it.”
Michael leaned forward, “You mean you’ve never done this?”
My ideas about narrative change came from a setting much less distressing than the death penalty process. I was introduced to the power of narrative during a research engagement at the world-famous comedy theater, The Second City, in Chicago. When I was there, Tina Fey was the head writer, creating sketch comedy similar to what most people would recognize as the five- to ten-minute skits seen on Saturday Night Live.
In addition to comedy shows, Second City Communications provided programs for organizations that supported their company’s agenda through themes and messaging in the comedy skits. After one such show, a telecom company executive related a surprising result.
“Do you remember the skit when they had me discussing the merger with a manager from the other company?” the executive asked.
“I do,” I said.
“Well, in that scene, which was completely made up, they had me and the other manager jogging through a park as we discussed some merger issues.”
“Yes,” I recalled, “and as you jogged along and talked, you encountered and overcame all kinds of obstacles.”
“The actors were running through a jungle, then a desert, over mountains, and stuff like that. It was funny.”
“So that skit resonated with the employees?” I asked.
“It did!” he exclaimed. “But in an odd way. They all think I am a runner.”
“And are you?”
“No, I’ve never run a day in my life. I hate running,” he said.
“So how did you find out that they thought that?”
“They give me gifts! All kinds of running gear. I get shoes, running shorts, special watches, and gift cards to running stores. People forward me information about marathons! It’s crazy.”
In addition to serving as a proving ground for comedy legends John Belushi, Bill Murray, John Candy, Chris Farley, and, more recently, Steve Colbert and Tina Fey, Second City was also a proving ground for my ideas about narrative theory. I spent about eight months there doing an ethnography focused on how organizations construct stories to create shared understandings. I focused on how these corporate skits were created, and I conducted participant observation in the writer’s room, where writers met with clients to discuss their meeting agenda, such as a merger announcement, and what the clients hoped the show might achieve for their company or organization.
My research was conducted in a division called Second City Communications, now Second City Works. They used their improvisation methods to deliver team building, communication, and leadership workshops to organizations. They also performed sketch comedy shows at corporate events, using skits to convey corporate strategy, culture, and messaging to employees. I studied how the writers and corporate clients crafted scripts to be performed in front of employees. The skits either framed current events or offered designs for the future, such as what the corporation should do, how employees should act, and what kind of culture they should have. The skits were perfect examples of what organizational researchers called organizational narratives.
At that time, organizational scholars doing narrative research collected and examined existing narratives, such as mission statements, letters to shareholders, and corporate histories. In analyzing these existing narratives, most researchers used methods such as discourse analysis to make inferences about the corporation’s culture and identity. What I observed was groundbreaking research within narrative theory. Instead of interpreting existing narratives, I watched how narratives were created. Observing the narrative construction process as it happened was eye-opening. It allowed me to explore corporate decisions about what to include or exclude in each narrative, and how the company hoped a new narrative might change the corporate culture, achieve a shared understanding, or get everyone on the same page in pursuing a strategy. My research was the first to examine “the making of” stories and narratives with a focus on how narratives might create—not just reflect—corporate culture.
Besides being fun, The Second City was an extremely interesting and poignant research setting for narrative theory. My research got attention from some foundational members in the field of organizational narratives, including David Boje, a well-known academic authority on organizational narratives and storytelling.1 He agreed to be on my dissertation committee, and along with Dan Spencer at the University of Kansas, they directed my attention to a critical postmodern approach to organizing, which entails a reflexive approach to critically analyzing how discourse creates reality.
On the day of my dissertation defense, my chairperson at The University of Kansas said the committee would be honored if David Boje would be the first to comment on my presentation. Professor Boje was very brief. He declared my work a unique success and explained why. After that, no one on my committee had much to say. My dissertation defense was over. Everyone’s coffee was still hot.
■ ■ ■
I never intended to study narratives in the first place. The year prior to my work at The Second City in Chicago I was living in France, teaching management at the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce in Clermont-Ferrand. My main purpose for going to France was to get permission to conduct an ethnography at Michelin Tire headquarters, which was considering a new tire factory in recently privatized Russia. I had previously lived and taught in Russia, and I had established a contact at Michelin. I hoped to do an international management dissertation on French-Russian cross-cultural issues surrounding the opening of the new manufacturing plant. I spent six months having meetings about having meetings but made little progress at Michelin or at any tire plant in Russia. Having failed to secure a research setting, I slunk back to Kansas with my tail between my legs, pushing my PhD program into its fifth year.
On a lark, a friend from Chicago suggested I look into Second City’s corporate division. I had never heard of it, but I was desperate for a research site and drove to Chicago to meet with the cofounder of Second City Communications, Joe Keefe. I pitched Joe my idea about studying corporate culture through the narratives (skits) they crafted.
“I kind of become part of your ‘tribe,’” I explained in his office overlooking the intersection of North and Wells in Chicago. “As an ethnographer, I come here and ‘live’ among you and see what you do and what that’s like. Over time, some patterns or themes should emerge that allow me to theorize about what is happening as these narratives are constructed and clients use them to various ends. Participant observation means that I watch everything that happens, take copious notes, ask lots of questions, and participate as fully as possible in the work context to understand all the processes.”
“I have no idea what you just said, but you sounded great!” Joe said. “Let’s find you someplace to sit.”
One of the first narrative construction processes I observed was for a large Fortune 500 telecom company. The telecom company hired Second City Communications after they bought a smaller internet company that had been a fierce competitor. During the day, employees from both companies heard about plans for integrating the two former competitors. The two companies had very different cultures, but management thought they could retain the best parts of each organizational culture.
