Storytelling is part of social action and interaction that actually shapes the future of organizations. Organization and management studies have overwhelmingly focused to date on rational narrative structures with beginnings, middles, and ends, where narrative has proved to be a handy concept in qualitative studies. Far less attention is given however to the more spontaneous and ‘non-staged’ storytelling that occurs in organizations. Storytelling and the Future of Organizations explores the science and practice of ‘antenarrative’ because that is how the future of organization is shaped.

Antenarrative is a term invented by David M. Boje in 2001, and is defined as a ‘bet on the future,’ as ‘before’ narrative linearity, coherence, and stability sets in. Antenarrative is all about ’prospective sensemaking,’ betting on the future before narrative retrospection fossilizes the past. Antenarrative storytelling is therefore agential in ways that traditional narratology has yet to come to grips with. This handbook contribution is bringing together a decade of scholarship on ‘antenarrative.’ It is the first volume to offer such a varied but systematic examination of non-traditional narrative inquiry in the management realm, organizing and developing its approach, and providing new insights for management students and scholars.

Contents

Introduction to Agential Antenarratives that Shape the Future of Organizations. David M. Boje, Ph.D. Part I: Individual, Gender, and Group Antenarratives 1.Ante Narrational Presuppostitions: A Philosophical Reflection on Responsible use of Power and (Ante)narrative. Frits Schipper 2.Antenarratives of Negotiated Diversity Management. Jawad Syed and David Boje 3.The Tesseract Antenarrative Model: Mapping Storytelling to Multi-dimensional Factor Lattices in Mathematics. Diane Walker, ABD 4.The Antenarrative of Ethics and the Ethics of Antenarratives. Grace Ann Rosile, Ph.D. 5. The Creirit of the Leader’s Soul: Using Antenarratives to Explain Metanoia Experiences. Kevin Grant, Ph.D. 6. Understanding Legal Antenarratives. Majella O'Leary and Kim Economides Part II: Organization and Writing Antenarratives 7. Living Story and Antenarrative in Organizational Accidents. Jo A. Tyler, Ed.D. 8. Antenarrative and narrative: The Experiences of Actors Involved in the Development and Use of Information Systems. Lynette Drevin and Darren Dalcher 9. Strategy as Antenarrative Complexity. Yue Cai-Hillon, Ph.D., David Boje, Ph.D., and Clarinda Dir 10. Antenarratives, Strategic Alliances, and Sensemaking: Engagement and Divorce without Marriage between Two Brazilian Air Carriers Firms. Sergio Luis Seloti Jr., MSc and Mário Aquino Alves, Ph.D. 11. Visual/Picture as Antenarratives: Sketching the Research Process. Teppo Sintonen, Ph.D. and Tommi Auvinen, Lic. 12.Narratives: A Love Story. Anna Linda Musacchio Adorisio Part III: Antenarratives and Organization Change 13. Surviva...