Politics and strategy practice: An ethnomethodologically-informed discourse analysis perspective

Abstract

In this article we aim to contribute to the ‘strategy-as-practice’ (SAP) field by studying organizational politics from an ethnomethodological perspective. We argue that it is important to study not only the ‘politics of sensemaking’, but also the ‘sensemaking of politics’. Existing research has examined how power and politics plays a role in the sensemaking processes involved in strategic action, yet we have little understanding to date about how power and politics are made sense of in accounts and used by members to conduct their practical affairs. Drawing on an in-depth qualitative study of a multinational branded apparel company, we show how politics constitutes a key interpretive method through which organizational reality is constructed and strategic decisions are made. We address two key research questions: How can we study politics as an interpretive procedure rather than a pre-existing entity? What practical actions are achieved through such interpretive procedures? The study reveals how a cross-functional team of senior managers used discourse to collectively co-author a version of the political landscape of the firm during team meeting interactions, with practical implications for how the group sought to undertake strategic change. As such, the paper furthers our understanding of the social construction of politics and strategy and puts forward a new and potentially more insightful form of analysis we call Ethnomethodologically-informed Discourse Analysis (EDA).

Keywords::

• discourse
• ethnomethodology
• politics
• power
• sensemaking
• strategy
• strategy as practice

Notes

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^2.Ezzamel and Willmott, ‘Rethinking Strategy’; , ‘S-A-P zapping the field’; Carter, Clegg, and Wåhlin, ‘Strategy as Practice?’; Carter, Clegg, and Wåhlin, ‘Re-framing strategy’, Carter, Clegg, and Wåhlin, ‘When Science meets Strategic Realpolitik’.

^3.Maitlis', ‘The Social Processes’.

^4.Antaki, Explaining and Arguing; Potter, Representing Reality; Edwards, Discourse and Cognition.

^5.Coulon, Ethnomethodology, 12.

^6.Maitlis, ‘The Social Processes’.

^7.Sarangi, ‘Institutional, Professional and Lifeworld’; Samra-Fredericks, ‘Managerial Elites’.

^8.Maitlis, ‘The Social Processes’; Maitlis and Lawrence, ‘Triggers and Enablers’; Maitlis and Sonenshein, ‘Sensemaking in Crisis’; Pettigrew, The Politics; Narayanan and Fahey, ‘The Micro-politics of Strategy’; Pettigrew and Whipp, Managing Change.

^9.Bower and Doz, ‘Strategy Formulation’; , ‘Managing Understandings’; Brown, ‘Narrative, Politics and Legitimacy’; Marshall and Rollinson, ‘Maybe Bacon’; Weick, Sutcliffe, and Obstfeld, ‘Organizing and the Process’; Tourish and Robson, ‘Sensemaking and the Distortion’; Abolafia, ‘Narrative Construction as Sensemaking’.

^10.Alvesson and Sandberg, ‘Generating Research Questions’.

^11.Clegg, Carter, and Kornberger, ‘Getup’.

^12.Golsorkhi et al., ‘What is Strategy’.

^13.Balogun and Johnson, ‘Organizational Restructuring’; Balogun and Johnson, ‘From Intended Strategies’; Colville and Murphy, ‘Leadership as the Enabler’; Hendry, ‘Strategic Decision Making’; Heracleous, ‘A Tale of Three Discourses’; Heracleous and Jacobs, ‘Crafting Strategy’; , ‘Strategising as Lived Experience’; Samra-Fredericks, ‘Managerial Elites’; Mueller et al., ‘A Rounded Picture’; Jarzabkowski and Sillince, ‘A Rhetoric-in-Context Approach’; Johnson, ‘Strategy through a Cultural Lens’; Jarzabkowski and Fenton, ‘Strategizing and Organizing’, Chia, ‘Strategy-as-Practice’; Jarzabkowski, ‘Strategy as Practice’; Whittington et al., ‘Practices of Strategising/Organising’; Hodgkinson et al., ‘The Role of Strategy’.

^14.Golsorkhi et al., ‘What is Strategy’.

