STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN AN ENACTED WORLD (LINDA SMIRCICH AND CHARLES STUBBART, 1985) Henrik Alen Jessi Mänttäri

OBJECTIVE/PERCEIVED VS. ENACTED ENVIRONMENT Objective & Perceived Enacted (Interpretative worldview) Environment Independently given Accurately /inaccurately perceived Enacted through social construction and interaction processes of organized actors Interpretative: Specific set of events and relationships noticed and made meaningful by a specific set of strategists Organization Open system Should adapt to its environment Socially constructed system of shared meaning Interpretative: The degree to which a set of people share many beliefs, values and assumptions that encourage them to make mutually-reinforcing interpretations of their own acts and acts of others Task of strategic managerMaintain congruence between constraints and organizational needs Strategy: a fit between an organization and its environment Organization making, to create and maintain systems of shared meaning that facilitate organization action Strategists’ social knowledge constitutes their environment

IMPLICATIONS OF THE CONCEPT OF ENACTED ENVIRONMENT FOR STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT 1)Abandoning the prescription that organizations should adapt to their environments 2)Rethinking constraints, threats and opportunities 3)Considering the primary role of the strategic managers to be the management of meaning

MANAGING IN AN ENACTED WORLD Process of enacting a reality Process of enacting a reality 1)Prior enactment 2)Thinking and acting 3)Competing enactments Self-reflection and challenging assumptions -> forget what you know Self-reflection and challenging assumptions -> forget what you know

CRITIQUE Not that useful in day-to-day managing -> valuable tool in determinig and updating strategy -> eventual results of one’s impact impossible to foresee Not that useful in day-to-day managing -> valuable tool in determinig and updating strategy -> eventual results of one’s impact impossible to foresee Role of strategic manager -> constant questoning Role of strategic manager -> constant questoning Any environment can be enacted -> laws, regulations, prior enactments etc. Any environment can be enacted -> laws, regulations, prior enactments etc. Usefulness and generilizability of interpretative studies? Usefulness and generilizability of interpretative studies?

THANK YOU! QUESTIONS, COMMENTS?