TY - JOUR
T1 - Anti-dialogic positioning in change stories
T2 - Bank robbers, saviours and peons
AU - Beech, Nic
AU - MacPhail, Stacy A.
AU - Coupland, Christine
PY - 2009/5
Y1 - 2009/5
N2 - Stories people tell of going through change incorporate and react to others around them. Positions can be taken in stories that tend towards the monological, having a singular perspective and being somewhat sealed off from others. Alternatively, stories can tend towards the dialogical, a multiple, less certain and more interactive mode. We explore multiple stories of an organizational change and analyse a paradoxical situation that emerges. We argue that although the stories may have the appearance of being dialogical, they can be seen as co-existing but self-sealing, or anti-dialogic. We introduce an interruption to the story and discuss a possibility for challenging anti-dialogic positioning in change stories.
AB - Stories people tell of going through change incorporate and react to others around them. Positions can be taken in stories that tend towards the monological, having a singular perspective and being somewhat sealed off from others. Alternatively, stories can tend towards the dialogical, a multiple, less certain and more interactive mode. We explore multiple stories of an organizational change and analyse a paradoxical situation that emerges. We argue that although the stories may have the appearance of being dialogical, they can be seen as co-existing but self-sealing, or anti-dialogic. We introduce an interruption to the story and discuss a possibility for challenging anti-dialogic positioning in change stories.
KW - Dialogue
KW - Fantasy
KW - Insulating identity work
KW - Self-sealing stories
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=65249179706&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1350508409102299
DO - 10.1177/1350508409102299
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:65249179706
VL - 16
SP - 335
EP - 352
JO - Organization Studies
JF - Organization Studies
SN - 0170-8406
IS - 3
ER -