A constructionist approach for the study of strategy as social practice

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to present an analytical perspective of strategy as social practice in organizations by the articulation of proposals by Foucault, Certeau and Moscovici on social dynamics. To accomplish its intents it discusses the convergences and divergences between social dynamics in Foucault (1972, 1999, 2003a, 2003b), knowledge, power and subjectivities from Moscovici (1961), and Social Representation Theory (SRT) as articulated with the concept of everyday strategies and tactics by Certeau (1990). The paper presents the micro and macro delineations in investigations involving strategy-making practices in organizations over time. The studies of strategy as social practices are focused only on the micro-social level of CEO practices in organizations and don't consider the involvement of these practices at the macro-social level. Thus, this paper aims at acknowledging the roles played by experimentation and by the researcher's theoretical position, but also at offering the actors an opportunity to present the micro and macro aspects that involve their strategy practices in a given organization. This way, a dynamic reference is obtained that allows for the comparison of empirical data in the analysis of strategy as a social practice.

Estratégia como Prática Social: um Estudo de Práticas Discursivas no Fazer Estratégia

“…Acredita-se haver coerência teórica nessa articulação, uma vez que se direcionou a pesquisa para as relações de poder, que se materializam por intermédio das práticas discursivas nos diversos níveis hierárquicos da Instituição, pelos envolvidos no fazer estratégia. Também a fim de justificar a contribuição de Foucault no trabalho, ressalta-se que outros autores já realizaram estudos com a abordagem da EPS orientada pela proposta foucaultiana, a saber: Vaara et al (2004), Ezzamel e Willmott (2008), Mantere e Vaara (2008), A. R. L. Silva, Carrieri e Souza (2012) e Allard-Poesi (2015. Seidl e Whittington (2014) afirmaram já haver um esforço importante articulando teorias sociais com a EPS -incluindo a análise de discurso foucaultiana, no entanto o desafio de aplicá-las em pesquisas empíricas ainda permanece para os pesquisadores.…”

Os Circos Contemporâneos como Heterotopias Organizacionais: Uma Etnografia Multissituada no Contexto Brasil-Canadá

“…A ênfase está no entendimento de como a vida social se organiza em diferentes espaços sociais (Leite-da-Silva, Carrieri, & Souza, 2012;O'Doherty, De Cock, Rehn, & Ashcraft, 2013;Oliveira & Cavedon, 2013;Santos & Silveira, 2015), tendo como efeito a constituição de diferentes abordagens teóricas para o entendimento do conceito de práticas e sua relação com as dinâmicas sociais. Portanto, os EBP não podem ser unificados a partir de um espectro comum do conceito de práticas.…”

Empowering and Resisting in a Sharing Economy: Two Sides of the Same Coin

“…The idea is to seek what is shared between the two strengths (resisting and empowering), identifying the different ways that both narratives give meaning to the resources they apply. A set of strengths which affect social actors and their narratives produces power relationships, and it is central to recognize such dynamics (Silva, Carrieri, & Souza, 2012).…”