Book Review
Alan Cattell
Alan
Cattell,
Making
Stories - A Practical Guide for Organizational Leaders and Human Resource
Specialists
Terrence.
L. Gargiulo
Publisher
Name:
Quorum Books.
Place
of Publication:
Westport, Connecticut.
Publication
Year:
2002
Number
of Pages:
182 pp.
ISBN:
1 56720 381 7
Price:
$64 (hardback)
Article
type:
Review.
Industrial
and Commercial Training
Volume 35 Number 1 2003 pp. 38-38
Copyright © MCB University Press ISSN 0019-7858
In his preface to the book Gargiulo uses a personal example
of a story - The Giving Tree, to demonstrate his own engagement
and interest as a student in the medium of stories. In essence, this
reflective illustration sets the tone for entering a journey into what
Gargiulo terms as "the story paradigm". This paradigm is the
foundation of the book. The author observes, "You see, stories do not
fit into neat cubbyholes of meaning. Stories graciously offer us the
opportunity to look at ourselves and the world around us in new
ways." What the text then offers is the "practical guide"
to doing so which is promised in the title of the book.
Having entered Part 1 - "The story paradigm", the
text is divided into two further Parts - Part 2 - "Putting stories to
work in human resources, training, and organizational development",
and Part 3 - "A practical guide to developing the `story mind"'.
Essentially this approach focuses the reader on what stories are (or can
be), how and why they work, how they can be used and the effects of using
them, and who can potentially use them and how the user can develop their
own stories.
In modelling the practice, a range of stories are used
throughout the text to paint word pictures of possible applications in a
variety of scenarios. Analysis of examples and summary of key learning
points from each chapter are frequently used by the author. Additional
vignettes and suggested reading are also offered in the Appendices to the
book. The writing style and structure of the text engages the reader to
dig deeper into the Story Paradigm Model. In reviewing the book I found
that the best way to read it was in bite sized chunks which allowed me to
put the book down and reflect on the meaning and application of the
stories, before continuing. Interestingly, on reading some of the stories
a second time, many took on new meanings. Gargiulo's example of The
Giving Tree in the Preface makes exactly this point.
This book is firmly rooted in practice, not theory. From a
practical point of view potential applications of the text cover
presenting, imaging, connecting, change management, managing corporate
culture, and team building. These are explored from the perspectives of
communication, learning, memory and intelligence. Having set a context for
utilising stories in Part 1, Part 2 identifies using them in HRM with
regard to recruiting, interviewing, induction, performance appraisal,
employee relations and conflict resolution. A separate chapter examines
using stories in an HRD and training context from a viewpoint of utilising
stories from the text to develop story skills. This chapter also contains
ten exercises, each with facilitator guide comments. Additionally the role
of stories in developing understanding of business processes and knowledge
management is also well covered. Part 3 builds upon exercises in the
previous parts and chapters and is designed to enable the reader to elicit
and develop stories. This is done at two levels. First, the reader is
encouraged to develop and build an index of personal stories with the
author giving 22 personal topics as guidance, along with questions to
assist the reader. Second, business observations and the relationship
between stories and behaviour are explored using eight topic examples.
Examples of things to observe and questions to help develop a story are
also covered.
If you are an aficionado of stories, this book is an
enjoyable and stimulating read and is a worthy addition to the bookshelf
and to other books of the genre. If you still remain to be convinced, the
text gives the reader many reasons to consider applying stories in
pragmatic business sense. Whilst one or two of the stories are long and
detailed in the telling, the majority enable the reader to view both
themselves and the world of business from a unique perspective.
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Copyright Academy of Management Learning and
Education
Reviewed by Gerald D. Klein, Rider University
I think it appropriate to start this review of a new
book about stories with a story.
My son had a rough day at elementary school.
He had been teased at the bus stop by a junior high student,
disciplined by his teacher and had been sent to the principal’s office
by an aide at recess for doing something that another child had done.
As he related these events to me after school I gave him what I
intended to be a reassuring hug and said, “Well, David, c’est la
vie” – French for, “That’s life.”
David pulled back with a quizzical look on his face and, while he
wasn’t sure why he was doing this, he slowly said to me, “Ok, Dad, la
vee.”
