Over the last two decades, Strategy as Practice (SAP) has developed from an embryonic, fringe perspective on strategy to a consolidated field of strategy research. The 2007 special issue of Human ...Relations on ‘Strategizing: The challenges of a practice perspective’ played a pivotal role in bringing this field to fruition. Reflecting on the broad SAP aim to ‘let a thousand flowers bloom’, we employ a plant-based metaphor, to distinguish three phases in the development of SAP, each associated with different types of agenda work. In an initial Germination Phase, scholars did agenda-seeking work of establishing new concepts and differentiating SAP from other fields of strategy research. A Blossoming Phase of agenda-setting work followed, establishing a community of scholars and articles that identified as SAP, and establishing and defending the boundaries of the new field. As the field became established, it entered a Harvesting Phase, characterized by agenda-confirming work of using SAP lenses to explain core strategy and organization. Based on these reflections, and considering the many public critiques of SAP, we note that the field appears to be in transition to a new Propagating Phase that offers exciting potential to cross-pollinate within the SAP field and across other areas.
This paper suggests that when the phenomenon of standards and standardization is examined from the perspective of organization studies, three aspects stand out: the standardization of organizations, ...standardization by organizations and standardization as (a form of) organization. Following a comprehensive overview of existing research in these three areas, we argue that the dynamic aspects of standardization are under-represented in the scholarly discourse. Furthermore, we identify the main types of tension associated with standardization and the dynamics they generate in each of those three areas, and show that, while standards and standardization are typically associated with stability and sameness, they are essentially a dynamic phenomenon. The paper highlights the contributions of this special issue to the topic of standards as a dynamic phenomenon in organization studies and makes suggestions for future research.
The last 15 years have witnessed renewed interest in resistance in and around organizations. In this essay, we offer a conceptual framework to thematize this burgeoning conceptual and empirical ...terrain. We critically explore scholarship that examines resistance in terms of its manifestations and political intent or impact. We offer four fields of possibility for resistance scholarship: individual infrapolitics, collective infrapolitics, insubordination, and insurrection (the “four I’s” of resistance). We conclude by considering the relationship between resistance theory and praxis, and pose four questions, or provocations, for stimulating future resistance research and practice.
Researchers have lately been pointing out the increasing significance of standards in all areas of contemporary life. There have been calls for more research into the processes of setting and ...following standards. In this article we analyse the effectiveness of codes of corporate governance as a specific type of standard that has become particularly prominent over the last decade. On the basis of an observation-theoretical approach, codes are conceptualized as schemas of observation that establish a field of mutual observations. The effectiveness of codes depends on the one hand on the extent to which they become integrated into recursive cycles of mutual observation between the corporation and the various actors in the field. On the other hand, effectiveness depends on how codes relate to other observational schemas. On the basis of the analysis several propositions about the effectiveness of code regulation are developed, which may be tested in further empirical studies.
This paper examines how gender proportions at the workplace affect the extent to which individual networks support the career progress (i.e. time to promotion). Previous studies have argued that men ...and women benefit from different network structures. However, the empirical evidence about these differences has been contradictory or inconclusive at best. Combining social networks with tokenism, we show in a longitudinal academic study that gender-related differences in the way that networks affect career progress exist only in situations where women are in a token position. Our empirical results further show that women not in severely underrepresented situations benefit from the same network structure as men.
Research summary: When faced with complex strategic problems that exceed their individual sensemaking capacities, organizations often engage in inter-organizational collaboration. This enables them ...to pool the participants' different perspectives and to grasp the problem at hand more comprehensively. Drawing on data collected from two longitudinal case studies, we examine how those who participate in inter-organizational sensemaking processes are selected and how the particular selection of participants affects the dynamics of the sensemaking process in turn. In our analysis, we show how the selection of specific problem issues influences who joins or withdraws from the collaboration and we identify a mechanism that accounts for changes in the particular dynamics of the sensemaking process over time. Our findings help explain how the process of inter-organizational sensemaking can yield different outcomes. Managerial summary: The ability to make sense of the business environment is central to strategic management. As the complexity of the environment increases and interpreting it becomes more difficult, organizations increasingly turn to inter-organizational collaboration, which allows them to pool their expertise in order to explore strategic issues. We examine how the participants in projects of joint exploration are selected and how the selection of participants affects the process of exploration in turn. More specifically, we describe how the aspects on which collaborating organizations choose to focus influence who joins and who withdraws from a collaboration. We also identify a mechanism that accounts for differences and changes in the dynamics of the sensemaking process over time. These changes affect how the collaborators come to understand their organization's business environment.
