Allegorical storytelling as a problem solving method by South African MBA students

Abstract

This research report aims to identify the main managerial issues South African managers face and how the tool of s torytelling can be used to enhance managerial knowledge. John Heron’s (1992) fourfold epistemology is used as a theoretical basis in which he argues that in epis temology, mov ing from an experiential to a presentational form of knowing enhances knowledge. This research uses story equivalents of the experiential and the presentational, in the form of transforming anecdotal into allegorical stories, to test whether managerial knowledge is enhanced through this transformational process. The research utilises hermeneutic phenomenology as research methodology which is applied to 51 assignments wherein students were as ked to transform literal stories into allegorical stories and reflect on their experience during a storytelling elective course for MBA students held at the Wits Business School during 2006, 2007 and 2008. The study success fully identifies the main managerial issues faced by South African managers, identifies the story archetypes used in the process and conc ludes that storytelling, where literal stories are trans formed to allegorical stories, is an effectiv e tool in managerial knowledge enhancement