I use this true story in the classroom to illustrate
how the meaning of a message can be completely misconstrued by another.
The example also reminds us to match our language to our audience -
David, after all, was only nine and had not studied French.
This story also contains a healthy dose of self-deprecation,
signaling to an audience that this instructor or speaker likely does not
hold himself to be superior to others in the room.
One of the functions of a story is to secure the
interest and attention of an audience.
I hope I have succeeded because I want you to know about Making Stories by Terrence Gargiulo.
As a university teacher and occasional organization
trainer who uses stories in my work I found Making
Stories very reinforcing but also illuminating and helpful.
Terrence Gargiulo is a management consultant, organization
development specialist and trainer based in San Francisco.
He leads “story workshops”, where participants become more
skilled in accessing from memory, crafting and telling stories, and in
eliciting, cataloging and remembering the stories of others.
The single greatest contribution of this book is to underscore the
great value of stories – stories told and stories obtained from others
– in a wide range of important human endeavors, from teaching to
organizational leadership. Making
Stories has much to offer to teachers, trainers, human resource and
other professionals, and executives.
Gargiulo asserts that we share information and learn
in life primarily through telling and exchanging stories, and stories are
“the most efficient way of storing, retrieving, and conveying
information” (p. 3). He
advocates the development of a “story mind”, which means more often
using and seeking stories in our interactions and, simultaneously, moving
away from teaching and management styles that are principally expository
and directive. These styles
seldom influence others. Stories
are better vehicles for influencing and bringing about change, Gargiulo
argues, as stories interest listeners more, actively engage the
listener’s intellect, and cause a listener to search for their meaning,
applicability and lessons. Most
listeners, the author says, will not only see what you hope they will see
in a story but are able to surprise the storyteller by the elements and
messages they see in a story that the teller has not seen. “Every story or experience,” Gargiulo says, “is a
wealth of knowledge waiting to be tapped”(p. 80).
Gargiulo resists the temptation early in his book to
define “a story”. Instead,
he asks the reader to both suspend any preconceptions he or she has about
what a story is and to create his or her own definition through immersion
in this work. This is a wise
strategy. It was necessary
for me to read the first two parts of this three-part book to fully
comprehend the story taxonomy.
More of the story taxonomy will be revealed in the
remainder of this review but here are a few examples of different kinds of
stories. Examples
from life that are shared or sought from others to clarify a concept
or generalization are stories. Case
studies, a fundamental part of collegiate business programs, are
stories. Stories can also be metaphors
and analogies. An analogy offered in Making
Stories under the topic of “Change Management” involved a chief
strategist for a new but potentially critical information technology unit
at GM. In his presentation to
this new group he used the image of a supertanker and a trim tab. Gargiulo writes:
“Turning a supertanker cannot possibly be done with
a rudder; no rudder is strong enough to withstand the force of water
against it. Therefore a
supertanker uses a small trim tab on its rudder.
He likened (the new information technology group) to the trim tab
of a supertanker” (p.92).
Reporting the
results of research to our university classes is also telling a story,
though we have to remember to do this in a much
more engaging way than we would if we were describing research results to
peers. (Maybe our peers
deserve this, too.)
While stories can be long they can also be brief –
a sentence or two. For
example, a replacement for the story that began this review is this true
story:
An administrative assistant in the College of
Business asked the mother on the phone if her daughter was an
undergraduate. With certainty
came the reply. “No, she’s a junior.”
The remainder of this review will overview the three
major sections of the book and offer additional evaluative comments.
Part I of Making
Stories cites nine basic functions that stories perform.
For example, stories “empower a speaker” (p. 11), that is,
permit a speaker to obtain the interest and attention of an audience.
The right story can create an “environment of trust” (p. 12)
and, if it shows insight into a situation faced by an organization, can
increase the storyteller’s credibility.
Sharing stories permit individuals to connect, to “bind and
bond” (p. 16), with one another - essential in establishing good working
relationships. Stories
“encode information” (p. 31), that is, contain a message or conclusion
you or another want a party to see and appreciate.
Conflict can often be resolved when each party shares stories that
describe experiences, values, beliefs, motivations and self-interests.
In therapeutic settings storytelling by clients, in which past and
current stories are told, is a vital part of the healing process.
