A reflection on information systems strategizing: the role of power and everyday practices

Abstract

We review the IS strategizing literature and highlight its main strengths and weaknesses. Strengths include an account given to the relevance of tensions between planned and executed strategy, and associated tradeoffs such as rigidity and flexibility, formal and informal strategizing and the exploitation of static resources vis à vis the exploration of novel capabilities. Weaknesses relate to a predominant focus on an organizational level of analysis and a lack of power considerations. In this paper we aim to build on these strengths and to ameliorate these weaknesses by proposing a comprehensive IS strategizing framework that uses extant IS strategizing research as a foundation, rejuvenated by insights from the emerging strategy‐as‐practice literature. The paper extends our understanding of IS strategizing in light of the practice perspective by providing a multilevel account and incorporating power considerations.

Analysis of Wollongong City Council using 7s’s of Galliers and Sutherland Methods

“…The IT factor acts as a catalyst in making sure that the IT strategy has alignment with the corporate goals of WCC, and how it can enhance WCC prospects in creating a strategy to gain a competitive strategic advantage. It must be known that the constant cost-effectiveness factor may have a negative impact while designing some future strategies (Marabelli & Galliers, 2017).…”

“…Marabelli and Galliers (2017) stated that strategy was a cross-disciplinary topic in business-related disciplines such as management, marketing, economics and Information System (IS). This includes contributions from such eminent scholars as Henry Mintzberg (1979) and Michael Porter (1991), as well as practitioners such as Bruce Henderson as the Founder of the Boston Consulting Group and initiator of the 'strategic consultants' idea.…”

“…It acknowledges that aspects of the actual strategy are emergent. This implies that tensions exist between existing plans, ideas and resources, and exploring new and emerging means to achieve organizational objectives (Marabelli & Galliers, 2017).…”

A communicative-tension model of change-induced collective voluntary turnover in IT

“…Second, the model focuses on interplay of competing discourses about the change and not just heard/unheard complaints that influence or produce the decision to leave. Third, the communicative-tension model assumes that some discourses are more dominant or central than other more marginalized discourses -that is, entrenched in discourses is the notion of power and inequality (Baxter and Braithwaite, 2009;Marabelli and Galliers, 2016).…”

“…In contrast, recent conceptual advancements by IS strategy-as-practice researchers view successful strategizing as a social process that relies on the communicative competence of IT practitioners (Whittington, 2014;Marabelli and Galliers, 2016). Although this study focuses on specific communicative practices that can account for the loss of talented IT employees, it also extends the general understanding of IS strategizing by framing IT practitioners as part of a dynamic social process driven by communicative practices.…”