Many are called, yet few are chosen

Rhetoric and Organizational Success: Imagery, Creativity and Innovation

From metaphor to practice in the crafting of strategy

The editors of Strategy as Practice, Johnson, Langley, Melin and Whittington, illustrate theoretical perspectives and alternative methodologies of 'strategy as practice' research by reflecting and commenting on selected 'classic' research papers such as Buergi, Jacobs and Roos' "From metaphor to practice in the crafting of strategy". Their paper explores how the link between the hand and the mind might be exploited in the making of strategy. Using Mintzberg's image of a potter, Buergi et al. develop a three-level theoretical schema, progressing from the physiological to the psychological to the social to trace the consequences of the hand-mind link. They discuss their model in view of an indicative case of managers from a large telecommunications firm experimenting with a process for strategy making in which they actively use their hands to construct representations of their organization and its environment.

Learning through Listening: Conversations for Strategic Change in a Healtcare Provider

The aim of this paper is investigate the role of conversation in strategic change so as to enhance both theory and practice in this respect. As an investigation on how conversations shape change processes in practice, we reflect on an interpretive case study in a health care organization. Through an OD project complemented by semi-structured interviews with participants, we gained a set of data and experiences that allows us to inquire into the relationship between conversations and change in more depth.

La création de la stratégie en tant que jeu sérieux

Les chercheurs s'efforcent d'élaborer une théorie de la création stratégique. Nous pensons que la difficulté pourrait être réduite en dotant ce domaine d'étude d'une notion d'intentionnalité qui nous permettrait de reconnaître l'émergence du changement. Nous présentons ici le jeu sérieux comme cadre descriptif pour les activités grâce auxquelles les conditions de la possibilité de l'émergence peuvent être créées intentionnellement. Dans ce sens, le but de ce chapitre est d'envisager la création stratégique comme une sorte de jeu sérieux.