In an environment characterised by flux and uncertainty, a capacity for innovative, divergent strategic thinking rather than conservative, convergent strategic planning is seen as central to creating and sustaining competitive advantage. As the case study of Communications Co. illustrates, scenario planning is one tool that many organisations, committed to redesigning their strategic planning processes, are using with some success. However, scenario planning requires both left‐ and right‐brain thinking styles. The elements of left‐brain thinking reflect the planning side of strategy making, while right‐brain thinking mirrors the thinking component of strategy making. The relationship between the factors that enable strategic thinking and the level of “emotional intelligence” of business leaders is also considered. The Communications Co. case findings appear to support the view that while strategic thinking capabilities can be nurtured and diffused through an organisation, it will need business leaders with a high degree of emotional intelligence to lead the way.

Against a backdrop of increasing globalisation, deregulation, and the rapid pace of technological innovation, the primary task of management today is the leadership of organisational change. Seeks to examine the role of leadership in managing the challenge of deliberate large‐scale change and whether it is possible to pinpoint factors that are critical to leading change effectively. Also investigates the view that effective change leadership involves instrumental and charismatic roles, integrating operational know‐how with strong interpersonal skills. Uses a qualitative, case study approach, involving three multinational companies operating in Australia. Cross‐case analysis indicates that effective change leaders recognise the importance of blending the charismatic and instrumental dimensions of change leadership. The ability to conciliate and balance the two roles depends primarily on whether a leader possesses certain qualities and attributes required for effective change leadership. Strong interpersonal skills permeate these key change leadership qualities and attributes and provide the nexus between the charismatic and instrumental roles.

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A substantial body of literature on new forms of organizing has forecast the end of bureaucracy. More recent empirical studies, however, indicate that high-performing organizations are adopting dual forms of organizing in which the controllability advantages associated with traditional forms work to complement and support the responsiveness attributes of new forms of organizing. The paradox is that, if organizations discard the key planning, co-ordinating and direction-setting mechanisms of traditional forms of organizing, they also remove the stabilizing dimensions of organizational form that are essential in periods of uncertainty and change. The challenge for organizations lies in learning how to manage the tensions or dualities between traditional and new forms of organizing, a process demanding the arbitration of continuity and change. This paper explores the concept of dualities and its salience in the management of organizing forms. First, the nature of dualities is explained; secondly, a set of characteristics is developed to describe the behaviour of dualities; and thirdly, suggestions are presented for arbitrating the tensions that exist in organizing form dualities. These three contributions are relevant because they signal the route to the effective creation and management of organizing form dualities, the benefit of which is the constructive combination of dynamic capabilities (underpinning innovation and responsiveness, the hallmarks of new forms of organizing) and operational capabilities (underpinning stability and efficiency, the hallmarks of traditional forms of organizing).

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