The Role of Narratives in Organisational Change

Abstract

Organisational change has been studied for many years generating classical management literature of how to view and handle change, but contrasting the more classical theories, narratives, or stories, can be used to study change. In human sciences, narratives are referred to as a family of concepts that have in common a storied form. This study aims to develop and exemplify a narratological perspective of organisational change that is created through socially constructed, multi authored and competing stories. This study will discuss and attempt to answer the following research question: What is the role of narratives in organisational change? By gathering, presenting and analysing narratives from employees surrounding a reorganisation this study shows that competing narratives play a significant role in employee sensemaking, identity creation and organisational politics. The findings of this study illustrate how the same organisational change is interpreted and understood by individuals in the organisation through collective and personal sensemaking. Also, narratives facilitate the creation of identity, alterity and organisational image.