1. Narratives are fundamental to how humans make sense of their lives and the world. We use stories to understand events, construct identities, and motivate actions. 2. Culture and organizations can also be understood as composed of many interrelated narratives that give coherence and shape norms, values, and change over time. 3. Narrative theory provides a link between the individual narratives that compose our identities, and the larger organizational strategies and cultures that these narratives interact with and help perpetuate. Narratives are key to both the micro and macro levels of human meaning-making.

1. Narrative

2. We live in a quantitative World

3. Does quantitative research give
meaning?

4. A descriptive theory is a narrative

5. Normative theories are common
narratives

6. Ricoeur argues that there is an integral
connection between narrative and action.
Narratives lead individuals to intervene in the
course of things. The action derives from
intention or motivation, based on the
particular narratives of an individual,
irrespective of whether these are self
generated, after appropriation from a culture.

7. Drummond argues ‘that narrative is the
fundamental scheme for linking individual
human action and events into interrelated
aspects of an understandable composite’.

8. Drummond argues organisation culture, leadership, conflict
and change are narratives. One way of framing this is that
organisation culture is composed of many narratives with
enough coherence between them to give a sense of the
whole’.36 Change occurs when new narratives replace old
narratives. If the change is superficial, then the narratives
could be described as morphostatic; (changing the chairs on
the Titanic would not stop the ship sinking); or morphogenic;
where things will never be the same again’.37 Hence, it can be
argued that the linking of strategy and complexity through
narrative theory collectively extends each theory and provides
a theoretical underpinning to understand better these
concepts and the linkages between them.

9. A theoretical link must now be made between
narrative and strategy and again the work of
Ricoeur is instructive, beginning with narrative
and the individual. This will lead us to make the
connection between narrative and organisational
strategy which in turn leads to the concept of
identification since an organisation’s strategy
requires individuals (members of the
organisation) it identify with it, or support it, at
least in some minimal ways.

10. Future Orientation
Emotional
Disturbances
External Locus of Control
Internal Locus of Control
Optimum Region
of Awareness
Past Orientation
All narrative comes from our emotional orientation

11. Story

12. Narrative as a story
• The way that stories are told, how meaning is
constructed to achieve the understanding of the
audience.
• Groups events into cause and effect – action and
inaction.
• Organises time and space in very compressed form.
• The voice of the narrative can vary; whose story is
being told and from whose perspective?
• Narrative plot refers to everything audibly or visibly
present, i.e. selective.
• Narrative story refers to all the events, explicitly
presented or referred.

13. We use narratives or stories to make sense of our lives and the world
around us. There different ways in which we use the narrative form:
• As children we listen to fairytales and
myths/legends. As we grow older, we read short
stories, novels, history and biographies.
• Religion is often presented through a collection of
“stories/moral tales” e.g. the Bible, the
Ramayana, etc.
• Scientific breakthrough is often presented as
stories of an experimenter/scientist’s trials.
• Cultural phenomena such as plays, films, dance
and paintings tell stories.
• News events are told as stories.
• Dreams are retold as stories.

14. The world is seen from our own perspective – our narrative

15. Memory is in “I” & “Me” Mode

16. Meaning
• Dear Honorable Dato'/Prof./Assoc.Prof./Dr./Mr/Mrs/Miss,
Kindly be informed that there will be a talk on "Science of
Knowledge", scheduled as follows :
Date : 9th September 2011 (Friday)
Time : 3.00 pm ~ 4.30 pm
Venue : PPIPT Meeting Room, Block A
Attendance : Compulsory to all academic staffs
Speaker : Honorable Prof. Dato' Wira Dr. Mohd Salleh Bin Hj Din
Your commitment and attendance is deeply appreciated.
Thanking in advance.
Confidence?

18. The Things we think
The things we do
The intentions we have
The things we buy
Are all governed by our own stories

19. Meaning
We give symbols common meaning to form society’s narrative

21. Stories we construct

22. Stories we construct shape our
assumptions, beliefs and values

23. Culture is a story
Theories in action Stories, myths, heroes, artifacts, informal
behaviours
verses Espoused
Norms and group
behaviour Productivity &Values Organisational
effectiveness learning (single or
double looped
Leadership
Beliefs
Assumptions

24. Innovate --------------------------Avoid mistakes
Think long term--------------------Live for today
Save money----------------Spend for the future
Work by oneself---------------Work as a group
Be flexible------------- Follow rules and norms
Collaborate-------------------------------Compete
Make your own decisions---Make joint decisions

27. Value is socially
constructed

30. How do you know?

31. How many stories are there here?

38. Narrative gives meaning – without
narrative there is no meaning

39. Stereotyping

41. We have multiple narratives in
Physical Sensations
ourselves
Physical Awareness
Material Awareness
Social Awareness
Ego Awareness
Spiritual Awareness
True Self
(Universal awareness)
Spiritual Self
Ego Self
Social Self
Material Self
Primal Self
Perception
Society

42. What Emotions are they feeling?
Courage
Passionate
intimidated
Nervous Energetic Determined
Excited Anxious
Overwhelmed Competitive Challenging
Green are positive, Red are negative and yellow emotions can go either way

43. Courage The different sets of
emotions will heavily
influence performance.
Passionate
intimidated
Determined
Energetic
Overwhelmed
Anxious
Challenging

44. Different weight and balance of emotions may
“Big-headed” produce different behaviour & performance
Confused
Awkward
Tense
Scared
Overwhelmed
Shy
Passionate
Confident
Excited

45. Parent
Parent Ego State
Behaviours, thoughts and feelings copied from parents
and parent figures.
Adult Ego State
Adult Behaviours, thoughts and feelings are direct responses to
here and now.
Child Ego State
Child Behaviours, thoughts and feelings are replayed from
childhood.

46. You Me
Parent Parent
Adult Adult
Child Child
Transactional Analysis relationship
Dynamics

47. Controlling Parent Parent Nurturing Parent
Controlling Adult Adult Nurturing Adult
Immature Child Child Creative Child

48. Archetypes
Our different selves can be considered archetypes
• The hero (seeking something)
• The Villain (opposing the hero)
• The donor/benefactor/provider (a helper)
•The dispatcher (sends the hero on his/her way)
•The false hero (falsely assuming the role of the hero)
•The helper (assisting the hero)
•The princess (seeking protection of the hero)

49. Dominant Logic
The way people deal with events and situations
in life. Dominant logic consists of a mental
map which orientates a person. It can either
inhibit or enhance learning, growth and
fulfillment.

50. Dominant Logic
• Our behaviour, focus and the way people act
• A set of ideas about ourselves and the world
• Personal rules and experiences
• A reflection of our success, failure, and
indifference
• Something that is invisible, internal
• An organisation's genetic code
• An organisation's operating system

51. Where can we use Narrative?
• In the classroom – aid to learning/understanding
• Research – developing descriptive theory
• Marketing – Branding
• Entrepreneurship research (The Republic of Tea)
• Organizational Analysis
• Political analysis
• Social analysis
• Self & Identity
• Creativity Research

52. Reductionist Quantitative
Research
You might learn a lot about a
little bit
But what is it Holistic Qualitative
Research
really?

53. Traps & Filters

55. Emergent In a stance of anticipation

56. Reflective In a stance of learning

57. A Meta-Theory Trap & Filter
Emotions
Transactional Analysis and/or Field
Theory
Culture (Values, Beliefs & Assumptions)
Narrative

58. Typologies