The appropriated language: Dominant stories as a source of organizational inertia

This article suggests that by regarding the semantics of storytelling, we are able to explore how dominant stories influence and may contribute to organizational inertia. Using data from two change projects in large Scandinavian companies, it is shown that in the negotiation of meaning those stories that display semantic fit with the dominant story are perceived as more convincing, while those stories that lack this attribute appear oxymoronic and fail to have an impact. As a result, the organization is only able to change in a manner congruent with the dominant story and becomes inert in other respects. We suggest that a dominant story fixes not only the meaning of events, but also the meaning of the labels available for sensemaking. By this appropriation of language, the dominant story circumscribes sensemaking and storytelling possibilities, and thereby restricts organizational flux.