^15.Maitlis, ‘The Social Processes’.

^16. , The Politics; Pettigrew, ‘Strategy Formulation’, 81.

^17. For example Pettigrew, The Politics; Pfeffer and Salancik, ‘Organizational Decision Making’; Bower and Doz, ‘Strategy Formulation’; Narayanan and Fahey, ‘The Micro-politics of Strategy’; , Power In and Around Organizations; Mintzberg, ‘The Organization as Political Arena’; Mintzberg and Waters, ‘Of Strategies’; , Managing with Power; Pfeffer, ‘Understanding Power in Organizations’.

^18.Buchanan and Badham, ‘Politics and Organizational Change’; Vigoda-Gadot and Drory, Handbook of Organizational Politics; Kacmar et al., ‘An Examination’; Gunn and Chen, ‘A Micro-political Perspective’; Pye and Pettigrew, ‘Change’.

^19.Buchanan and Badham, ‘Politics and Organizational Change’.

^20.Maitlis, ‘The Social Processes’, 23.

^21.Jarzabkowski and Wilson, ‘Top Teams and Strategy’, 363, 367.

^22.Maitlis and Lawrence, ‘Orchestral Manoeuvres’, 112.

^22.Maitlis and Lawrence, ‘Orchestral Manoeuvres’, 112.

^23. See, e.g., Ezzamel and Willmott, ‘Rethinking Strategy’; Marshall and Rollinson, ‘Maybe Bacon’; Tourish and Robson, ‘Sensemaking and the Distortion’.

^24.Boudes and Laroche, ‘Taking off the Heat’.

^25.Maitlis, ‘The Social Processes’, 21.

^26. E.g. Clegg, Courpasson, and Phillips, Power and Organizations.

^27.Leiter, A Primer on Ethnomethodology, 152.

^28.Coulon, Ethnomethodology, 29.

^29.Golsorkhi et al., ‘What is Strategy’.

^30.Knights and Morgan ‘Corporate Strategy’; Ezzamel and Willmott, ‘Rethinking Strategy’.

^31.Knights and Morgan, ‘Corporate Strategy’, 253.

^32.Alvesson and Kärreman, ‘Decolonializing Discourse’, 1129.

^33.Knights and Morgan, ‘Corporate Strategy’.

^34.Alvesson and Karreman, ‘Varieties of Discourse’, 1126–7; Alvesson and Sandberg, ‘Generating Research Questions’, 1130.

^35.Vaara and Monin, ‘A Recursive Perspective’.

^36. For example Fairclough, Critical Discourse Analysis, 4, 49–50, 59.

^37.Fairclough, Critical Discourse Analysis, 59.

^38.Wetherell and Potter, Mapping the Language of Racism, 62.

^39.Barry and Elmes, ‘Strategy Retold’; , ‘Narrative, Politics and Legitimacy’; Brown, ‘A Narrative Approach’; Brown, Stacey, and Nandhakumar, Making Sense of Sensemaking; Brown and Thompson, ‘A Narrative Approach’; Rhodes and Brown, ‘Narrative, Organizations and Research’; Sims, Huxham, and Beech, ‘On Telling Stories ’; Patriotta, ‘Sensemaking on the Shop Floor’.

^40. , ‘Strategising as Lived Experience’; Samra-Fredericks, ‘Managerial Elites’; Samra-Fredericks, ‘The Interactional Accomplishment’.

^41.Alvesson and Kärreman, ‘Decolonializing Discourse’, 1128; Alvesson and Karreman, ‘Varieties of Discourse’, 1144, 1145; Wetherell and Potter, Mapping the Language of Racism, 71.

^42.Potter, Representing Reality; Edwards, Discourse and Cognition.

^43.Antaki, Explaining and Arguing.

^44.Maitlis, ‘The Social Processes’, 21.

^45.Maitlis, ‘The Social Processes’, 23.

^46.Sillince and Mueller, ‘Switching Strategic Perspective’.

^47.Llewellyn and Hindmarsh, ‘Organization in Real Time’, 9, 12.

