Organizational members as storywriters: on organizing practices of reflexivity

Purpose The article describes how organizational members became storywriters of an important process of organizational change. Writing became a practice designed to create a space, a time, and a methodology with which to author the process of change and create a learning context. The written stories produced both the subjectivity of practical authors and reflexively created the con/text for their reproduction. Design/methodology/approach A storywriting workshop inspired by a processual and participatory practice-based approach to learning and knowing was held in a research organization undergoing privatization. For six months, thirty-one organizational members, divided into two groups, participated in writing one story per week for six weeks. The written story had to refer to a fact that had occurred in the previous week, thus prompting reflection on the ongoing organizational life and giving a situated meaning to the change process. Findings Storywriting is first and foremost a social practice of wayfinding, i.e of knowing as one goes. Writing proved to be an effective practice that involved the authors, their narratives, and the audiences in a shared experience where all these practice elements became connected and through their connection acquired agency. Originality/value Narrative knowledge has been studied mainly in storytelling, while storywriting by organizational members has received less attention. This paper explores storywriting both as a situated, relational, and material practice and as the process that produces narratives which can be considered for their content and their style.