Stories Managers Tell: Why They Are as Valid as Science Public Administration Review January/February 1991, Vol. 51, No. 1 By Ralph P Hummel "Stories Managers Tell: Why They Are as Valid as Science" is a journal article from the Public Administration Review written by Ralph P. Hummel. In this article, Hummel argues against the critical scientists that have conducted a concerted attack on the ways public managers acquire knowledge today. These scientists believe that neither practitioners nor academicians are aware of what they are doing simply because they are not scientific enough. Hummel, on the other hand, believes that the way managers interpret their world through storytelling is a valid means for producing and accumulating knowledge. He contends that this source of knowledge is as credible for students and scholars of public administration as it is for practitioners (Hummel, 1991, 51).
Hummel's main belief is that managers heavily communicate through stories that help constitute and construct their world. According to Lois High of the Department of Veterans Affairs, it is extremely important for managers to know their "people" because they are their only resource (High, 1990, 19). Hummel defends this by stating that a manager's biggest problem is getting access to what a person might be thinking in their workplace (Hummel, 1991, 51). Judging the validity of what someone is thinking can also be tough for a manager. Hummel gives a good example of this by bringing up the Morton-Thiokol disaster. The on-duty manager had failed to interpret what an engineer had warned him about prior to the disaster. This shows that the disaster was not caused by scientific or technical faults but by the failure of interpretation. Although Hummel does point out that science and rational calculations have their own place in the workplace, he highlights the importance of knowing workplace "gossip". He states that it is just as important for a manager to develop a sense of what his coworkers and colleagues are talking about.
Hummel reminds the readers that, ultimately, what managers must judge...
