ACTIVITY THROUGHOUT THE ORGANIZATION FROM STRATEGY AS PRACTICE PERSPECTIVE
Saranpää, Iiris (2016)
Kuvaus
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Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this study is to understand, if and how the daily activity within the case company reflects the written strategy it has. The literature of the study focuses on strategy as practice perspective, which enlarges the strategy research by delving into the daily routines and activity beyond strategy planning and processes.
The main concepts of this study are strategy as practice, and recursive and adaptive activity. Strategy as practice provides a comprehensive study field, and the literature review presents the background, main themes, different research orientations and levels of this field. The activity theory is used as a lens to study the case company, and more specifically, recursive and adaptive activity are identified.
The study is a qualitative case study. The data was gathered from 16 interviews in a large Finnish financial company. The interviewees worked as upper managers, team managers, and employees in one service unit of this company. The company was chosen as a case company of this study, as it has a shared strategy under which all of the interviewees work, even if they have different skills and knowhow.
The findings of the study present that the recursive and adaptive activity within the company reflect the company strategy in different ways. Part of the strategic guidelines was fulfilled by recursive, taken-for-granted activity, while other guidelines were actualized by adaptive, flexible ways of acting.
This study examines the organizational activity from multiple perspectives and enlarges the field of strategy as practice by focusing on the recursive and adaptive activity in different levels of an organization, including employees who are often absent in academic research.
The main concepts of this study are strategy as practice, and recursive and adaptive activity. Strategy as practice provides a comprehensive study field, and the literature review presents the background, main themes, different research orientations and levels of this field. The activity theory is used as a lens to study the case company, and more specifically, recursive and adaptive activity are identified.
The study is a qualitative case study. The data was gathered from 16 interviews in a large Finnish financial company. The interviewees worked as upper managers, team managers, and employees in one service unit of this company. The company was chosen as a case company of this study, as it has a shared strategy under which all of the interviewees work, even if they have different skills and knowhow.
The findings of the study present that the recursive and adaptive activity within the company reflect the company strategy in different ways. Part of the strategic guidelines was fulfilled by recursive, taken-for-granted activity, while other guidelines were actualized by adaptive, flexible ways of acting.
This study examines the organizational activity from multiple perspectives and enlarges the field of strategy as practice by focusing on the recursive and adaptive activity in different levels of an organization, including employees who are often absent in academic research.