Is leadership theory ready for a major reappraisal? Theories of leadership are explored through underlying sets of assumptions (basic frameworks or paradigms). The result is a convenient way of negotiating a vast body of literature. This meta‐analysis offers scope for further research, and...

A participant‐observation study of consulting in a large office supply firm of how consultants and organisational stakeholders perform stories to make sense of events and to enact change during their conversations is presented. A theory of organisation as a collective storytelling system in...

Without the stories, or narratives that organisations construct, there could be no social negotiation or sense making. A problem is that the narratives are often “too straight”, too simplistic and self‐serving to be helpful representations of reality. Most stories in organisations that are...

Stories and customs at work may mirror the culture, be survivals from the past, or constitute a screen onto which fantasies are projected serving as safety valves, sanctioned expressions of “outlaw emotions”, or scapegoats. While some stories seem to challenge the culture they in fact...

A conceptual framework or model of the sensemaking practices, cultural objects and “programmatically constructed entities” used to produce meaningful stories of succession and organisational change are presented. The framework is elaborated and tested through an expansion analysis of a story...

Given the dynamic structure of corporate conflict between engineering and sales, how can those two dissimilar realities be managed such that change is possible? The network of assumptions that is each of these realities is not immediately accessible to the “other”; such assumptive networks...

Storytelling, which is widely recognised as having a powerful influence upon learning in organisations, should be formalised to promote a more systematic, predictable individual learning and change process. The training function represents a natural arena where formalisation can take place. Four...

Organisational narratives as contributing to organisational structure are discussed. The trend lines of narratives introduce the ascent, decline and plateau narratives as reflections of organisational direction. The plateau narrative is used to emphasise the value in supporting the values of...

OD conceptualisation has been criticised as being both underdeveloped and too unduly narrow in its focus. Several ways that OD′s conceptualisation might be enhanced are suggested: on the one hand by differentiating its models and theories in terms of their conceptual level or scope, and on the...

Behaviour resulting from work group normative processes can be examined and changed to increase the productivity of an organisation. A model for exploring the process of work group norm diagnosis that can be used by organisational consultants is developed. Examples of its use are also presented.