How can nanohabits as micro-routines support with enabling strategic change? – A case study on a publicly listed Finnish company

Abstract

During the last decades studies have revealed that strategy is not only a theoretical phenomenon but also equally a practical one. Researchers started studying strategy work as social practices and investigated on how practitioners of strategy work act and interact. Out of this, strategy-as-practice was borne and ever since academically scholars have broadened this understanding. The purpose of this thesis is to combine the above-mentioned research field together with the field of organizational routines in order to better understand the process of strategic change and how micro-routines can support this. Thereby, to increase our understanding of what we as human beings experience when change is brought upon us in the organizational environment. The literature review section provided in this thesis shows insight into what has been previously studied in the fields of strategy-as-practice and organizational routines. In the summary of the literature review, I presents what I experience to be a gap in research concerning how strategy is performed in practice and how organizational routine is affiliated with change. The remaining of the thesis is structured in a way that sufficiently addresses the research question and together with empirical data as well as knowledge from previous literature, helps me to adequately answer the research question and the research gap presented. The empirical data used in this study is collected from both primary and secondary sources and analysed with the help of a single case study design. In the empirical findings section the results are presented and analysed. Furthermore, this section includes a theoretical model section where I present my findings in a broader sense and state why I consider it as valuable information not only for this specific case but for the overall understanding of strategic change. I conclude this section by answering my research question. However, as this thesis is only concentrated on interviews at a very specific case and not any real-life observations, it limits my findings to a certain degree. The results of this thesis contribute insight to management of organizations about how their employees experience strategic change. More specifically, it helps to understand what their employees are experiencing when new change is brought upon and gives guidance on how this can be managed with the help of small behavioural habits. In other words, how micro-routines can help you in your everyday work life. Furthermore, this thesis strengthens the argument that more understanding is needed about the emotions around strategic change and strategy work in practice in order to fully understand it.