The Strategic Use of Stories in Organizational Communication and Learning

The Strategic Use of Stories in Organizational Communication and Learning
Author: Terrence L. Gargiulo
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2014-12-18
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317454421

Designed for students and practitioners in the fields of organizational behavior and human resource training and development, this groundbreaking book presents a cutting edge approach to improving organizational communication. Drawing on his extensive experience as an organizational development consultant and group process facilitator, Terrence Gargiulo shows how the use of storytelling is the key to effective communication and learning.

New Product Forecasting

New Product Forecasting
Author: Kenneth B. Kahn
Publisher: M.E. Sharpe
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2006
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780765620194

Concise and jargon free, this is a one-step primer on the tools and techniques of forecasting new product development. Equally useful for students and professionals, the book is generously illustrated, and features numerous current real-world industry cases and examples. Part I covers the basic foundations and processes of new product forecasting, and links forecasting to the broader processes of new product development and sales and operations planning. Part II includes detailed, step-by-step techniques of new product forecasting, from judgmental techniques to regression analysis. Each chapter in this section begins with the most basic techniques, then progresses to more advanced levels. Part III addresses managerial considerations of new product forecasting, including postlaunch issues such as cannibalization and supercession. The final chapter presents an important set of industry best practices and benchmarks.

Storytelling in Business

Storytelling in Business
Author: Janis Forman
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2013-01-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0804784957

Storytelling can be a lifelong and life sustaining habit of mind, a personal inheritance that connects us to our communities. It can also serve as an organizational inheritance—a management tool that helps businesses to develop and thrive. For more than a decade, award-winning author Janis Forman has been helping executives to tell stories in service of their organizational objectives. In Storytelling in Business: The Authentic and Fluent Organization, she teaches readers everywhere how the craft of storytelling can help them to achieve their professional goals. Focusing on the role of storytelling at the enterprise level, this book provides a research-driven framework for engaging in organizational storytelling. Forman presents original cases from Chevron, FedEx, Phillips, and Schering-Plough. Organizations like those featured in the book can make use of storytelling for good purposes, such as making sense of their strategy, communicating it, and developing or strengthening culture and brand. These uses of storytelling generate positive consequences that can have a sustained and significant impact on an organization. While large firms employ teams of digital and communication professionals, there's much that any of us can extrapolate from their experience to create stories to further our own objectives. To show the reach of storytelling, Forman conducted 140 interviews with professionals ranging from CEOs in small and thriving firms, to corporate communication and digital media experts, to filmmakers—arguably the world experts in visual storytelling. She draws out specific lessons learned, and shows how to employ the road-tested strategies demonstrated by these leaders. Although this book focuses on storytelling in the context of business, Forman takes inspiration from narratives in literature and film, philosophical and social thought, and relevant concepts from a variety of other disciplines to instruct the reader on how to develop truly authentic and meaningful tales to drive success. A final chapter brings readers back to square one: the development of their own "signature story." This book is a pioneering work that guides us beyond the pressure and noise of daily organizational life to influence people in a sustained, powerful way. It teaches us to be fluent storytellers who succeed by mastering this vital skill.

Strategic Organizational Communication

Strategic Organizational Communication
Author: Charles Conrad
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 534
Release: 2012-02-20
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1444338633

Surveying a wide variety of disciplines, this fully-revised 7th edition offers a sophisticated and engaging treatment of the rapidly expanding field of organizational communication Places organizations and organizational communication within a broader social, economic, and cultural context Applies a global perspective throughout, including thoughtful consideration of non-Western forms of leadership, as well as global economic contexts Offers a level of sophistication and integration of ideas from a variety of disciplines that makes this treatment definitive Updated in the seventh edition: Coverage of recent events and their ethical dimensions, including the bank crisis and bailouts in the US and UK Offers a nuanced, in-depth discussion of technology, and a new chapter on organizational change Includes new and revised case studies for a fresh view on perennial topics, incorporating a global focus throughout Online Instructors' Manual, including sample syllabi, tips for using the case studies, test questions, and supplemental case studies

Storytelling in Management Practice

Storytelling in Management Practice
Author: Stefanie Reissner
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2013-06-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1136160892

