Telling stories of success: Tales to fire the imagination

Abstract

Purpose

To provide a concise briefing on the use of storytelling as a business tool in organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds his own impartial comments and places the argument in context.

Findings

Denning became converted to the effectiveness of storytelling as a business tool after witnessing its goals achieved in practice. He warns, however, against a “one size fits all” approach, recommending instead adopting different styles in different situations and asking if the intention is, for instance, to spur action or to transfer knowledge. Gold and Holman's study is a thorough, and consequently lengthy, consideration of an experientially based personal development module on a management diploma that was redesigned according to social constructionist ideas about learning and managerial activity. Parkin's article gives an intriguing insight into how offering information and instruction in the form of a story enables the brain to make us feel more relaxed, as opposed to feeling threatened by change with a consequent decline in the capacity for creative thinking.

Practical implications

Provides plenty of useful guidance to human‐resource and training specialists considering the introduction of storytelling in their organizations.

Originality/value

Provides some useful information on the use of storytelling as a business tool in organizations.

Citation

(2005), "Telling stories of success: Tales to fire the imagination", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 30-32. https://doi.org/10.1108/09670730510576400