Strategy as Language and Communication: Theoretical and Methodological Advances and Avenues for the Future in Strategy Process and Practice Research

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eero Vaara ◽  
Laura Fritsch
Keyword(s):  
Practice Research ◽  
Strategy Process ◽  
The Future ◽  
Language And Communication

scholarly journals How Can Pluralistic Organizations Proceed with Strategic Change? A Processual Account of Rhetorical Contestation, Convergence, and Partial Agreement in a Nordic City Organization

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 839-864
Author(s):  
Virpi Sorsa ◽  
Eero Vaara
Keyword(s):  
Crucial Role ◽  
Strategic Change ◽  
Case Analysis ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Partial Agreement ◽  
Strategy Process ◽  
Strategy Making

This study examines how pluralistic organizations confronting fundamental differences in values can proceed with strategic change. By drawing on a longitudinal case analysis of strategic change in a Nordic city organization, we show how the proponents and challengers play a “rhetorical game” in which they simultaneously promote their own value-based interests and ideas and seek ways to enable change. In particular, we identify a pattern in which the discussion moved from initial contestation through gradual convergence to increasing agreement. In addition, we elaborate on four rhetorical practices used in this rhetorical game: voicing own arguments, appropriation of others’ arguments, consensus argumentation, and collective we argumentation. By so doing, our study contributes to research on strategic change in pluralistic organizations by offering a nuanced account of the use of rhetoric when moving from contestation to convergence and partial agreement. Furthermore, by detailing specific types of rhetorical practices that play a crucial role in strategy making, our study advances research on the role of rhetoric in strategy process and practice research more generally.

scholarly journals Strategy and virtue: Developing strategy-as-practice through virtue ethics

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haridimos Tsoukas
Keyword(s):  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Social Embeddedness ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Developing Strategy ◽  
Moral Dimension ◽  
Articulation Work ◽  
Institutional Practice ◽  
Strategy Process ◽  
The Social ◽  
Strategy As Practice

Strategy-as-practice research has usefully built on earlier strategy process research by taking into account the social embeddedness of strategy making. While such an approach has generated valuable insights, it has curiously left unexplored the moral dimension of practice. In this article, we show how the potential of strategy-as-practice research may be more fully realized if the moral dimension of practice is conceptualized through virtue ethics (especially MacIntyre’s version). Specifically, we first reconceptualize, through virtue ethics, the three main concepts of strategy-as-practice—practice, praxis, and practitioners—underscoring the inherently moral constitution of actions undertaken in strategy-related work. Moreover, we suggest that strategic management is viewed as a particular kind of practice (what we call “competitive institutional practice”), charged with “values articulation work” and “balancing work.” While the former articulates a good purpose for the organization, the latter seeks to care for both excellence and success through balancing “capabilities development work” with “differentiation work.” Illustrations are provided to support this argument, and several suggestions for further research are offered.

“I Want to Do More and Change Things”: Reframing CTE Toward Possibilities in Urban Education

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 640-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Korina M. Jocson
Keyword(s):  
Urban Education ◽  
Educational Reform ◽  
Career And Technical Education ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Technical Education ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Career And Technical ◽  
The Future ◽  
Research And Policy

This article addresses the discourse on career and technical education (CTE) from a multiperspectival approach to challenge the persisting academic-vocational divide. The author illustrates the paradoxical rhetoric in CTE, then shares a personal experience, and draws on ethnographic research to reveal a different understanding of enabling human capacity to support racially and culturally minoritized youth. In the end, the author suggests that a push beyond the language of investment and skills embedded in educational reform becomes all the more important in preparing youth for the future. Implications for practice, research, and policy toward possibilities in urban education are also discussed.

A leader’s guide to an organization-wide strategy journey

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 15-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Aurik ◽  
Martin Fabel ◽  
Gillis Jonk
Keyword(s):  
Business Environment ◽  
Strategy Development ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
New Ways Of Working ◽  
Strategy Process ◽  
The Future ◽  
Managing Strategy ◽  
Portfolio Approach ◽  
Future 2

Purpose – The methodology for developing transformational strategy in a dynamic business environment described in this article is based on three principles: 1. Draw inspiration from the future. 2. Be organizationally inclusive. 3. Take a portfolio approach. Design/methodology/approach – The article guides leaders through the five steps required to implement the transition from a sequential and top-down strategy process to a continual and organizationally inclusive one. Findings – Making a portfolio of competitive opportunities part of program management and reporting requires more than a new approach to solving strategic puzzles. It requires new ways of managing strategy and new ways of working – not once but on a continual basis. Practical implications – Rather than thinking of strategy as a single perfect plan with a multi-year deployment cycle, think of it as a portfolio of competitive opportunities with each one managed throughout its life cycle. Originality/value – This article lays out in detail the process of shifting strategy development from focusing on research, analyses and extrapolations of current issues to looking to the future for strategic inspiration and purpose.

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