The persuasive power of storytelling in organizations and human psychology

Storytelling

A tale of fictitious or real events or narrative is defined as a story. For our hungry souls, the nourishment is stories. Palatable stories exist due to these elements of truth. There are many ways to tell a story to the latest Hollywood blockbuster from classic novels written by the greatest writers and to ghost tales around a campfire from prehistoric drawings on a cave. Creating an environment in which everything is possible, the story teller is the magician. The pictures seen in the mind of the storyteller are shown and passed and for interpretation are passed to the minds of the listeners. Storytelling is all the rage in business.The persuasive effects of a story are only been able to speculate until recently. But, a serious study related to the human mind and the influences of a story in it has been begun by psychology over the last several decades. In fact, in comparison to writing, at changing beliefs fiction seems to be more effective as to persuade through evidence and arguments is the specific purpose of writing.The power of stories is finally waking up in organizations. In compare to the questionnaire and interviews based approach in organizations, the patterns of understanding, behavior and culture are revealed in a more effective way by stories. The ideation patterns of a particular organization are revealed by the stories told in an organization in all aspects of organization life, like, in project reviews and formally in presentations.The recognition of a possible work is integral to the evolution of a different and new world. However, potentiality for such a world is continuously claimed by the status quo. To bind us to this world, different truths are used by the status quo.The Telos of life is supposedly the survival. Therefore, a cosmology is required by any threat to the status quo so that a path and a view of a different world are provided to us for realizing this world. I believe that this cosmology is given to us by considering narrative as a way of being in the world as it fundamentally alters out relation to our own humanity, our relation to others and our relation to the world. The condition of our humanity is intertwined with the condition of the world by it. In total, a compelling narrative is derived by this emergent view of narrative as the realms of possibilities are enlarged by it.

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Discussion 4

The Reasons behind Compelling Nature of Stories 4

The Evolutionary Reason for Stories 6

The Use of Narrative in Organizations 8

The Importance of Narrative 9

Conclusion 9

Story Telling

Introduction

A tale of fictitious or real events or narrative is defined as a story. For our hungry souls, the nourishment is stories. Elements of truth are comprised by stories that are often regarded as fiction. Palatable stories exist due to these elements of truth (Rayfield, 1972). There are many ways to tell a story to the latest Hollywood blockbuster from classic novels written by the greatest writers and to ghost tales around a campfire from prehistoric drawings on a cave. Since stories are magic, they can take us everywhere, they can transport us to many situations and places where we might never go, in the present time happening right, forwards or backwards.

Creating an environment in which everything is possible, the story teller is the magician. Between the audience and the story teller, a special kind of energy is developed when storytelling is well presented. The pictures seen in the mind of the storyteller are shown and passed and for interpretation are passed to the minds of the listeners (Taylor, 2003). The images passing through the mind of the storyteller are visualized in a way due to which the words change, each time the story is told.

Storytelling is all the rage in business. The personal brand, idea or products of any organization are dead on arrival if there is no compelling story (Poulton, 2005). The persuasive effects of a story are only been able to speculate until recently. But, a serious study related to the human mind and the influences of a story in it has been begun by psychology over the last several decades. The story strongly influences the values, hopes, fears and attitudes of individuals in accordance to the repeated results. In fact, in comparison to writing, at changing beliefs fiction seems to be more effective as to persuade through evidence and arguments is the specific purpose of writing.

The power of stories is finally waking up in organizations. To the wider opportunities provided in the fields of organizational strategy, knowledge management and change by narrative techniques from the use of storytelling in the context of communication, the executives and managers within the organization have become more open as within their organizations through the use of stories they revealed greater opportunities (Snowden, 2003). In compare to the questionnaire and interviews based approach in organizations, the patterns of understanding, behavior and culture are revealed in a more effective way by stories.

The ideation patterns of a particular organization are revealed by the stories told in an organization in all aspects of organization life, like, in project reviews and formally in presentations. The purpose of this research paper is to reflect the importance of stories, the reasons behind the compelling nature of stories, the evolutionary reason for stories, the use of narrative in organizations and the importance of narrative.

Discussion

The Evolutionary Reason for Stories

Evolution is a very philosophical concept besides being considered as a branch of the scientific community. Towards questions, like, is there any purpose acquired by evolution? And what is the reason behind our existence? The evolutionists are still open. Here, the idea of purpose is considered to be a relative ending than an absolute ending, a meaning or reason than a finale, which depicts that a purpose is carried by evolution (Holcomb III, 1996). One can say that evolution is a story, and a purpose is carried by a story, similarly, the way many philosophers used the proof style to explain abstract concepts in the past.

Therefore, a purpose is carried by evolution. The idea that purposes are acquired by stories is the idea which is not satisfying to some people. To do something determination, resolution, and intention, the fact or action of meaning or intending is what defines the purposes within this context.

To a state of being a symbolic end or for a continual state of being, a reason can be acquired by a story. For example, through storytelling, the reason behind a physical characteristic of leopard was aimed to be explained by people in ancient stories, like, "the reasons behind spots on a leopard." To give death or even life, life questions are tried to be answered by different religions that on a larger scale have arisen throughout