essential-guide-to-qualitative-in-organizational-research

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– STORIES IN ORGANIZATIONAL RESEARCH––––––––– 117the setting. It is often not possible to keep written notes if a story is told in a bar or a corridor.Recollection is not regarded as a very reliable method of recording research data. For thepurposes of some types of research, recollection would be virtually useless. In the case,however, of stories, recollection is quite a legitimate method, especially if stories can becommitted to paper, tape or electronic medium shortly after they were heard. Some storiesmay be remembered years after the researcher first heard them and occasionally their meaningbecomes clearer after one has assumed a certain emotional and time distance from the narrativematerial. In spite of all these justifications, however, there is no denying that stories recorded,interpreted and analysed from recollection will bear the marks of the researcher’s ownconscious and unconscious elaboration and embellishment. Facets of the story which resonatewith the researcher’s desires, interests and research agendas are likely to be highlighted. Otherfeatures, which the researcher finds uninteresting, incidental or distasteful may be omitted orrepressed.The unit of analysisWhile collecting stories, researchers must reflect on the fundamental unit of analysis of theirresearch. This may be the individual story, the individual storyteller, specific incidents in anorganization’s history (for example, an accident or a crisis) or specific story themes (forexample, the breaking of rules or meeting the organization’s top leader). Alternatively aparticular organization may be the unit of analysis either as a space where stories happen (howmany stories, what types of stories, and so on) or as the topic of stories (namely what kindof stories are told about IBM).As with many types of qualitative research, the unit of analysis with story-based researchtends to be frequently redefined in the course of the research; yet, it cannot be disregardedaltogether. If the unit of analysis is the individual, the research must focus equally onindividuals who are good raconteurs and those who are not; by contrast, if the unit of analysisis the individual story, the researcher will spend more time with those individuals who willsupply many stories. If the researcher wishes to explore a specific incident, he/she will seekto elicit accounts of the incident with direct or indirect means.AN APPLICATION EXAMPLE ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––We shall now illustrate the use of stories in organizational research by outlining the resultsof a six-month field project carried out by one of the authors, entitled ‘An exploration oforganizational culture through the study of stories’. 1 The project was undertaken as a firstattempt to investigate the nature of storytelling in organizations and to probe the deepermeanings and significance of stories, starting with a particular type of story, dealing withcomputers, and then moving on to collect other types of stories. Letters were sent out to10 organizations requesting access and five of them responded positively. They representeda broad spectrum of organizations, including one of Britain’s largest manufacturingcompanies, a research and publishing company, two district headquarters of a privatizedutility, a hospital, and a consultancy unit attached to a university. Eventually, 126 individualswere interviewed by Gabriel and one assistant, yielding 377 stories. Four additional ad hocinterviews were conducted with computer analysts to obtain a sense of the type of stories