Micro Strategy and Strategizing: Towards an Activity‐Based View

Johnson, Gerry; Мелин, Лейф; Whittington, Richard

doi:10.1111/1467-6486.t01-2-00002

Cited by 788 publications

(784 citation statements)

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“…Accounting research, and management research more generally, has been criticised for becoming far too removed from the practices and activities it seeks to investigate and illuminate (Hopwood, 2007;Johnson, Melin & Whittington, 2003;Mintzberg, 1982). The specific areas for future investigation as outlined in the propositions, as well as a greater focus on process-based experimental studies and micro-practices in field studies, are collectively directed at much closer engagement with what managers do (and do not do) with accounting information in their work.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accounting information and managerial work

Hall

2010

Accounting, Organizations and Society

242

269

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Despite calls to link management accounting more closely to management (Jonsson, 1998), much is still to be learned about the role of accounting information in managerial work. This lack of progress stems partly from a failure to incorporate in research efforts the findings regarding the nature of managerial work, as well as inadequate attention devoted to the detailed practices through which accounting information is actually used by managers in their work. In this paper I draw on prior research to develop a series of propositions focused on three primary insights into how and why managers use accounting information in their work. First, managers primarily use accounting information to develop knowledge of their work environment rather than as an input into specific decision making scenarios. In this role, accounting information can help managers to develop knowledge to prepare for unknown future decisions and activities. Second, as accounting information is just one part of the wider information set that managers use to perform their work, it is imperative to consider its strengths and weaknesses not in isolation but relative to other sources of information at a manager's disposal. Third, as managers interact with information and other managers utilising primarily verbal forms of communication, it is through talk rather than through written reports that accounting information becomes implicated in managerial work. These insights have important implications for how managers use accounting information, and, in particular, require reconsideration of the types accounting information that managers find, or could find, helpful. The paper also considers how existing experimental and field-based methods could fruitfully be adapted to focus on the detailed activities through which managers engage with accounting information.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accounting information and managerial work

Hall

2010

Accounting, Organizations and Society

242

269

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INTRODUCTIONThe recent turn of strategy research toward practice-based theorising Johnson et al 2003Johnson et al , 2007Whittington 1996 Whittington , 2006 has increased interest in the everyday micro-activities of strategy practitioners. Strategy, it is argued, is better conceptualised as something people do rather than something that firms in their markets have.

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confidence: 99%

Unpacking the effectivity paradox of strategy workshops: do strategy workshops produce strategic change?

MacIntosh¹,

MacLean²,

Seidl

2010

Cambridge Handbook of Strategy as Practice

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INTRODUCTIONThe recent turn of strategy research toward practice-based theorising Johnson et al. 2003Johnson et al. , 2007Whittington 1996 Whittington , 2006 has increased interest in the everyday micro-activities of strategy practitioners. Strategy, it is argued, is better conceptualised as something people do rather than something that firms in their markets have. The interest in what managers actually do has a long tradition in the field of strategy process, starting with the seminal studies of Mintzberg (1973). Yet, in contrast to earlier research on organisational practices (Dalton 1959;Kotter 1982;Mintzberg, 1973), which emphasised the informal side of managerial work, the strategy-as-practice approach -whilst acknowledging the importance of emergence -calls for a reappreciation of the role of formal strategic practices. As Whittington (2003, p. 118) argued, formal practices deserve our particular attention for two reasons: not only are they pervasive phenomena in organisational life -a large part of organisational activity is in some way concerned with formal practices -but they also inflict considerable costs More recently, attention has begun to centre on the role of strategy workshops as a particular formal strategic practice. Strategy workshops can be defined as specific events which take place outside the normal schedule of business meetings in an organisation and which focus explicitly on strategy. A survey of 1300 UK managers 2 established that strategy workshops were a common occurrence in modern organisational life (Hodgkinson et al. 2006). The survey indicated that some 90 percent of such workshops last two days or less and that 73 percent take place away from the organisation"s premises. Hendry and Seidl (2003) argued that the separation between workshop activity and the usual day-to-day activities enables the participants to step out of their established routines and mindsets in order to reflect critically on the organisation"s strategic orientations.Various studies have drawn on Doz and Prahalad"s observation that organisational transformation "usually requires stepping out of the existing management processsince these processes are set to sustain the "old" cognitive perspective" (1987, p 75) In one sense then, strategy workshops might actually inhibit strategic change. Johnson and his colleagues use a vignette of a single strategy workshop to illustrate the point that, despite the explicit intention to follow through the actions agreed at an off-site strategy workshop, in fact, little happened after the workshop. This finding, however, is in contrast to the results of a study by Schwarz and Balogun (2007), who reported on workshops that had substantial effects on the strategic directions of the organisations involved. Thus, it appears that some strategy workshops get around the effectivity paradox.A potential explanation for this difference emerges from a closer examination of these two studies. While Johnson and his colleagues refer to one-off workshops, the study by Balogun and Schwa...

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“…Para estes autores, as universidades apresentam fronteiras permeáveis com o ambiente, onde se espalham incontáveis estrategistas, estratégias fragmentadas e um enorme número de micromudanças, de pequeno efeito. Em razão da existência de um poder compartilhado, distribuído nas mais diversas áreas da estrutura acadêmica, as principais estratégias nas universidades se localizam muito mais na base da pirâmide organizacional do que no topo da organização (Johnson et al, 2007;Jarzabkowski, 2005).…”

Section: Estratégia Em Universidadesunclassified

Gestão estratégica: um exame de práticas em universidades privadas

2012

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A estratégia, como abordagem gerencial, tem se constituído em experiência relativamente recente em organizações universitárias brasileiras. Este artigo tem o objetivo de analisar a prática estratégica em universidades privadas e contribuir com o debate sobre esse tópico que desafia a administração dessas organizações. Trata-se de um estudo comparativo de casos onde é analisada a realidade de duas universidades comunitárias brasileiras. Por meio de questionário e entrevistas, identificaram-se práticas adotadas na gestão estratégica das instituições de educação superior -IES. A análise dos dados revelou que a prática estratégica mescla estratégias deliberadas e, principalmente, estratégias emergentes. As estratégias decorrem tanto de planos formais institucionais quanto de iniciativas individuais e grupais, que resultam de interações, de insights, do feeling, da visão e reação de gestores e docentes diante dos desafios que se apresentam no dia a dia. As estratégias emergem por meio de microestratégias praticadas por gestores acadêmicos e por professores, que atuam como estrategistas. Os resultados apontaram, ainda, para a presença marcante de fatores subjetivos como criatividade, conhecimento tácito, sensibilidade e experiência dos gestores imersos nas práticas estratégicas adotadas na área acadêmica das instituições.Pa l av r a s -c h av e : gestão estratégica; práticas; universidades privadas. Strategic management: analysis of practices in private universitiesStrategic management is a relatively new approach in the management of Brazilian higher education institutions. This study presents an analysis of strategic practices in two private universities and contributes to the debate over the application of strategy to the field of higher education. This comparative study analyzes the realities of two private universities on the authors use questionnaires and interviews of administrators to capture strategic practices in use. Results of data analysis indicate that strategic practices Artigo recebido em jul. 2010 e aceito em ago. 2011.

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Micro Strategy and Strategizing: Towards an Activity‐Based View

Cited by 788 publications

References 61 publications

Accounting information and managerial work

Accounting information and managerial work

Unpacking the effectivity paradox of strategy workshops: do strategy workshops produce strategic change?

Gestão estratégica: um exame de práticas em universidades privadas

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