ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the historically important role of narrative in the communication field, from classical rhetorical theory to the work of Fisher and his identification of the person as "homo narran". It explores applications of narrative in work related to organizational culture and leader communication, uncovering the generally unrecognized and even surprising foundational place that narrative holds in other well-established organizational communication perspectives such as crisis communication and organizational image repair. The chapter argues that corporate identity is grounded in narrative; that is, organizations are primarily known and recognized by stories in which they are the main character. It also uses the Kenneth Burke's ideas to show how "branding" is ultimately a process of inviting individuals into that corporate story. Through all of this, the chapter illustrates how narrative can be a unifying force, thus helping to connect academics and academic units as well as the phenomena they study.
