Myths, Stories, and Organizations: Premodern Narratives for Our Times

by Yiannis Gabriel (Editor)

Each chapter of the book takes as its starting point a myth, a legend, a story or a fable and explores its contemporary relevance for a world of globalization, organizations and consumerism. Each contributor is inspired by a relatively short but rich text which is then used as a springboard for an analysis of contemporary social and organizational realities. The idea behind this book is that by looking at contemporary society through the prism of pre-modern narratives, certain features emerge in sharp relief, while others are found to be entrenched in societies across the ages. The texts that have inspired the authors of this collection differ-some are myths, some are stories, one is a children's tale. The origins of these texts differ, from the scriptural to the folkloric, from high art to oral tradition. What all the texts have in common is a distinct and compelling plot, a cast of recognizable characters with an ability to touch us and speak to us through the ages, and
above all, a powerful symbolic aura, one that makes them identifiable landmarks in storytelling tradition. The driving force behind this project was each author's love for their narratives. It is not an exaggeration to say that the book is a true labor of love. The chapters are introduced by the editor and are arranged in four parts, each with its own introduction. The chapters in each part spring from stories that share a narrative character, and are labeled as Knowledge Narratives, Heroic Narratives, Tragic Narratives and Reflective Narratives. The book offers a set of probing, original and critical inquiries into the nature of human experience knowledge and truth, the nature of leadership, power and heroic achievement, postmodernity and its discontents, and emotion, identity and the nature of human relations in organizations. Different chapters deal, among pother things, with the nature of leadership in the face of terrorism, friendship, women's position in organizations, the
struggle for identity, the curse of insatiable consumption and the ways the hero and heroine are constructed in our times.

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 29, 2004

Reviews

[Nilguen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like everyone else I love good stories. Now we may just go ahead and consume all stories within a single instance or you go ahead and map them to different contexts. The latter is exactly what Gabriel intends by mapping premodern narratives for our times.

Gabriel managed to mirror the quintessence of each religious and historical short story to our current circumstances in organizational environments. This approach resonated so well with me in my analysis of corporate environments.

One of my favorite stories in the book deals with King David and Jonathan´s friendship, who made a pact, which reflects the depth of their commitment to religious activities and political transformation.
The underlying key concept of their friendship is called ´hesed´, which is a term in Hebrew and has practically no counterpart in English. However, in modern literature the term is translated with words such as ´mercy´, ´kindness´, ´loyalty´ or ´devotion´.

Ultimately, I found myself reflecting on the ´pact´ of King David and Jonathan and contextualized the same in an organizational environment, which made me redefine my ´pact´ with my colleagues that is characterized by friendship to achieve organizational goals, which in turn has a positive impact on customer experience.

So, never say you cannot be friends at work :) Similarly to this story, I found many of them in this book that will give a fresh impetus to our work practice.

IG: nilguen_reads