On the narrative construction of multinational corporations : an antenarrative analysis of legitimation and resistance in a cross-border merger

Vaara, E. and Tienari, J. (2011) On the narrative construction of multinational corporations : an antenarrative analysis of legitimation and resistance in a cross-border merger. Organization Science, 22 (2). pp. 370-390. ISSN 1047-7039

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Although extant research has highlighted the role of discourse in the cultural construction of organizations, there is a need to elucidate the use of narratives as central discursive resources in unfolding organizational change. Hence, the objective of this article is to develop a new kind of antenarrative approach for the cultural analysis of organizational change. We use merging multinational corporations (MNCs) as a case in point. Our empirical analysis focuses on a revelatory case: the financial services group Nordea, which was built by combining Swedish, Finnish, Danish, and Norwegian corporations. We distinguish three types of antenarrative that provided alternatives for making sense of the merger: globalist, nationalist, and regionalist (Nordic) antenarratives. We focus on how these antenarratives were mobilized in intentional organizational storytelling to legitimate or resist change: globalist storytelling as a means to legitimate the merger and to create MNC identity, nationalist storytelling to relegitimate national identities and interests, Nordic storytelling to create regional identity, and the critical use of the globalist storytelling to challenge the Nordic identity. We conclude that organizational storytelling is characterized by polyphonic, stylistic, chronotopic, and architectonic dialogisms and by a dynamic between centering and decentering forces. This paper contributes to discourse-cultural studies of organizations by explaining how narrative constructions of identities and interests are used to legitimate or resist change. Furthermore, this analysis elucidates the dialogical dynamics of organizational storytelling and thereby opens up new avenues for the cultural analysis of organizations.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Organization Science
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1400/1407
Subjects:
?? organizational behavior and human resource managementstrategy and managementmanagement of technology and innovation ??
ID Code:
64848
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
05 Jun 2013 09:28
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
15 Jul 2024 13:58