This article builds on punctuated equilibrium theory to offer a process model of organizational adaptation centered on top executives. It shows that during an adaptation crisis, individuals and coalitions within the top management group play a game to solve the strategic dilemma between keeping the current path and changing it. They strategize and confront their own responses to the signal of drift based on its deciphering and on their strategic interests. The solution to the dilemma, path reinforcement or transformation, depends on the winner of the top management game. Overall, this article contributes to strategic leadership by opening the executive suite’s black box, unraveling the dynamics of the top management group interactions during an adaptation crisis, and offering new directions for the field.
Cet article vise à donner des clés aux chercheurs en stratégie souhaitant ancrer leurs travaux à l’ère de l’Anthropocène. Pour cela, il rappelle les fondements historiques de la stratégie pour montrer qu’ils ne sont pas en phase avec les impératifs de l’Anthropocène en termes de niveau d’analyse, de temporalité et de conceptualisation de la valeur. En s’inspirant de la sociologie des sciences, l’article développe ensuite différentes manières de créer de la nouvelle connaissance en stratégie : opérer des variations sur les théories ou sur les objets d’études. Sur cette base, il développe un continuum visant à élaborer de la connaissance stratégique en accord avec les présupposés de l’Anthropocène. Cet article conclut sur les implications de la recherche en stratégie à l’heure de l’Anthropocène sur le champ.
This article focuses on the paradoxical tensions pertaining to the nonprofit sector. We focus on how actors develop strategies to mitigate the paradoxical tensions of the hybrid organizing of nonprofit organizations. Taking the case of management consulting for nonprofit organizations, we show how paradoxical tensions that are mitigated at one point in time led to knotted tensions that the organization needs to manage in turn. We argue that it constitutes a downward spiral that hampered the development of the organization and explains the broader difficulty that organizations face when navigating organizational paradoxes. Contributions to theory are offered.
