Committees as strategic practice: The role of strategic conversation in a public administration

Hoon, Christina

doi:10.1177/0018726707080081

Cited by 97 publications

(115 citation statements)

References 95 publications

(191 reference statements)

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“…While middle managers play an active role in implementing top management's change initiatives, where they act as linking pins and mediators between the organization's strategic and operational levels (Floyd and Wooldridge, 1997;Balogun, 2003), the interactions between senior and middle management in strategic change remain poorly understood (e.g. Rouleau, 2005;Hoon, 2007). This study reveals the micro practices that occur in the schism between middle and senior management when declining performances are met with organizational changes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Divergent actions do not need to be destructive (Burgelman, 1991(Burgelman, , 1994Huff et al, 1992;Wooldridge, 1992, 1997;Meyer, 2006), but managers are more likely to fail in effectuating strategic intent if there are tensions and different responses between different groups of middle managers (Meyer, 2006) and such actions are often seen as negative and unconstructive. As actors having wide-ranging contact with the external environment, and through that, first hand information of external environmental changes, middle managers are in a position to play an important role in bringing divergent thinking into the shaping of strategy (Floyd and Wooldridge, 1997;Hoon, 2007). Middle managers' divergent actions regarding change can be the result of either unintentional misunderstandings of corporate intentions, or the result of more deliberate misinterpretations .…”

Section: Middle Managers Divergent and Convergent Actionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Politics of Middle Management Sensemaking and Sensegiving

Hope

2010

Journal of Change Management

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Middle managers play an important role when organizational change is to be implemented. The objective of this article is to identify what political tactics middle managers exert to influence change outcome. A qualitative study of middle managers in an insurance company reveals how middle managers through political actions influence the sensemaking of others, including their superiors. Drawing on sensemaking and sensegiving theory and political literature, middle managers' divergent actions during change implementation are examined. The findings suggest that middle managers have an influence on superiors' sensemaking by exerting the power of meaning. Middle managers mobilized resource power, such as expertise in the business, as a powerful platform for controlling the change process. The article allows insight into how skilled political actors operate. It contributes to the change literature by demonstrating a tight coupling between practice, politics, and change outcomes. It also expands our understanding of sensemaking and sensegiving by providing evidence for a tight coupling with power and politics.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Middle Managers Divergent and Convergent Actionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Politics of Middle Management Sensemaking and Sensegiving

Hope

2010

Journal of Change Management

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“…These many explanations are avenues for the organization to experience the pending event more richly. Rather than consolidate or ignore these multiple and likely conflicting explanations, middle managers can help the organization learn by sharing these explanations and encouraging discussion of them (Hoon 2007). In this way, the organization is more likely to "experience more aspects of experience" (March et al 1991, p. 2); that is, more aspects of the rare and unusual event.…”

Section: Confirmation Stage and Rare Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experiencing Rare and Unusual Events Richly: The Role of Middle Managers in Animating and Guiding Organizational Interpretation

Beck

Plowman

2009

Organization Science

166

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O rganizations have difficulty learning from rare and unusual events because of their inability to interpret these events. Because organizations develop habitual ways of interpreting events-often top down-they can easily miss the novelty of rare and unusual events, which prevents them from experiencing events "richly." We propose a multilevel, multistaged model of organizational interpretation that highlights the important, but generally unacknowledged, role middle managers can play in helping organizations experience rare and unusual events richly. Our model accounts for the effect of cognitive biases and hierarchical context on organizational interpretation. Because of their proximity to the interpretations of both strategic and front-line managers, middle managers can encourage divergence in interpretations of managers across hierarchical levels during early stages of the interpretation process and can blend and synthesize the divergent interpretations of managers during later stages. In this way middle managers contribute to a dynamic process of organizational interpretation in which multiple filters from throughout the organization help frame and enrich interpretations of rare and unusual events, which enables organizational learning.

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“…12, No. 2, 2009 addition, social processes frameworks propose a more inclusive conceptualization of the strategy process (Hoon 2007). Social perspectives may enhance our understanding of how organizations take strategic action in novel or dynamic situations and the participatory nature of the innovation process.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Complexity Science—An Alternative Framework for Understanding Strategic Management in Public Serving Organizations

Paarlberg

Bielefeld

2009

International Public Management Journal

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Contemporary public-serving organizations-both government and nonprofit organizations-face increasing pressure to be innovative and adaptable amidst ongoing global changes. However, existing frameworks of strategic management are generally inadequate in managing the tensions between conflicting imperatives to be adaptable and innovative while providing stable and reliable services. In addition, existing strategic frameworks generally assume that strategic processes are dominated by a group of top decision makers. In contrast, public-serving organizations operate under growing legal and normative expectations to involve a diverse range of participantsindividuals and organizations-in the strategy process.In this paper, we propose that complexity science offers promise in providing a theoretical framework that describes inclusive strategic processes that are associated with both innovation and emergent order. To more fully understand the potential contributions of complexity science, we provide an introduction to complexity science and compare and contrast it to the existing frameworks that currently dominate research on strategic management in public-serving organizations. We then describe and illustrate how complexity science informs our understanding of strategy content, formulation, and implementation and its implications for inclusive management practices.

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Committees as strategic practice: The role of strategic conversation in a public administration

Cited by 97 publications

References 95 publications

The Politics of Middle Management Sensemaking and Sensegiving

The Politics of Middle Management Sensemaking and Sensegiving

Experiencing Rare and Unusual Events Richly: The Role of Middle Managers in Animating and Guiding Organizational Interpretation

Complexity Science—An Alternative Framework for Understanding Strategic Management in Public Serving Organizations

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