Scribd
Upload
17 views

Lec 7 (Role Plays)

The document discusses static narratives and how stories are transmitted from authors to readers. It defines key terms like conceived story, perceived story, media, and discourse. An example of using team role playing to address customer support issues at a software company is also provided.

Uploaded by

National Services Academy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
17 views

Lec 7 (Role Plays)

The document discusses static narratives and how stories are transmitted from authors to readers. It defines key terms like conceived story, perceived story, media, and discourse. An example of using team role playing to address customer support issues at a software company is also provided.

Uploaded by

National Services Academy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember.

I do and I understand.
Chinese Proverb

Role-playing
1. An instance or situation in which one deliberately acts out or assumes a particular
character or role.

2. A technique in training or psychotherapy in which participants assume and


act out roles so as to resolve conflicts, practice appropriate behavior for various
situations, etc.

Story in Static Narrative

Static narrative has an author who creates a work in relative isolation from the
reader. In the formalist view, there are two parts to this work: story and discourse. Story
is the imaginary sequence of events involving characters and setting. It is a mental
construct within the imagination of a person, i.e. a picture in the mind's eye of what is
happening. Discourse is the expression of that story: words and/or images which attempt
to represent the events. The story begins in the mind of the author, and is then expressed
into a discourse which is contained in media. By viewing this media, the reader then
forms a mental construct of that story within her own mind. This can be visualized as
follows:

Figure 1: Story as transmitted in static narrative


This is over-simplified in many ways, given the variety of narrative forms.
However, I think it is important to understand this simple, traditional model first. To
formalize the elements:

Conceived Story
A mental construct within the mind of the author, consisting of a sequence of
imaginary events. Within this simple model, the conceived story is pre-verbal and
is independent of the expression of that story. An author might express the same
story in different ways -- a book and a film, for example.

Perceived Story
A mental construct within the mind of the reader. Like the conceived story, it is a
non-verbal picturing of events. For example, a filmgoer might express through
words the story of a film which she just saw. However, she will refer to the events
which happened rather than describing the images on the screen.

Media
The physical means of communication between the author and the reader, such as
book, film, or voice. Within this model, the media is a blank slate which does not
include any expression of story.

Discourse
The discourse is a particular expression of the story. In simplest terms, the story is
the what in the narrative that is depicted, discourse is the how. Some people
would break this down into "text" (the concrete product) and "narration" (the
inferred process of expression).

So to reiterate: the story is not the expression itself (i.e. the text of the book, or the
print of the movie). Rather, the story is an imaginary construct: a mental image or model.
Through the tool of the medium, an author tries to convey the story as she conceives it to
the reader. After viewing the medium, the reader then has another imaginary construct in
his head (i.e. the perceived story) -- which may be different than the author's conception.
“Everybody counts, everybody deserves a chance,
everybody has a responsible role to play and we all do better
when we work together.

Team Role Play


Team role playing is an excellent exercise for…

 analysing problems from various perspectives


 implementing brainstorming methodology in simulations of real cases

 trying various solutions in a case scenario

 developing team-work, co-operation and creative problem solving in groups

 exercising creative techniques in a risk-free environment

How it works

Role playing is when a group of people act out roles for a particular scenario. For
instance, you might train sales people by having two people act out a sale-scenario. One
acts as the sales person. The other acts as the customer. This allows trainee sales people
to practice their sales techniques. A trainer and/or other trainees may watch the role play
and critique it afterwards.
Example: a software company learns that customers are unhappy with customer support
and this is causing a loss of customers. In order to improve customer support, the
company decides to use team role playing. A trainer brings together a group of 12
software developers and customer support representatives.

The trainer introduces the problem and encourages an open discussion in order to put all
the relevant issues on the table and get participants thinking about the problem in depth
prior to the team role playing.

Group A (playing the role of a customer support person) receives a card which states:

"This customer is very influential. To lose them would be highly damaging to the
company. You must do anything within reason to retain them"

Group B (playing the role of the customer) receives a card stating:

"You have seriously overspent your software budget and while you are not unhappy with
the product, you must convince the customer support person to take back the product and
refund your money. Since you cannot admit the actual situation (as it would clearly not be
legitimate for a refund), you must find problems with the software sufficient to legitimise
the return and refund."

The groups meet separately for five to ten minutes to discuss strategy and who will be the
actor. Then the two actors go to the centre of the room to perform the role play.

Eventually, a solution of some sort will be found. If the conflict is not apparent to both
sides and there is still sufficient enthusiasm in the teams, the trainer may ask the teams to
find another solution.

Once it is clear no more solutions are to be found, the groups are brought together and
discuss the role play, their strategies, their solution, relevance to real world situations, and
alternative solutions.

Optionally, each team can draft a short "lessons learned" paper about the role play. The
papers can be combined and copies distributed to all role play participants and any other
staff who might learn from the role play.

“The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what
we are unable to say.

You might also like