Storytelling as Pedagogical Practice in Support of Transcendence and Well-Being

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore the potential of storytelling within business ethics education for facilitating transcendence and well-being. In doing so, the article focuses on five areas. First, a brief introduction to workplace spirituality and its association with well-being is provided. Second, consideration is given to the nature of storytelling and its benefits for relational-spiritual teaching. Third, the ways that storytelling (and specific examples of stories) can invite and enhance three interrelated dimensions of transcendent connection (Miller, 2015; Reed, 2018) of relevance in business ethics are described. These include the transpersonal, the interpersonal (including interpersonal transcendence across difference) and the intrapersonal. Within this discussion, the ways that each of these dimensions can contribute to well-being are identified. Fourth, a relational-spiritual, transformative learning framework within which storytelling can be practiced is provided. Fifth, directions for future research are discussed.