Since the early 2000s, storytelling as a means of managerial communication has been increasingly advocated, with a focus on the management practices of leadership, change and organizational culture. Most research on storytelling in management practice derives from practitioner experience, but little is known about the specific dynamics behind storytelling as a tool for managerial communication. This book derives from one of the first research studies into storytelling in management practice, which sought to evaluate the assumed, but not necessarily proven, effectiveness of storytelling as a management tool. Building on existing theories of narrative and storytelling in organizations, the book explores how managers use storytelling in their daily practice, revealing that it can be employed both, purposively - like a tool, and perceptively - spontaneously and intuitively. The book explains that storytelling has different functions in management practice at different levels of the organization, such as: Creating direction for the organization Translating strategic messages into operational ones and supporting the professional development of staff Shaping the organization’s social fabric through the sharing of personal stories Aided by a wealth of interviews and case studies, Storytelling in Management Practice reveals an analysis of the dynamic relationship between story, storyteller, audience and organizational context. As such, it will be useful for students and researchers working across a variety of sub-disciplines, including: leadership, organizational behaviour and business communication.

Philosophies of Organizational Change

Philosophies of Organizational Change
Author: Aaron C.T. Smith
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2020-11-27
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1839105097

This revised and extended second edition evaluates the diverse approaches to organizational change that have defined the field. Explaining the assumptions and implications that accompany these diverse philosophies, this book demystifies the complexities of conflicting perspectives and delivers valuable insights into the research and practice of organizational change.

Storytelling in Management Practice

Storytelling in Management Practice
Author: Stefanie Reissner
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2013-06-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1136160906

Since the early 2000s, storytelling as a means of managerial communication has been increasingly advocated, with a focus on the management practices of leadership, change and organizational culture. Most research on storytelling in management practice derives from practitioner experience, but little is known about the specific dynamics behind storytelling as a tool for managerial communication. This book derives from one of the first research studies into storytelling in management practice, which sought to evaluate the assumed, but not necessarily proven, effectiveness of storytelling as a management tool. Building on existing theories of narrative and storytelling in organizations, the book explores how managers use storytelling in their daily practice, revealing that it can be employed both, purposively - like a tool, and perceptively - spontaneously and intuitively. The book explains that storytelling has different functions in management practice at different levels of the organization, such as: Creating direction for the organization Translating strategic messages into operational ones and supporting the professional development of staff Shaping the organization’s social fabric through the sharing of personal stories Aided by a wealth of interviews and case studies, Storytelling in Management Practice reveals an analysis of the dynamic relationship between story, storyteller, audience and organizational context. As such, it will be useful for students and researchers working across a variety of sub-disciplines, including: leadership, organizational behaviour and business communication.

How Organizations Remember

How Organizations Remember
Author: Paddy O'Toole
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2010-10-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1441975241

How an organization works is largely a function of what it knows—i.e., the collective knowledge about all aspects of the enterprise, from competitive intelligence to formal systems and policies to the ways in which individuals solve problems and share their expertise. Organizational knowledge is not to be found in manuals and web sites, but in the day-to-day interactions among employees, suppliers, customers, investors, and other stakeholders. How Organizations Remember is based on a 10-month study of a technology firm with locations in three countries (Australia, US, and Ireland); the company has undergone rapid growth and expansion, which have had a profound impact on power structures and organizational culture, and hence, on the ways in which knowledge is created and disseminated. The author discovered that what is remembered is diverse, and of differing value within and across the organization. How knowledge is remembered is equally diverse, and ranges from computer files to cartoons on the wall, from stories to the way objects are placed on a desk. Knowledge is influenced by external influences as well as internal influences; knowledge may become a competitive advantage, but may also contribute to inertia. The book combines theoretical perspectives and empirical findings to generate insights that contribute to both research and practice in organizational learning, innovation, culture, and behavior.

Once Upon A Time

Once Upon A Time
Author: Terrence L. Gargiulo
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2007-06-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0787996998

Terence Gargiulo's 'breakthrough' communications and storytelling are amply demonstrated with dozens of corporate examples. And the best part? Gargiulo shows us, step by step, how to create this storytelling communication magic in our own organizations. The competencies assessed by the instrument represent the nine essential communication behaviors that need to be developed and cultivated in all of today’s leaders and managers: Modeling, Telling, Selecting, Indexing, Synthesizing, Reflecting, Eliciting, Listening and Observing. Once Upon a Time will show you how to develop exceptional communication skills, and it will serve as an invaluable resource for helping others do the same. Stories are a natural part of how we communicate. Yet many of us are unaware of the different ways we use stories. This book will take the intuitive aspects of communicating through stories and break it down into repeatable practices and essential competencies. The story-based activities in the second half of the book will give you powerful, easy to lead, structured, experiential exercises that can be used in a variety of settings and for lots of different purposes that go beyond training.