TY - JOUR

T1 - Strategy-as-Power

T2 - Ambiguity, Contradiction and the Exercise of Power in a UK Building Society

AU - McCabe, Darren

PY - 2010/3

Y1 - 2010/3

N2 - 'Strategy-as-practice (s-a-p) scholars have urged us to attend to the messy realities of strategy so as to increase the relevance of research for practitioners. This article, whilsts recognising the need to focus on what managers do, develops a critique of this literature. It argues that the s-a-p approach (Whittington, Jarzabkowski, Johnson, Balogun) and the earlier 'Power School' (Mintzberg, Pettigrew, Pfeffer) share much in common as both present power as the possession of management. This overstates the ability of managers to control others whilst understating the scope for resistance. Second, it asserts that both approaches would benefit from greater sensitivity towards the unequal context through which strategies emerge and that they serve, in part, to reproduce. Third, the article provides an empirical case study of strategy in a UK Building Society. It attends to how power is exercised in ambiguous and contradictory ways that both supports and thwarts managerial endeavours. Through considering the uncertainty that results from this, the case reflects on the possibilities for resistance. The central argument is that if we explore practice only from management's perspective, then we are in danger of not only reinforcing the status quo but also of being irrelevant to practitioners and wider constituents.

AB - 'Strategy-as-practice (s-a-p) scholars have urged us to attend to the messy realities of strategy so as to increase the relevance of research for practitioners. This article, whilsts recognising the need to focus on what managers do, develops a critique of this literature. It argues that the s-a-p approach (Whittington, Jarzabkowski, Johnson, Balogun) and the earlier 'Power School' (Mintzberg, Pettigrew, Pfeffer) share much in common as both present power as the possession of management. This overstates the ability of managers to control others whilst understating the scope for resistance. Second, it asserts that both approaches would benefit from greater sensitivity towards the unequal context through which strategies emerge and that they serve, in part, to reproduce. Third, the article provides an empirical case study of strategy in a UK Building Society. It attends to how power is exercised in ambiguous and contradictory ways that both supports and thwarts managerial endeavours. Through considering the uncertainty that results from this, the case reflects on the possibilities for resistance. The central argument is that if we explore practice only from management's perspective, then we are in danger of not only reinforcing the status quo but also of being irrelevant to practitioners and wider constituents.

KW - ambiguity

KW - change

KW - contradiction

KW - financial services

KW - inequality

KW - power

KW - strategy-as-practice

KW - subjectivity

U2 - 10.1177/1350508409338885

DO - 10.1177/1350508409338885

M3 - Journal article

VL - 17

SP - 151

EP - 175

JO - Organization

JF - Organization

SN - 1350-5084

IS - 2

ER -