^48.Samra-Fredericks, ‘The Interactional Accomplishment’, 198.

^49.Llewellyn and Hindmarsh, ‘Organization in Real Time’, 13.

^50.Samra-Fredericks, ‘The Interactional Accomplishment’, 202.

^51. , ‘Strategising as Lived Experience’; Samra-Fredericks, ‘Strategic Practice’; Samra-Fredericks, ‘The Interactional Accomplishment’.

^52. For example Fairclough, Critical Discourse Analysis, 59.

^53.Jarzabkowski and Wilson, ‘Top Teams and Strategy’.

^54.Schneider, ‘Power as Interactional Accomplishment’.

^55.Llewellyn and Hindmarsh, ‘Organization in Real Time’, 14.

^56.Clegg, Carter, and Kornberger, ‘Getup’, 25.

^57. See, for example, Paroutis and Pettigrew, ‘Strategizing in the Multi-business Firm’.

^58.Tsoukas and Chia, ‘On Organizational Becoming’, 567.

^59.Balogun, Huff, and Johnson, ‘Three Responses’, 200.

^60.Yin, Case Study Research, 79–80.

^61.Pentland, ‘Building Process Theory’, 711; Orton, ‘From Inductive to Iterative Grounded Theory’.

^62.Potter, Representing Reality; Edwards, Discourse and Cognition.

^63.Llewellyn and Hindmarsh, ‘Organization in Real Time’, 3.

^64.Samra-Fredericks, ‘The Interactional Accomplishment’.

^65.Gummesson, Qualitative Methods, 39.

^66.Boden, The Business of Talk, 79.

^67.Samra-Fredericks, ‘Strategising as Lived Experience’.

^68.Coulon, Ethnomethodology.

^69.Coulon, Ethnomethodology, 2.

^70. c.f. Balogun and Johnson, ‘Organizational Restructuring’.

^71.Coulon, Ethnomethodology, 9.

^72.Simons, Rhetoric in the Human Sciences; Edwards and Potter, Discursive Psychology, 149.

^73.Hewitt and Stokes, ‘Disclaimers’.

^74.Potter, Representing Reality, 193.

^75.Potter, Representing Reality, 110.

^76. Sarangi, 2003, ‘Institutional, Professional and Lifeworld’.

^77.Weider, Language and Social Reality.

^78.Potter, Representing Reality, 111.

^79.Fairclough, Language and Power, 114.

^80.Edwards and Potter, Discursive Psychology, Chapter 1.

^81.Potter, Edwards, and Wetherell, ‘A Model of Discourse’.

^82.Schneider, ‘Power as Interactional Accomplishment’.

^83.Potter, Edwards, and Wetherell, ‘A Model of Discourse in Action’.

^84.Maitlis, ‘The Social Processes’, 40.

^85.Potter, Representing Reality, 113.

^86. , ‘Politics’; Brown, ‘Managing Understandings’; Brown, ‘Narrative, Politics and Legitimacy’; Brown, ‘Authoritative Sensemaking’; Brown, ‘Making Sense’; Brown and Thompson, ‘A Narrative Approach’.

^87.Brown, ‘Managing Understandings’.

^88.Brown, ‘Managing Understandings’, 961.

^89.Brown, ‘Managing Understandings’, 962.

^90.Brown, ‘Politics’, 868, 869.

^91.Woolgar, Science: The Very Idea.

^92.Woolgar, Science: The Very Idea, 68.

^93.Brown, ‘Managing Understandings’.

^94. See Brown, ‘Managing Understandings’, 960.

^95.Brown, ‘Managing Understandings’.

^96.Edwards, Discourse and Cognition, 57.

^97. Brown, 1995, ‘Managing Understandings’, 960.

^98.Brown, ‘Politics’, 866.

