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ABSTRACT
This paper to uncovers how leaders practice emergent strategy as a core strategic philosophy. The article uses the case of general and statesman Moshe Dayan as a principal case study to uncover leadership and management practices of emergent strategy. Following a discussion on the emergent versus deliberate strategy schools, I show why Moshe Dayan as a leader can be considered as an archetype of the emergent approach worth studying. I then present six leadership principles that enabled him to practice the emergent approach. The article concludes with discussion of the limitations and value of the emergent approach for leaders today.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Colin Gray, The Strategy Bridge: Theory for Practice (NY: Oxford UP, 2010), 18.
2 Ibid., 29.
3 The American military came up with the initials VUCA – Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. Nick Horney, Bill Pasmore and Tom O’Shea ‘Leadership Agility: A Business Imperative for a VUCA World,’ People and Strategy, 2010, 32–38.
4 Tor Hernes, A Process Theory of Organization (UK: Oxford University Press, 2014), 1.
5 Henry Mintzberg and James A. Waters, ‘Of strategies, deliberate and emergent,’ Strategic Management Journal, July 1985, pp.257–272, Henry Mintzberg, ‘The fall and rise of strategic planning,’ Harvard Business Review, 1994, 107. And in the context of international relations: Ionut C. Popescu, ‘Grand Strategy vs. Emergent Strategy in the conduct of foreign policy’ Journal of Strategic Studies, 41/3 (2018), 438–460.
6 Popescu, ‘Grand Strategy vs. Emergent Strategy’, 447.
7 Ionut C. Popescu, ‘Grand Strategy vs. Emergent Strategy in the conduct of foreign policy’ Journal of Strategic Studies, 41/3 (2018), 446.
8 Henri Minzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand and Joseph Lampel, Strategy Safari (US: Prentice Hall, 1998), 24, 213.
9 Ibid., 220–2.
10 Ibid., 13.
11 Charles E. Lindblom, “The Science of ‘Muddling’ Through,’ Public Administration Review, 19/2 (1959), 79–88.
12 Donald C. Hambrick, ‘Upper echelons theory: An update,’ Academy of Management Review, 32/2 (2007), 334–343.
13 Minzberg et al, Strategy Safari, 219.
14 Saras D. Sarasvathy, Effectuation: Elements of entrepreneurial expertise (Massachusetts, US: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009).
15 James G. March, ‘Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning’, Organization science 2/1 (1991), 71–87.
16 Helmuth Von Moltke served as the Prussian chief of staff, and later as chief of staff of the army of unified Germany, (1857–1888).
17 Daniel J. Hughes (ed.), Moltke on the Art of War: Selected Writings (New York: Presidio, 1993), 47, 92.
18 Ibid., 133.
19 Gray, The Strategy Bridge, 124.
20 A few studies have been done in management for example: Lowell W. Busenitz and Jay B. Barney, ‘Differences between entrepreneurs and managers in large organizations: Biases and heuristics in strategic decision-making’ Journal of Business Venturing, 1997, 9–30; Amar Bhide, ‘How entrepreneurs craft strategies that work’ Harvard Business Review, 1994, 150–161.
21 Popescu, ‘Grand Strategy vs. Emergent Strategy’,451–456. A further analysis in: Ionut C. Popescu, Emergent strategy and grand strategy: how American presidents succeed in foreign policy (Baltimore, MD: JHU Press, 2017).
22 John Lewis Gaddis, On Grand Strategy (US: Allen Lane, 2018), 19–20.
23 Ibid., 20.
24 Popescu, How American presidents, 18.
25 Mordechai Bar-On, Moshe Dayan A Biography 1915–1981 (Tel Aviv: Am Oved Publishers Ltd., 2014), 358, 359. (Hebrew).
26 Eitan Shamir, Transforming command: The Pursuit of Mission Command in the US, British, and Israeli Armies (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011), 89.
27 Sholomo Gazit, ‘Moshe Dayan and the IDF’ in Mordechai Bar- On (ed.), Hostile Frontiers-Israel’s Security Issues during its First Decades (Israel: Efi Meltzer Press, 2017), 167–178, 168. (Hebrew).
28 Amos Gilboa, Mr. Intelligence – Ahrale Yariv (Tel Aviv: Yedioth Ahronot, 2013), 641–642. [Hebrew].
29 In Jewish tradition they represent two types of contradictory but completing Messiah, one is earthly and practical the other is spiritual.
30 I thank Maj. Gen. Gershon Hacohen, former head of IDF National Security College, for his insight on this point. Personal communication 2 October 2020, Tel Aviv.
31 Gad Yaacobi, Encounters in the Course of my Life, (Jerusalem, Israel: Carmel 2009), 91. (Hebrew).
32 Mintzberg et al., Safari Strategy,363.
33 Henry Mintzberg, Tracking Strategies: Towards A General Theory of Strategy Formation (New York: Oxford University Press 2008), 5.
