Firms are really social communities, and it s very important to keep these communities intact to get coherence and cohesion. So when you tell stories about the organization, it s often a bonding mechanism. They need to be told in a time and at a place. How does that fit into the motive to tell a story. Because I may have a story and not want to tell it and then find the time when I do want to tell it.
Timing is very important.
There are certain timeless stories. Again, if you were to do discourse analysis and collected all the stories told in every organization in the world for five years, you d find there are timeless stories. So there are certain tales or myths or legends that are perennial in organizations. You find them in the Bible. You find them in the Iliad and the Odyssey.