^99.Abolafia, ‘Narrative Construction as Sensemaking’; Brown, ‘Politics’; Brown, ‘Managing Understandings’; Brown, ‘Narrative, Politics and Legitimacy’; Maitlis, ‘The Social Processes’; Maitlis and Lawrence, ‘Triggers and Enablers’; Maitlis and Sonenshein, ‘Sensemaking in Crisis and Change’; Marshall and Rollinson, ‘Maybe Bacon’; Tourish and Robson, ‘Sensemaking and the Distortion’; Weick, Sutcliffe, and Obstfeld, ‘Organizing and the Process of Sensemaking’.

^100.Edwards, Discourse and Cognition, 60.

^101.Potter, Representing Reality, Chapter 4.

^102. Brown, ‘Managing Understandings’.

^103.Bloor, ‘The Strengths’.

^104.Edwards, Discourse and Cognition, 52.

^105.Edwards, Discourse and Cognition, 52.

^106.Clegg, Carter, and Kornberger, ‘Getup’, 25.

^106.Clegg, Carter, and Kornberger, ‘Getup’, 25.

^107.Clegg, Courpasson, and Phillips, Power and Organizations, 132.

^108.Lawrence, et al., ‘The Underlying Structure’.

^109.Cummings and Daellenbach, ‘The History’, 236, 258.

^110.Jarzabkowski and Whittington, ‘Hard to Disagree, Mostly’.

^111.Clegg, Carter, and Kornberger, ‘Getup’.

^112. For example , ‘Politics’; Brown, ‘Managing Understandings’; Brown, ‘Narrative, Politics and Legitimacy; Brown, ‘A Narrative Approach’.

^113.Jarzabkowski, ‘Shaping Strategy’.

^114.Jarzabkowski, ‘Shaping Strategy’, 623.

^115.Coulon, Ethnomethodology, 16.

^116.Hernes and Maitlis, ‘Process, Sensemaking and Organizing’.

^117.Schneider, ‘Power as Interactional Accomplishment’.

^118.Jarzabkowski, Sillince, and Shaw, ‘Strategic Ambiguity’.

^119.Shotter and Cunliffe, ‘Managers as Practical Authors’, 20; Shotter, Conversational Realities, 148.

^120.Shotter and Cunliffe, ‘Managers as Practical Authors’, 20.

^121.Hernes and Maitlis, ‘Process, Sensemaking and Organizing’, 27.

^122.Hernes and Maitlis, ‘Process, Sensemaking and Organizing’, 4.

^123. See Leiter, A Primer on Ethnomethodology; Coulon, Ethnomethodology.

^124.Leiter, A Primer on Ethnomethodology, 235.

^125.Hernes and Maitlis, ‘Process, Sensemaking and Organizing’, 12.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Frank Mueller

Frank Mueller MA (Konstanz) MSc DPhil (Oxon) holds a Chair in Strategy and International Business at Newcastle University Business School. His research interests include Discourse Analysis of Workplace Change; Change in Professional Organizations; Discourses of Teamworking. He has published widely on these topics, including publications in ‘Organisation Studies’, ‘Human Relations’, ‘Journal of Management Studies’, ‘Accounting, Organisation and Society’, ‘Organisation’ and ‘Work, Employment and Society’.

Andrea Whittle

Andrea Whittle (BSc, PhD) is Professor of Management and Organization Studies at Newcastle University Business School. Her research interests are in the areas of discourse analysis, discursive psychology, ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. Applying her interests in language and organization, she has worked on studies of management consultants, identity, technological change, public testimonies and strategy as practice.

Alan Gilchrist

Alan Gilchrist is a Lecturer in Marketing, in the Department of Marketing, Lancaster University Management School. He holds a BA (Philosophy) from King College London, an MBA from Salford University Business School, and prior to completion of his PhD in Marketing (Lancaster) in 2008, had developed a ten year career in business to business sales and change management, focused within the UK banking and telecommunications sectors.

Peter Lenney

Peter Lenney is a Senior Fellow of the Foundation for Management Education and a lecturer in Lancaster University Management School. Peter's twenty year business career took him through various business roles and he became the Worldwide Business Director of International Paint Marine Coatings; a global supplier of coating systems, at that time a $500m business. His main research interests are the nature and processes of managerial work, management education and managerial judgement.