Research

We conduct research in organization and management studies, drawing on a wide range of different theoretical perspectives (particularly practice theories and systems theories) and different qualitative methodologies. Our research covers a wide range of topics. Core areas of research are strategy as practice, open strategy, organizational space, top management teams, and routine dynamics.

In line with the strategy-as-practice tradition, we explore strategy as something that people in organizations do, rather than something that firms in their markets possess. Thus, we are interested in the countless day-to-day activities on the micro-level of organizations, through which strategy translates into practice, as well as how institutions shape these strategizing activities on the macro-level. We apply this general understanding of strategy to various phenomena, such as open strategy and participation.

Open strategy is a new trend in strategic management. The phenomenon is characterized by two dimensions – transparency and inclusion. Transparency refers to openness in terms of sharing strategic information, both internally and externally. Transparency practices include, for example, strategy blogging or strategy town halls that are enacted to keep a wider group of actors informed about the strategy process. Inclusiveness refers to more extreme forms of participation in strategy-making by inviting actors beyond hierarchical or even organizational boundaries to contribute their viewpoints. Inclusion practices include, for example, strategy jams, wikis and workshops. Openness can be applied to both strategy-formation and strategy-implementation processes. From a practice-theoretical perspective, we investigate new strategic roles, power dynamics, dilemmas and effects of openness on the strategy process.

We want to better understand how the notion of space is used in organization studies and how it can be applied to provide a new perspective on organizational phenomena, such as strategy development, meetings and coordination. With our research on organizational space we aim to contribute to advancing and implementing the spatial turn in organization studies.

By examining the activities and interactions of top managers in strategy process, we aim at generating a rich understanding of how strategy is shaped at the apex of an organization. More specifically, we examine how CEOs interact with other strategy actors within and outside their top management team. Our particular focus on the contextual, interpersonal, processual and temporal dynamics in strategic decision making can generate insights that help resolve the “black-box” problem frequently raised in strategic leadership research.

Routines defined as repetitive recognizable patterns of action involving multiple participants play a significant role in organizations as they constitute one of the main building blocks of how organizations accomplish work and how they achieve particular outcomes. From a practice-theoretical perspective, we investigate closely the internal dynamics of routines that contribute to their stability and change over time. In addition, we aim to identify promising aeras for cross-fertilization by comparing this emerging body of literature to other practice-theoertical perspectives.