Characters are also part of deep structure. Characters tie events in a story together and provide a thread of continuity and meaning. Stories can be about individuals, groups, projects or whole organizations, so from an organizational studies perspective, the focal actor(s) determine the level and unit of analysis used in a study. Stories of mergers and acquisitions, for example, are common place. In these stories whole organizations are personified as actors. But these macro-level stories usually are not told from the perspective of the macro-level participants, because whole organizations cannot narrate their experiences in the first person.

More generally, data concerning the identities and relationships of the characters in the story are required, if one is to understand role structure and social networks in which that process is embedded.

Personification of a whole organization abstracts away from the particular actors and from traditional notions of level of analysis.

The personification of a whole organization is important because stories differ depending on who is enacting various events.

Every story is told from a particular point of view, with a particular narrative voice, which is not regarded as part of the deep structure.

The personification of a whole organization is a textual device we use to make macro-level theories more comprehensible.