Collective bargaining as the negotiation of competing stories

Abstract

Leaders assume to have recourse to narratives of crisis in order to legitimize their command authority to act as desired. Yet leaders are never the singular storytellers in organizations, and resistance to the stories they tell is possible. A recent case of collective bargaining is presented as a case of competing storytelling about an organization (a university). Drawing from excerpts from publicly available texts, the differences in narrative social construction are illustrated. The case highlights the central role for communications in leadership as leaders attempt to manage the sensemaking of organizational members through discursive activity. As a result, we are forced to rethink leadership as a set of dialectical relationships where meaning is co-constructed.

Priming the Future: Navigating Ethical Transformations in Negotiation Landscapes

“…When incorporating stories with moral messages, two aspects are crucial for their effectiveness: the timing of their delivery and the tone of the story [101,102]. It is advisable to place the story, which is intended to set the framework for the entire negotiation, right at the beginning, for example, within the opening statement.…”

Together telling: reconciling information equivocality in crisis response

“…Sonenshein (2010) offers his understanding of narrative as 'a discursive construction that actors use as a tool to shape their own understanding (sensemaking), as a tool to influence others' understandings (sensegiving), and as an outcome of the collective construction of meaning (Sonenshein, 2010, p. 480). Such claims show that there is, then, strategy in storytelling and instrumentality in sensemaking and sensegiving (Long, 2016).…”

“…This hinderance to achieve common understanding can be highly consequential in situations where group convergence is critical for the success of the overall operation such as when responding to a crisis. To reach convergence, however, some stories tend to take lead in the situation and in doing so, become dominant leading to a challenge for the sensegiving activities (Long, 2016).…”

“…Long (2016) brings the ongoing discussion of dominant stories at the level of individual sensegivers which aligns with the goals and context in which this study is located. Long (2016) argued that dominant stories are ought to emerge in presence of multiple actors, especially, in settings where leaders as commanders use coercive powers to influence others of their stories. He further highlighted the central role for communications in leadership as leaders attempt to manage the sensemaking of organizational members through discursive activity.…”