Narrating the Organization: Dramas of Institutional Identity

The most common social phenomenon of Western societies is the organization, yet thoseinvolved in real-world managing are not always willing to reveal the intricacies of theireveryday muddles. Barbara Czarniawska argues that in order to understandMoreThe most common social phenomenon of Western societies is the organization, yet thoseinvolved in real-world managing are not always willing to reveal the intricacies of theireveryday muddles. Barbara Czarniawska argues that in order to understand these unchartedterritories, we need to gather local and concrete stories about organizational life and subjectthem to abstract and metaphorical interpretation.Using a narrative approach unique to organizational studies, Czarniawska employs literarydevices to uncover the hidden workings of organizations. She applies cultural metaphors topublic administration in Sweden to demonstrate, for example, how the dynamics of ascreenplay can illuminate the budget disputes of an organization. She shows how theinterpretive description of organizational worlds works as a distinct genre of social analysis,and her investigations ultimately disclose the paradoxical nature of organizational life: we followroutines in order to change, and decentralize in order to control. By confronting suchparadoxes, we bring crisis to existing institutions and enable them to change.