34 Ibid., 376.
35 Interview, Major General Shlomo Gazit, Gazit was the Former head of the Military Intelligence, former head of The Unit for the Coordination of Operations in the Territories and Dayan’s Bureau Chief, Herzliya 10.07. 2018.
36 TV Thames,1972, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzVrRStVo9k, (accessed 1 5 October 2020).
37 Donald A. Schön, The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action (New York, NY: Basic Books, 1983), 68.
38 Shabtai Tevet, Moshe Dayan – The Soldier, The Man, The Legend (Jerusalem, Israel: Shocken, 1971), 415. (Hebrew).
39 Ibid., 159.
40 Ibid., 350.
41 Meir Boumfled, To Take the Plunge, (Israel: Efi Meltzer Press, 2017), 67. (Hebrew). Based on primary sources, Boumfeld is the most in depth study on the failed negotiations during 1970–1973 to reach a diplomatic agreement between Israel and Egypt before the 1973 war.
42 Tevet, Moshe Dayan – The Soldier, The Man, The Legend, 550.
43 Protocol of Minister Committee for Security Affairs, 4 June 1967, Israel State Archive, File No. EE0002.
44 Moshe Dayan, Story of my Life (Jerusalem: Dvir Publishing, 1976), 398. (Hebrew).
45 Yaakov Erez and Ilan Kfir, Conversations with Moshe Dayan (Tel Aviv, Israel: Masada 1981),46. (Hebrew).
46 Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923) was an Italian economist and political scientist who came up with the principle named after him.
47 Gazit, ‘Moshe Dayan and the IDF’, 172–171.
48 Ibid.,172.
49 Elyakim Rubinstein, Paths of Peace (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defense, 1992), 208. (Hebrew).
50 Ibid.,221.
51 Gad Yaacobi, Grace of Time (Tel Aviv: Miskal, 2002), 200. (Hebrew).
52 On the debate see Meir Finkel, The Chief of Staff: A Comparative Study of Six Aspects of IDF Commanders (Moshav Ben-Shemen: Modan Publishing House and Ministry of Defense, 2018), 186–190. (Hebrew).
53 Meir Amit, Head On, (Tel Aviv, Ma’ariv, 1999),39,85. (Hebrew).
54 Quoted in Tevet, Moshe Dayan – The Soldier, The Man, The Legend, 380.
55 Tevet, Moshe Dayan – The Soldier, The Man, The Legend, 380.
56 Ibid., 371.
57 Interview with Neora Matalon-Barnoach, Dayan’s Personal Assistance, Herzliya Israel, 10 November 2018. Interview with Shlomo Gazit, Kfar Saba, Israel, 20 August 2018.
58 Neora Matalon-Barnoach, Good place on the side (Ra’anana: KIP – Kotarim International Publishing Ltd., 2009), 34–25. (Hebrew).
59 Shlomo, Gazit, The Stick and The Carrot – The Israeli Administration in Judea and Samaria (Tel Aviv: Zmora Bitan Publishers, 1985), 410. (Hebrew).
60 Tevet, Moshe Dayan – The Soldier, The Man, The Legend, 410.
61 Rubinstein, Paths of Peace, 208.
62 Moshe Dayan, Story of My Life, 621.
63 Sholomo Gazit, Trapped (Tel-Aviv: Zmora Bitan, 1999), 74–75. (Hebrew).
64 For example, protocols of IDF General Staff deliberations 28 April 1969 and 5 May 1969 quoted in Shimon Golan, The War to Stop The Attrition War (Moshav Ben-Shemen: Modan Publishing House Ltd., 2018), 96,98.
65 Yoav Gelber, The Time of the Palestinians: Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians 1967–1970 (Modi’in, Israel: Kinneret, Zmora-Bitan, Dvir, 2018), 461–460. (Hebrew).
66 Dayan, Story of My Life, 288.
67 Ibid., 536.
68 Bar Noah Matalon, 211.
69 Minzberg et al. 363.
70 Yagil Henkin, ‘What will Ensure our Existence’, Hashiloach journal for thought and policy, 2 (December 2016), 1, https://hashiloach.org.il/%d7%9e%d7%94-%d7%99%d7%91%d7%98%d7%99%d7%97-%d7%90%d7%aa-%d7%a7%d7%99%d7%95%d7%9e%d7%a0%d7%95/
71 Edgar H. Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership (San Francisco: Jossey- Bass, 2004), 245–271.
72 Shamir, Transforming Command, 89.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Eitan Shamir
Eitan Shamir is a Senior Lecturer at the Political Science Department. Bar Ilan University He is also a Senior Research Fellow with the Begin Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA Center). He is the author of Transforming Command: The Pursuit of Mission Command in the US, UK and Israeli Armies, Stanford UP, 2011 as well as the co-editor, of: Insurgencies and Counterinsurgencies: National Styles and Strategic Cultures, Cambridge UP, 2017. (With Beatrice Heuser).