Résultat de la recherche
Storytelling as Adaptive Collective Sensemaking.
Storytelling represents a key element in the creation and propagation of culture. Three main accounts of the adaptive function of storytelling include (a) manipulating the behavior of the audience to enhance the fitness of the narrator, (b) transmitting survival-relevant information while avoiding the costs involved in the first-hand acquisition of that information, and (c) maintaining social bonds or group-level cooperation. We assess the substantial evidence collected in experimental and ethnographic studies for each account. These accounts do not always appeal to the specific features of storytelling above and beyond language use in general. We propose that the specific adaptive value of storytelling lies in making sense of non-routine, uncertain, or novel situations, thereby enabling the collaborative development of previously acquired skills and knowledge, but also promoting social cohesion by strengthening intragroup identity and clarifying intergroup relations.
Organisation interactionnelle des récits conversationnels par des jeunes candidats lors d'un entretien d'embauche
Comme en témoigne une abondante littérature sur le sujet, produire un récit conversationnel constitue un moyen de présentation de soi efficace dans le contexte d’un entretien d’embauche. Cependant, les mécanismes d’implémentation de ces récits dans l’interaction demeurent à ce jour largement sous-explorés. La présente étude s’inscrit dans le cadre d’un projet de recherche plus vaste, portant sur les compétences interactionnelles déployées en contexte institutionnel par des jeunes dans leur trajectoire entre l’école et leurs débuts dans le monde professionnel (Interactional Competences in Institutional Practices : Young People between School and the Workplace, subside FNS CRSII1_136291). De ce projet est issu un livre retraçant les grandes étapes de ce parcours (Pekarek Doehler, Bangerter, de Weck, Filliettaz, Gonzalez-Martinez & Petitjean, à paraître). L’objectif de notre recherche consiste ainsi à observer les mécanismes interactionnels qui sous-tendent les activités de récits conversationnels, dans des entretiens d’embauche impliquant des jeunes candidats inexpérimentés, postulant pour leur premier emploi. Le récit conversationnel est ici défini comme étant un récit d’expérience personnelle, constitué d’un enchaînement temporel d’événements, et référant à un moment unique situé dans le passé. L’observation de ce phénomène a été effectuée sur la base d’un corpus de données authentiques d’entretiens d’embauche, enregistrées sur un support audio-visuel, dans deux administrations publiques et une entreprise privée de Suisse romande. Ancrée dans une perspective interactionniste, cette recherche explore l’organisation interactionnelle des récits conversationnels produits par des jeunes candidats lors d’un entretien d’embauche, en observant les techniques et ressources déployées par les participants dans l’accomplissement d’activités de récit. Cette étude contribue à une meilleure compréhension du récit dans le contexte institutionnel de l’entretien d’embauche, et procure des clés aux candidats et aux recruteurs sur les mécanismes permettant de produire un récit valorisant des compétences pertinentes pour le poste., As extensively demonstrated in the literature, storytelling in job interviews is a pervasive means for self-presentation. However, how these stories are interactionally implemented is still under-explored. This study is part of a broader project, about interactional competences in institutional practices by young people in their trajectories between school and the workplace (Interactional Competences in Institutional Practices : Young People between School and the Workplace, SNF grant CRSII1_136291). This project yielded to a book recounting the main stages of this path (Pekarek Doehler, Bangerter, de Weck, Filliettaz, Gonzalez-Martinez & Petitjean, in press). The goal of this study aims to observe the interactional mechanisms underlying storytelling activities in job interviews involving inexperienced young candidates, applying for their first job. Conversational storytelling is defined here as a story about a personal experience, made of a temporally ordered sequence of events, and refering to a unique time in the past. The observation of this phenomenon has been made on a corpus of naturally occurring data of job interviews, audio-video recorded, in two public organisations and one private company of the french speaking part of Switzerland. Grounded in an interactionist perspective, this research explores the interactional organisation of storytelling by young candidates in job interviews, observing the technics and resources deployed by the interactants to accomplish storytelling activities. This study gives a better understanding of storytelling in the institutional context of job interviews, and provides some keys to both candidates and recruiters about the mechanisms by which producing a meaningful storytelling, highlighting relevant skills for the job.
Storytelling in the Selection Interview? How Applicants Respond to Past Behavior Questions
Purpose Increased use of past behavior questions makes it important to understand applicants’ responses. Past behavior questions are designed to elicit stories from applicants. Four research questions were addressed: How do applicants respond to past behavior questions, in particular, how frequent are stories? When applicants produce stories, what narrative elements do they contain? Is story production related to applicants’ characteristics? Do responses affect interview outcomes?
Design/Methodology/Approach Using a database of 62 real job interviews, the prevalence of five types of applicants’ response to past behavior questions were analyzed: story, pseudo-story, exemplification, value/opinion, and self-description. We also coded the narrative content of stories, distinguishing between situations, tasks/actions, and results. We analyzed relations between applicant characteristics (gender, age, personality, self-reported communication and persuasion skills, general mental ability) and response type. We used hierarchical multiple regression to predict hiring recommendations from response type.
Findings Stories were only produced 23 % of the time. Stories featured more narrative elements related to situations than tasks, actions, or results. General mental ability and conscientiousness affected response types, and men produced more stories than women. There were differences in the storytelling rate according to the type of competency. Stories and pseudo-stories increased hiring recommendations, and self-descriptions decreased them.
Originality/Value Behavioral interviews may not be conducive to storytelling. Recruiters respond positively to narrative responses. More research is needed on storytelling in the selection interview, and recruiters and applicants might need training on how to encourage and tell accurate and representative stories.