EMERGING THEMES IN THE LIFE STORIES OF
Date
2011-06-09
Authors
Reyneke, Cindi
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Abstract
This report focuses on emerging themes in effective managers’ life stories.
The literature review looks at the role of stories in a broader sense in
organisations and more specifically the life stories or autobiographical stories
and their impact on learning, management, leadership and self development.
Regarding methodology, utilising phenomenography, the research aims to
uncover conceptions and conclusions that can be drawn from managers’ life
stories and how they could have a bearing on their success. The result of this
phenomenographic study is a structure of categories of description which is
interpreted with respect to existing theory on stories and autobiographical
writing. This research has implications in the fields of self-development when
grounded in the managers’ experience of a multifaceted context, reflection, reconceptualisation
and action become means with which to solve problems,
clarify ambiguities and develop personal skills and abilities. For persons in
management these skills are essential and academic training is not
particularly useful in developing a manager’s ability to deal with problems.
This research also has a bearing on career management, recruitment and
selection as well as training and development in that stories act as enablers to
describing and reflecting an organisational climate. This allows individuals to
make personal decisions about the appropriateness of their “fit” with the
organisation and provides a common framework to discuss inconsistency and
incompetence
Description
MBA - WBS
Keywords
Story telling, Managers, Life stories