Part II indicates the importance of storytelling in
training and other human resource activities, business process
improvement, knowledge management, organization change and leadership. Human resource professionals, executives, and school or
college of business instructors will probably find Part II of the book of
greatest practical value to them in their work.
Gargiulo shows how stories, both told and sought from
others, can be productively used and become central
in such human resource-driven activities as recruitment, interviewing,
employee orientation, performance appraisal, conflict resolution and
training. He suggests that an
individual interested in the improvement of business processes elicit,
collect and analyze stories in order to understand how things are done
currently and to identify how the system could be improved.
Questions are provided in the text to prompt the telling of
different kinds of stories germane to process improvement.
Gargiulo claims that knowledge management – efforts to
“capture…and analyze information to keep the organization mobile and
agile” (p. 84) – today and in the future “will depend more on
processes established in an organization to promote story swapping than
any system of software” (p.85). While
acknowledging that each organization will have to experiment in order to
find story swapping processes that facilitate knowledge transfer Gargiulo
primes the pump with a list of intriguing possibilities, e.g., designate
special areas and times for story swapping (p.86).
Part II describes how an organization’s culture can
be understood, in part, through the stories employees tell, and how
culture can be changed through the use of stories.
An organization’s leaders can bring key stories to the attention
of organization members and use them to convey the values and beliefs they
wish to develop in their organization.
Concerning organization change, stories shared in conjunction with
a change initiative can help individuals move beyond their anxieties and
fears to envision possibilities or a specific path, and provide hope.
Appropriately, Part II has chapters to help individuals become more
effective storytellers and more sensitive listeners to stories.
Part III of Making
Stories is devoted to helping individuals develop stories from their
own and others’ experiences. Gargiulo
has selected twenty-two topics, each followed by a series of questions
intended to elicit memories. The topics include childhood, parents and
siblings, stories told to me, disappointments and betrayals, and favorite
books and movies. The reader
is encouraged to save stories that emerge from this process.
Part III is perhaps most useful to those who do not already have
and use a rich repertoire of stories and is intended to help individuals
in all walks of life develop a “story mind.”
School and college of business instructors and organization
executives would probably like to find here more topics and questions
capable of eliciting stories useful in their work, such as, valuable
research and writing, satisfying and dissatisfying organizational
experiences, leaders, and organization change.
Though very useful as written there are several ways
in which Making Stories could be
strengthened. The book could
be enriched by including more stories from the contemporary business and
popular press, from books on particular companies, and biographies and
autobiographies of organization leaders.
Also, Gargiulo indicates, correctly, that because of each
person’s unique collection of memories, values and experiences the
meaning and value of a story rests with the listener.
Because of this, “discussing a story,” he says, “means
exploring it from as many angles as possible”(p. 60).
However, only the author’s analysis and interpretation is
provided for the stories offered as examples throughout the book.
It would have been more consistent with his view to include
multiple interpretations of at least some of the stories, and/or a list of
questions to use with each story – questions that might surface these
stimulating differences among listeners.
Making Stories
would also benefit from better editing.
Chapter 5 promises a section on “Employee Relations” that is
missing. The business
practices discussed in Chapter 8 are claimed to be the critical ones
affecting the growth and health of an organization, but the same claim is
made for those discussed in Chapter 9.
Better editing is needed to rein in the author’s tendency on
occasion to digress too much from the topic at hand.
Gargiulo’s commitment to the “story mind”
approach slights other pedagogical strategies that contribute to learning.
Generalizations from research and conceptual models, in my
experience, are valuable, as well. Citing just a very few examples, there is value in students
learning Benne and Sheats’s distinctions concerning task, maintenance
and individual roles (Benne & Sheats, 1948: 41-49); French and
Raven’s bases of social power (French & Raven, 1959: 150-167); the
components of organization culture and important levers for culture and
organization change; and factors influencing organization commitment. Stories, however, are very effective in bringing material
like this to life and giving generalizations and models credibility.
References
Benne, K. D., & Sheats, P. (1948).
Functional roles of group members.
Journal of Social Issues,
4 (2).
French, J. R. P., Jr., & Raven, B. H. (1959).
The bases of social power. In
D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in social power. Ann
Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research. |
