ICTs in the Contemporary World seminar

Cultures of Information and Cultures of Storytelling

Yiannis Gabriel
School of Management, Royal Holloway University of London

Wednesday 8 March 2006
3.00 - 5.00 p.m.



Fifth Floor, Tower One

We live in a world saturated with information and image. In such a culture, numbers and pictures reign supreme, creating regimes of truth and exercising a tyrannical control over both discourse and policy. What chance stand fragile narratives like stories stand in such a culture? The author will examine the role, value and power of stories and storytelling in a information-dominated society. He will argue that, while often marginal and ignored, the quiet voice of the storyteller fills a gaping vacuum of sense-making and sense-giving that neither information nor image can meet. The author will offer various examples of how stories 'work' as vehicles of communication and learning.

Yiannis Gabriel is Professor of Organizational Theory at the School of Management, Royal Holloway University of London. Professor Gabriel is well known for his work into organizational storytelling and narratives, management learning and the culture and politics of contemporary consumption. He has used stories as a way of studying numerous social and organizational phenomena including leader-follower relations, group dynamics and fantasies, nostalgia, insults and apologies. More recently he has explored the education of managers and leaders in institutions of higher education and the ways in which MBAs influence professional practice. Yiannis has made his own contribution to pedagogy as author and co-author of several textbooks on organizations. His most recent publications include the edited collection Myths, Stories and Organizations (OUP, 2004) and the articles "Glass cages and glass palaces: Images of organization in image-conscious times" (Organization, 2005) and. "MBA and the education of leaders: The new playing fields of Eton?" (Leadership, 2005). His enduring fascination as a researcher lies in what he describes as the unmanageable qualities of life in and out of organizations.

Please note places will be available on a first-come-first-serve basis - registration is not required.

For any further queries regarding this seminar or to request information about future events please contact Emma Keys, Research Coordinator. e.s.keys@lse.ac.uk

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