Sensemaking of strategy in an MNC – A case study on discourses in strategy work during strategic change

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Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

School of Business | Master's thesis

Authors

Date

2020

Department

Johtamisen laitos

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Management and International Business (MIB)

Language

en

Pages

97

Series

Abstract

This master’s thesis explores how organizational members of a multinational corporation (MNC) make sense of a new business strategy during strategic change. The study builds on the constructivist foundation which considers strategy as a social practice. The study focuses on the discursive aspect of strategy as this has been suggested to be the most interesting for understanding actors’ sensemaking activities. As discourses represent and shape the social practices in an organization, exploring the prevailing themes can demonstrate how actors perceive the nature of strategy work and contribute to strategizing activities. Drawing on this idea, this study seeks to answer the following research questions: 1) which discourses impede sensemaking of the strategy and 2) which discourses enable sensemaking of the strategy. The empirical data for the study were collected through ten semi-structured interviews with middle managers and employees from various locations of a specific business unit in the organization. The data analysis is divided into two parts: first the interview data are analyzed through a critical discourse analysis, and in the second part, the identified discourses are further analyzed and discussed in relation to strategy as practice and sensemaking literature. The findings suggest that the discourses impeding sensemaking contained features of the traditional strategy conceptualization while the discourses enabling sensemaking were built on a participative and narrative view of strategy. Based on the findings, recommendations are given on how the case organization could look at its strategy implementation activities in a more comprehensive and meaningful way.

Description

Thesis advisor

Pälli, Pekka

Keywords

strategic change, strategy as practice, sensemaking, discourse analysis, middle managers, MNC, management, communication

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Citation

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202009205488

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[gradu] Kauppakorkeakoulu / BIZ