ABSTRACT
Human beings tell stories at work. Managers, accountants, engineers, doctors, teachers, knowledge and craft workers, hourly employees—all experience much of work life through narrative performance. Stories allow us to make sense of organizational problems and expectations. They are maps for maneuvering through the obstacles and challenges that mark landscapes of work. They also provide information for making decisions and reveal the sometimes unconscious and tacit assumptions employees have about every aspect of the organization—its products, services, values, operating philosophy, structures, customers, competition, vendors, and fellow employees. Even assumptions about what is possible, what is reasonable, and what is good or evil in the company are embedded in stories. We come to know the corporate code, the specific techniques for doing the job, and the sanctioned ways of communicating, through listening and telling stories. Narratives reveal the rules for living in organizations.
