From Intended Strategies to Unintended Outcomes: The Impact of Change Recipient Sensemaking

Abstract

The tendency for intended strategies to lead to unintended consequences is well documented. This longitudinal, real-time analysis of planned change implementation provides an explanation for this phenomenon. We focus on the social processes of interaction between middle managers as change recipients as they try to make sense of the change interventions. We show the extent to which lateral, informal processes of inter-recipient sensemaking contribute to both intended and unintended change outcomes, and therefore the unpredictable, emergent nature of strategic change. The findings raise the issue of the extent to which it is possible to manage evolving recipient interpretations during change implementation.

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“…Charged with translating the wishes of the organization into action, the subsidiary manager is, similarly to other middle managers, an influential actor who must "mediate, negotiate, and interpret connections" (Floyd & Wooldridge, 1997, p. 466), champion alternatives (Floyd & Wooldridge, 1992;Mantere, 2008), seize opportunities (Burgelman, 1994), search for solutions to complex problems (Tippmann, Sharkey Scott, & Mangematin, 2012), encourage and integrate divergent views (Beck & Plowman, 2009), and shape strategy (Balogun & Johnson, 2005;Browne, Sharkey-Scott, Mangematin, Lawlor, & Cuddihy, 2014;Wooldridge, Floyd, & Schmid, 2008). Floyd and Wooldridge's (1992) seminal typology captures the vertical relationships of such middle managers: their interactions both upward and downward through integrative and divergent activities (Aherne, Lam, & Kraus, 2014;Mom et al, 2007;Pappas & Wooldridge, 2007;Wooldridge et al, 2008).…”

Emergent Marketing Strategies and Performance: The Effects of Market Uncertainty and Strategic Feedback Systems

“…patterns of actions realized as initially designed) (Mintzberg, 1994). Despite the wide acceptance of intended (deliberate) and realized (emergent) strategies in the literature (Balogun and Johnson, 2005;Smith, 2011;Titus, Covin and Slevin, 2011), the distinction between these two levels of strategy is largely conceptual and rarely acknowledged in empirical studies (Sminia, 2009).…”

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“…Leadership (Selznick, 1957) Shared Fantasies & interactions (Kets de Vries & Miller, 1984) Introspection & interpersonal interaction (Westley & Mintzberg, 1989) Individual and group interactions (Filion, 1989) Intuition, planning and positioning (Pitcher, 1997) Managerial attention and SOPs Cognition Heuristics (Schwenk, 1984) Categorization of strategic issues (Dutton & Jackson, 1987) Organizational knowledge structures (Lyles & Schwenk, 1992) Cognitive maps (Laroche & Nioche, 1994;Novak, 1998) Mental models (Porac et al, 1989) Cognitive frames (Kaplan, 2008) Identification and characterization of SOPs, influence on strategy formulation and understanding of firm's strategy formation Sensemaking / giving Meaning (re)construction (Balogun & Johnson, 2005;Gioia & Chittipeddi, 1991) Understanding of SOPs, and their role within the firm (creation, use, etc…) Convention Theory Dominant Logic (Prahalad & Bettis, 1986;Bettis & Prahalad, 1995)…”