Becoming a strategist: The roles of strategy discourse and ontological security in managerial identity work

Mantere, Saku; Whittington, Richard

doi:10.1177/1476127020908781

Cited by 39 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 68 publications

(136 reference statements)

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“…Considering that narrative is central to phenomenological approach (Küpers et al, 2013), to employ it would access to the practitioners' storytelling that gives sense to their organizational life (Rhodes & Brown, 2005) and their identity as strategists (Mantere & Whittington, 2020). Narratives contribute to a better understanding of how strategy-making involves sensemaking and sensegiving (Vaara et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussion and Methodological Discussion And Methodological mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is especially relevant in contexts where strategists are facing wicked problems in their organizational activities (Burkea & Wolf, 2020). In this sense, more specifically, the method may be useful for studying two underexplored topics in the SAP literature: (a) strategic changing in pluralistic context/organizations (Denis et al, 2007;Jarzabkowski & Fenton, 2006;Sorsa & Vaara, 2020) and (b) open strategy (Hautz, Seidl, & Whittington, 2017;Mantere & Whittington, 2020;Whittington, Cailluet, & Yakis-Douglas, 2011).…”

Section: Future Research Directions Future Research Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Qualitative Method Proposal for the Study of Strategy as Practice

2021

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Purpose: recently, the strategy as practice approach has sought to overcome the micro/macro dichotomy existing in its literature, as well as to better integrate the dimensions of praxis, practice and practitioner. To fill this gap, the aim of the paper is to discuss potential methods to guide empirical studies of strategy as practice (SAP). Method: the paper proposes a method based on an extensive literature review. Phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and narratives are discussed, and their components are presented in the context of strategy as practice studies. Results: the presented method articulates four approaches. Phenomenology is used to enhance the understanding of strategist experiences. Grounded theory is considered a method to develop theories about the studied phenomenon. Ethnography is used to contextualize the daily practices of strategists. Narratives are the path to access the stories of the strategists. Conclusion: the proposed method may be useful to overcome micro/macro dichotomy existing in strategy as practice literature and to integrate praxis, practice and practitioner dimensions.

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Section: Discussion and Methodological Discussion And Methodological mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Future Research Directions Future Research Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Qualitative Method Proposal for the Study of Strategy as Practice

2021

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“…Third, elite actors’ impression management can also be turned into an opportunity, particularly when the researcher is interested in the interviewee’s narratives or stories and how they rationalize and construct social reality (e.g. Brown et al, 2019; Mantere and Whittington, 2020). In this type of research, impression management can be understood as an essential part of the storytelling that the researcher is trying to capture.…”

Section: Challenges and Potentials Of Elite Interviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After the first wave of interviews focusing on the executives’ “career progression and personal history, relationships and sponsorship, and perceptions of career opportunities and risks,” the second wave of interviews was focused on capturing their “career trajectories and career changes in the intervening seven years” (Smith et al, 2019: 1715). Similarly, through repeated interviews with 19 senior managers, Mantere and Whittington (2020) studied how they build their identity as strategist. The repetition allowed the authors to track the changes and developments of their identity narratives in the course of becoming strategists.…”

Section: Research Designs For Elite Interviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and practices of interviewing business elites

Seidl

McNulty

2020

Strategic Organization

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Interviews are an important method for studying a wide range of phenomena, especially those that directly involve members of the so-called business elite, which typically includes CEOs, top managers, and boards of directors. While it is necessary to get close to these actors and their settings for gaining valuable research insights, interviews are challenging interactions to accomplish. Even when one has negotiated access, members of the business elite are typically time-constrained, knowledgeable, used to being in a dominant position, and visible in the public domain and involved in impression management. These particularities pose distinctive challenges for collecting rich and authentic empirical material about important organizational, managerial, and societal matters. Drawing on our own experience, as well as the literature on qualitative interviewing and elites research, we discuss how different research designs and interview practices can help deal with these challenges.

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“…In this regard, diverse studies have been conducted with oi as the theoretical framework, but focused on different subject matters that include the founders' perspective (Anglin et al, 2017;Rodrigues & Child, 2008), the negotiations at different levels (Ybema et al, 2009), the complaints about the decisions of the organization as an entity (Whetten, 2006;Whetten & Mackey, 2002), and the managerial identity (Mantere & Whittington, 2020), among other topics.…”

Section: Background and Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organizational identity: components and construction

Gonzales–Miranda

2020

Innovar

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The objective of this research was to understand the identity construction process of the middle managers (MMs) of a Colombian multilatina. From the research question, i.e., what are the components involved in the identity construction process of MMs?, it was established that MMs are those individuals whose level in the organization is below top managers and above first-level supervisors. The theoretical framework used was organizational identity (OI). To this end, literature review focused on the discussion of research works whose epistemological basis considered OI as a process, not as an invariant or static element. The case study used a qualitative approach. Identity construction processes are made up of three categories: recognition, transcendence and security. The research was conducted under the case study method and targeted a relatively new organization that is in an unfinished and immature process of adopting a specific OI. The components explain the process and make it possible to elucidate a new way of approaching it at the management level; at the same time, due to their clarity and understandability, they can be used for other studies, as well as for consultancies. Finally, the integration of concepts from the social sciences for conceptualization and analysis nourishes the dialog with the administrative field.

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Becoming a strategist: The roles of strategy discourse and ontological security in managerial identity work

Cited by 39 publications

References 68 publications

A Qualitative Method Proposal for the Study of Strategy as Practice

A Qualitative Method Proposal for the Study of Strategy as Practice

Challenges and practices of interviewing business elites

Organizational identity: components and construction

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