Leadership and storytelling : perspectives from senior hospitality management

O'Gorman, Kevin D. and Gillespie, Cailein H. (2008) Leadership and storytelling : perspectives from senior hospitality management. In: EuroCHRIE 2008 Congress, 2008-10-11 - 2008-10-14.

[thumbnail of strathprints006486]
Preview
Text. Filename: strathprints006486.pdf
Accepted Author Manuscript

Download (69kB)| Preview

Abstract

This paper presents initial findings on how twenty leaders, at the highest level in the international hospitality industry, use stories to create, disseminate and sustain corporate culture within their organisations. The paper focuses on a method for the application of hermeneutics and demonstrates, through analysing phenomenological interviews with leaders, that storytelling is an important strategic method of communication. Not only does the paper present insights on how storytelling is fundamental to leadership in the contemporary commercial hospitality industry it also reveals, through empirical research, how stories can be used as a data source.