My intention was to consider the literature and practices around institutional storytelling in an effort to learn how to best harness the power of narrative in an organizational environment.
An analysis of the literature around organizational and business storytelling trumpeted the trend as a kind of sense-making compass. Yet embedded in many of these texts is a sense that the transformative and emancipatory power of storytelling has been beggared in this environment, reduced to a humble servant of profit and power.
Via a literature review as well as case studies of Kaapittiaq, Tim Hortons, the narrative of Canada, and reflective storytelling, I became convinced of the necessity of narrative deconstruction, arguing for a plurivocal practice in which storytelling is an instrument of discovery and self-reflection rather than that which produces a static product for commercial purposes.
In keeping with the ethos of the research, I chose to structure this paper in something akin to a narrative style, rather than a conventionally academic one. The intention is to bring the reader on a narrative (and cumulative) journey of discovery, building to the presentation of a storytelling tool at the end of the paper.