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“Well, That’s the Postal Service!”: How Organizations Produce Stories and Stories Shape Organizing
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“Well, That’s the Postal Service!”: How Organizations Produce Stories and Stories Shape Organizing
Annotation
PII
S0869-54150000339-5-1
Publication type
Article
Status
Published
Authors
Elena Gudova 
Edition
Issue 3
Pages
151-167
Abstract
Modern organizations are no longer just formal rational entities for researchers – they have proved to have a culture, and their employees are real people. One way to hear those people’s voices is listening to stories they tell. Storytelling in organizations uncovers internal events and their interpretations,allows revealing the hidden world of emotions, where there are power conflicts, interiorization (or denial) of values, and new order development. Three stories told by the employees of the “Russian Post” Moscow Head Office show the employees’ perception of organizational change, launched by the managerial shift in 2013. Personnel changes, communication between the Head Office and periphery, as well as the interaction among the departments and with the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation are viewed through the metaphors of “drama”, “unmanaged organization” and “storytelling organization”. A common phrase “Well, that’s the Postal Service!” turns out to be much more complex and concealing a set of problems and processes, not allof which have yet been realized even within the organization.
Keywords
Russian Post, organizational change, narration in organization studies, storytelling, drama, unmanaged organization, storytelling organization
Date of publication
01.05.2018
Number of purchasers
8
Views
541
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