Strategic Ambiguity in the Birth of a Loosely Coupled Organization

Contractor, Noshir; Ehrlich, Matthew C.

doi:10.1177/0893318993006003002

Cited by 27 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…Thus, the actual content of strategy texts will be influenced by the micro-level translation process itself. For example, several studies have suggested that difficulties in translation may be resolved by a form of 'strategic ambiguity' (Eisenberg, 1984) in which written texts remain open to alternative interpretations, allowing a variety of stakeholders to accept them (Abdallah, 2007;Contractor & Ehrlich, 1993;Tracy & Ashcraft, 2001). Although, this remains to be studied, one might also hypothesize that the juxtaposition of multiple interests in strategy texts would tend to increase the complexity of narrative plots and potentially reduce their coherence.…”

Section: Narrative and Strategy Textsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategy as Practice and the Narrative Turn

Fenton

Langley

2011

Organization Studies

303

274

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This paper argues that organizational communication research, and in particular a perspective that focuses on narrative, can contribute in important ways to understanding the practices of strategy. Narrative is believed to be critical to sensemaking in organizations, and multiple levels and forms of narrative are inherent to strategic practices. For example, narrative can be found in the micro-stories told by managers and others as they interact and go about their daily work, in the formalized techniques for strategy-making whether or not the techniques are explicitly story-based, in the accounts people give of their work as strategy practitioners, and in the artefacts produced by strategizing activity. After exploring applications of narrative approaches to strategy praxis, practices, practitioners and text, we review two concepts that might serve to integrate micro and macro levels of analysis. Overall, narrative is seen as a way of giving meaning to the practice that emerges from sensemaking activities, of constituting an overall sense of direction or purpose, of refocusing organizational identity, and of enabling and constraining the ongoing activities of actors.

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Section: Narrative and Strategy Textsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategy as Practice and the Narrative Turn

Fenton

Langley

2011

Organization Studies

303

274

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“…. ] gives room for alternative reactions to the same piece of language (Empson, 1949, p. 1). In Seven Types of Ambiguity, Empson (1949) sets the pattern for making sense of strategic ambiguity (SA) (Contractor and Ehrlich, 1993;Eisenberg, 1984) or the intentional use of equivocation (Bavelas et al, 1990;Eisenberg, 1998) to achieve desired ends within organizations and networks. Empson's influence surpassed the borders of literary criticism ( Jancovich, 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategic ambiguity in emergent coalitions: the triple bottom line

Wexler

2009

Corporate Communications: An International Journal

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore and expand the role of strategic ambiguity (SA) in the field of organizational communication. It treats the triple bottom line (TBL) as indicative of an emerging coalition. This coalition brings together three loosely coupled discourse communities each attempting to advance the notion of green business, corporate social responsibility and sustainability. Design/methodology/approach -This case directs attention to how SA and equivocation built into TBL aids three loosely networked discourse communities -formulated around "profits", "people" and "planet" -emerge, coalesce and diffuse despite being rooted in imprecise and loosely formulated measures. Findings -The findings indicate that despite its imprecision, lack of specificity and operational indices the TBL provides its members with the belief that they are far better off joining the coalition than going it alone. TBL's openness to multiple interpretations enables each of the discourse communities in the emerging network to expect to win concessions from others and to protect its values from encroachment. Originality/value -This treatment of TBL suggests that SA can be expanded beyond an intra-organizational focus to one encompassing emergent coalitions. The expanded notion of SA helps explain the stickiness of knowledge transfer in the early stage of coalition formation and the propensity of critics to view new imprecise but inspiring ideas like TBL as nothing but a fad or passing enthusiasm.

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“…As Wexler (2009) suggested, the various combinations of sustainability elements (people, profit, and planet) create imprecision, lack of specificity, and operational indices that lead people to believe that they are far better off joining a coalition than going it alone. An ambiguous but inclusive organizational mission statement that is mutually agreed upon could help different university departments to put aside their differences and make efforts to pursue the same goal (Contractor & Ehrlich, 1993).…”

Section: Role Of Ambiguity Logic In Institutional Complexitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, ambiguity is associated with the sharing of power among stakeholders, that is, in making power more equally distributed among stakeholders. In other cases, the use of the ambiguity strategy was usually found among relatively more power-symmetric relationships between management and other stakeholders, such as university academics (Contractor & Ehrlick, 1993; Jarzabkowski & Sillince, 2007; Jarzabkowski, Sillince, and Shaw, 2010; Sillince et al, 2012), medical doctors in hospitals (Denis et al, 2011), and film producers and makers (Abdallah & Langley, 2014). These professionals possess relatively more power over management compared to other kinds of employees because of their valuable knowledge and skill background.…”

Section: Role Of Ambiguity Logic In Institutional Complexitymentioning

confidence: 99%

An exploration of ambiguity logic in organizations

Yang

2015

Journal of Management & Organization

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Organizations often face the challenge of institutional complexity, which involves incompatible prescriptions from multiple institutional logics. To deal with this challenge, prior researchers have proposed several strategies to tackle conflicts within and between organizations. The success of these solutions fundamentally hinges on achieving clarity. However, while clarity often brings further conflicts for both internal and external stakeholders, I argue that ambiguity logic is an alternative approach to deal with institutional complexity as it creates space for negotiations and potential solutions. As such, this paper proposes five research propositions that examine when ambiguous language and behavior can be better used to deal with institutional complexity. In general, the use of ambiguity logic is associated with power. Specifically, ambiguity logic is better applied in organizations when power is more evenly distributed among the stakeholders.

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Strategic Ambiguity in the Birth of a Loosely Coupled Organization

Cited by 27 publications

References 50 publications

Strategy as Practice and the Narrative Turn

Strategy as Practice and the Narrative Turn

Strategic ambiguity in emergent coalitions: the triple bottom line

An exploration of ambiguity logic in organizations

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