Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-kl2l2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-11T13:14:51.191Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Giddens, structuration theory and Strategy as Practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2012

By
Richard Whittington
Edited by
Damon Golsorkhi ,
Linda Rouleau ,
David Seidl  and
Eero Vaara
Damon Golsorkhi
Affiliation:
Rouen Business School
Linda Rouleau
Affiliation:
HEC Montréal
David Seidl
Affiliation:
Universität Zürich
Eero Vaara
Affiliation:
Svenska Handelshögskolan, Helsinki
Get access

Summary

Introduction

Giddens' (1984) structuration theory has an obvious appeal for Strategy as Practice researchers. Of course, Giddens is a practice theorist himself; for him, understanding people's activity is the central purpose of social analysis. But more than this, he has developed concepts of agency, structure and structuration that have intrinsic importance to practice research. His conception of human agency affirms that people's activity matters – practice needs studying because it makes a difference to outcomes. At the same time, his notion of social structure allows for both constraint and enablement – to understand activity, we must attend to institutional embeddedness. Finally, the processual concept of structuration brings together structure and agency to give them flow – continuity but also the possibility of structural change

In this chapter I will develop the case for the relevance of Giddens' structuration theory to Strategy as Practice research. This case will not be monomaniac: structuration theory is not easy to apply empirically and there are alternative approaches that can do more or less similar kinds of job. Accordingly, I shall investigate how management researchers have already tried to apply structuration theory in empirical research, including within the Strategy as Practice tradition. I shall also compare structuration theory with two quite close alternatives, both similarly concerned for the relationship between structure and agency: the practice theoretic approach of Pierre Bourdieu and the Critical Realist approach associated with Roy Bhaskar and Margaret Archer.

Information

Type
Chapter
Information
Cambridge Handbook of Strategy as Practice , pp. 109 - 126
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Abbott, A. (1988), The System of the Professions: An Essay on the Expert Division of Labour. Chicago:ChicagoUniversity Press.Google Scholar
Archer, M. S. (1995), Realist Social Theory. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Archer, M. S. (2000), Being Human: The Problem of Agency. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balogun, J. and Johnson, G. (2005), From Intended Strategies to Unintended Outcomes: The Impact of Change Recipient Sensemaking, Organization Studies, 26, 11: 1573–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barley, S.R. (1986), Technology as an Occasion for Structuring: Evidence from Observations of CT Scanners and the Social Order of Radiology Departments, Administrative Science Quarterly, 31, 1: 78–108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bhaskar, R. (1989), Reclaiming Reality: A Critical Realist Introduction to Contemporary Philosophy. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P. (1988), Homo Academicus. Stanford:Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P. (1990), The Logic of Practice. Oxford: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Campbell-Hunt, C. (2007), Complexity in Practice, Human Relations, 60, 5: 793–823.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chandler, A. D. (1962), Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of American Enterprise. Cambridge, MA: The MIT PressGoogle Scholar
Chia, R. and MacKay, B. (2007), Post-Processual Challenges for the Emerging Strategy-as-Practice Perspective: Discovering Strategy in the Logic of Practice, Human Relations, 60, 1: 217–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denis, J.-L., Langley, A. and Rouleau, L. (2007), Strategizing in Pluralistic Contexts: Rethinking Theoretical Frames, Human Relations, 60, 1: 179–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeSanctis, G. and Poole, M. S. (1994), Capturing the Complexity in Advanced Technology Use: Adaptive Structuration Theory, Organization Science, 5, 2: 121–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, M. (2004), Resources in Emerging Structures and Processes of Change, Organization Science, 15, 3: 295–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Floyd, S. W. and Lane, P. (2000), Strategizing Throughout the Organization: Management Role Conflict and Strategic Renewal, Academy of Management Review, 25, 1: 154–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghemawat, P. (2002), Competition and Business Strategy in Historical Perspective, Business History Review, 76, 1: 37–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giddens, A. (1976), New Rules of Sociological Method. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Giddens, A. (1979), Central Problems of Social Theory. MacMillan: London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giddens, A. (1984), The Constitution of Society. Oxford: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Giraudeau, M. (2008), The Drafts of Strategy: Opening Up Plans and their Uses, Long Range Planning, 41, 3: 291–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greatbatch, D. and Clark, T. (2002), Laughing with the Gurus, Business Strategy Review, 13, 3: 10–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, R. H. and Abernathy, W. (1980), Managing our Way to Economic Decline, Harvard Business Review, November–December: 67–75.Google Scholar
Hendry, J. (2000), Strategic Decision Making, Discourse and Strategy as Social Practice, Journal of Management Studies, 37, 7: 955–978.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodgkinson, G. P. and Wright, G. (2002), Confronting Strategic Inertia in a Top Management Team: Learning from Failure, Organization Studies, 23, 6: 949–978.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarzabkowski, P. (2008), Shaping Strategy as a Structuration Process, Academy of Management Journal, 51, 4: 621–650.Google Scholar
Jarzabkowski, P., Balogun, J. and Seidl, D. (2007), Strategizing: The Challenges of a Practice Perspective, Human Relations, 60, 1: 5–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarzabkowski, P. and Wilson, D. C. (2002), