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Accessibility statement
An image to illustrate The impact of storytelling in business short course
This CPD course invites you to explore storytelling at personal, organisational and social levels. You'll learn key techniques and terms for understanding stories both critically and normatively, and see how organisations use them to achieve their goals. The course shows how stories can offer a competitive advantage and support individuals in navigating social structures and conventions. Whatever your role, you'll gain insights into how storytelling can enhance your effectiveness at work, whether by telling your own stories or by listening to and evaluating the stories of others.
The Continuing Professional Development (CPD) course is divided into the following five units:
Unit 1
The first unit looks at some of the theories of why people tell stories and introduce a critical framework for thinking about stories. We use some insights from anthropology to consider some theories about why storytelling might be important to humans.
Unit 2
This unit leaves the realm of theory to look at some practical applications for storytelling as part of the ways we get by in social and workplace life. We introduce the unmanaged organisation, workplace gossip, and its role as social glue in work situations.
Unit 3
This unit will move from the storytelling you might hear in the personal sphere to introduce more formal uses for storytelling, including organisational stories and who gets to tell them. We will introduce ideas from discourse analysis as one way of analysing stories.
Unit 4
In this unit we use some case studies to consider the strategic aspects of storytelling. We also consider how organisations use stories to support communication and relationships with customers and other stakeholders.
Unit 5
The final unit offers a window on some other versions of stories we see in daily life, and how social institutions, such as medical professionals and the law, use stories to help convey legitimacy and authority in what might otherwise be difficult or confrontational situations.
During this course you’ll watch videos that illustrate how storytelling might go on in a workplace and be able to explore the ideas in supporting text and exercises. You’ll see how an individual became a successful job applicant and started work, and how storytelling contributed here.
 On successful completion of this CPD course, you should be able to:
This course was designed to be independently studied with no tutor support. StudentHome is a dedicated website that provides general study support and there is a computing helpdesk.
There is an end-of-course quiz to test your knowledge and understanding. Once completed and successfully passed you will receive a digital badge and a course completion certificate which you can download as a record of your learning.
The course will require around 10 hours to complete.
You can begin at any time during the life of the course and study at your own pace. The course will be open to you for a time period of between 6 and 18 months, depending on your course registration date, and you will be advised of the specific time limitations upon enrolment.
You’ll have access to a course website, which includes:
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations, which are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.
There are no formal academic requirements. If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact us.
The course is delivered online and makes use of a variety of online resources. If you use specialist hardware or software to assist you in using a computer or the internet you are advised to contact us about support which can be given to meet your needs.
The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying BGXS002 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.
StartEngland fee
At anytime before 31/07/2026£150
We accept American Express, Mastercard, Visa and Visa Electron.
If this course is geared towards your job or developing your career, you could ask your employer to sponsor you by paying some or all of the fees. Your sponsor just needs to complete a simple form to confirm how much they will be paying and we will invoice them.
The fee information provided here is valid for short courses starting in the 2026/27 academic year. Fees typically increase annually. For further information about the University's fee policy, visit our Fee Rules.
You can start this course anytime.
You can start this course anytime.
Level info