanding of larger groups by understanding an individual group. Furthermore, qualitative research can incorporate data complexities into generated conclusions. The complications that arises due to unique experiences can be gathered into a unique database that can be used to create an outcome that is not only accurate but also one with an in-depth insight.

Sampling method

The use of survey as a data collection tool is due to its effectiveness in collecting a large number of responses within a short period, and this will avail more data to work with. The method emphasizes on the utilization of a variety of data sources as they are grounded in a specific context. The importance of survey as a data collection tool cuts from the use of lower costs while administering a review, the method is extensive in describing a large population this implies that it is useful to conclude various organizations. Nevertheless, it is flexible, and it can be administered in many modes, running from online, email, paper surveys, and face-to-face interviews.

Challenges with storytelling

  • The major problem facing storytelling is the lack of a clear definition of organizational stories. Research on the topic has failed to outline the coherence of both logical as well as chronologically related events that an organization can experience. There has been a confusion between controllable and uncontrollable communication, according to (Boje and Baskin, 2011; Volker et al., 2011; Chen, 2012), there should be a differentiation between official stories and the unofficial one, official accounts should be sanctioned and must originate from the senior management.
  • Lack of proper coordination of multiple stories within the organization this leads to a failure to develop polyphonic harmony. The major challenge facing choral harmony is the contradiction that comes with employees removing memories from the official stories and subverting it with personal stories.
  • Lack of understanding of the corporate strategy by the employers that may hinder the understanding of the organization’s goals, visions, and values. According to,Spear and Roper (2016). storytelling plays a critical role in highlighting the vision, and the values of an organization as this will give the workers a sense of purpose as well as enabling them in understanding their roles, and this will assist in achieving the strategy(Spear, and Roper, 2016, p. 525)

Solutions

There should be well-drafted regulations that outline the guideline for storytelling in marketing. The organizations must deploy proper strategies when it comes to their competitors. The experiences of the storytellers cannot be overlooked; therefore, they should have both passion and self-drive. While doing marketing, the organization should make their cooperate strategy as simple as possible for the employees to be able to internalize and make it part of their routine work.

Ethical and moral issues

There are ethical and moral components that must be observed by an organization in its quest to deliver services, the components are the current perceived traditions, beliefs, values, and norms. Therefore, there should be corporate ethics in terms of payment, external relations, as well as governance. All these components are very critical when it comes to storytelling. There ought to be well defined professional ethics that touches on both the organizational ethical and moral environmental conduct.

 

References

Boje, D.M. ed., 2011. Storytelling and the future of organizations: An antenarrative handbook. Routledge.

Spear, S. and Roper, S., 2016. Storytelling in organizations: supporting or subverting corporate strategy?. Corporate Communications: An International Journal21(4), pp.516-532.

 
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