David Seidl brings together two important issues in organization and management studies in this volume: the concept and related theory of organizational identity, and autopoietic organization theory ...(as originally developed by Niklas Luhmann). The contribution of the book is twofold: it provides an introduction to autopoietic organization theory and it provides a new perspective on organizational identity and self-transformation. Thus the book is relevant to both organization theorists interested in new approaches to organization and to researchers of organizational identity. The themes are reflected in the structure of the book. Chapters one and two provide an introduction to Niklas Luhmann's organization theory. Based on this, chapter three develops a new concept of organizational identity. In chapters four and five a theory of organizational self-transformation (i.e. change of identity) is developed.
David Seidl is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Business Policy and Strategic Management, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, Germany.
Contents: General Introduction; Autopoiesis, Luhmann, Spencer Brown; Organisation as autopoietic system; Organisational identity; The logic of self-transformation; An evolutionary model of self-transformation; General conclusion: the distinctions of the study; Bibliography; Index.
Taking perspectives from papers published previously in Organization Studies, we argue for progress in strategy-as-practice research through more effective linking of ‘local’ strategizing activity ...with ‘larger’ social phenomena. We introduce a range of theoretical approaches capable of incorporating larger-scale phenomena and countering what we term ‘micro-isolationism’, the tendency to explain local activities in their own terms. Organizing the theories according to how far they lean towards either tall or flat ontologies, we outline their respective strengths and weaknesses. Against this background, we develop three broad guidelines that can help protect against empirical micro-isolationism and thereby extend the scope of strategy-as-practice research.
NOTE: The name of the exam has changed from CSA+ to CySA+. However, the CS0-001 exam objectives are exactly the same. After the book was printed with CSA+ in the title, CompTIA changed the name to ...CySA+. We have corrected the title to CySA+ in subsequent book printings, but earlier printings that were sold may still show CSA+ in the title. Please rest assured that the book content is 100% the same.Prepare yourself for the newest CompTIA certification The CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst+ (CySA+) Study Guide provides 100% coverage of all exam objectives for the new CySA+ certification. The CySA+ certification validates a candidate's skills to configure and use threat detection tools, perform data analysis, identify vulnerabilities with a goal of securing and protecting organizations systems. Focus your review for the CySA+ with Sybex and benefit from real-world examples drawn from experts, hands-on labs, insight on how to create your own cybersecurity toolkit, and end-of-chapter review questions help you gauge your understanding each step of the way. You also gain access to the Sybex interactive learning environment that includes electronic flashcards, a searchable glossary, and hundreds of bonus practice questions. This study guide provides the guidance and knowledge you need to demonstrate your skill set in cybersecurity. Key exam topics include: Threat management Vulnerability management Cyber incident response Security architecture and toolsets
Research summary: An important challenge that new CEOs face is establishing a group of immediate collaborators, which we call the "strategic leadership constellation." Drawing on a comparative case ...study, we show that due to constraints on the CEO to change the top management team (TMT), the composition of the strategic leadership constellation initially tends to differ from that of the TMT: in some cases, it consists of a subgroup of the TMT; in others, it also comprises individuals outside the TMT such as staff members or lower-level managers. We show that the discrepancies between the strategic leadership constellation and the TMT lead to tensions that trigger a process of convergence between these two bodies, particularly as the constraints on TMT change decrease and the CEO's needs evolve. Managerial summary: A major challenge that new CEOs face is establishing a group of close collaborators, which we call the "strategic leadership constellation." Our study shows that due to different constraints on changing the executive team, the composition of the strategic leadership constellation initially tends to differ from that of the executive team: in some cases, it consists of a subgroup of the executive team; in others, it also comprises individuals outside the executive team, such as staff members or lower-level managers. We show that the discrepancies between the strategic leadership constellation and the executive team lead to tensions that trigger a process of convergence between these two bodies, particularly as the constraints on changing the executive team decrease and the CEO's needs evolve.
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