Metaphors from Alice in Wonderland illustrate firstly the ridiculous ...

Research design, approach and method: The Appreciative approach is applied within action
research‟s Living Theory method, by an insider-author. The dynamics and opportunities that resulted
from the Reitz debacle and the application of an Appreciative approach to leadership facilitated
transformation on the campus and within its community. Data was collected by means of interviews,
personal observations, photographs and documentation. The international media documented this
uncontrolled case study extensively. To illuminate this study, traditional problem-based and
appreciative strength-based leadership styles are juxtaposed with leadership styles depicted in
logician Lewis Carroll‟s fantasy novel Alice in Wonderland (1865).
Main findings: By applying an Appreciative approach, a life-giving transformation may develop from
a seemingly disparaging debacle.
Practical/managerial implications: Extensive international exposure not only contributes to the
relevance, reality and validity of this case study on the Reitz debacle, but also illustrates the
possibilities of alternative approaches to a global audience of leaders.
Contribution/value-adding: The extraordinary success of the Appreciative approach may
challenge other institutions to employ this approach in order to heal, unite, and invigorate troubled
and diverse communities.
Article 5
My auto-ethnographic journey of discovery of personal identity consciousness: Who am
I? Am I the real me?
Orientation: Institutional transformation often leads to confusion of personal identity. The discovery
of my personal identity consciousness and how it influences my ability to understand the transformed
HEI identity created an opportunity for change and development. However, these processes were not
facilitated on the UFS campus; therefore, I embarked on a sense-making journey, juxtaposed with
Alice in Wonderland. The metaphors of Lewis Carroll‟s novel exposed relationships or similarities
between distinct conceptual domains of my and Alice‟s experiences and, therefore, contributed
greatly to my sense-making process.
Research purpose: The purpose of this research is to make sense in a time when, and space where
I experienced cognitive dissonance, and to create a way that would allow me to continue on my
conceptual journey to a new and conscious identity.
Motivation for the study: I encountered a yearning for sense-making, when I experienced a gap
between my understanding and my experience amid the transformation in my professional and
personal life. I perceived that information and knowledge – “the making and unmaking of sense”
(Dervin, 1998:147) – would move me from time to time, from space to space, from interpretation to
interpretation, from culture to culture, and from condition to condition.
Research design, approach and method: By applying Bill George‟s authentic leadership, David
Cooperrider‟s Appreciative Inquiry, Karl E. Weick‟s sense-making properties and metaphor
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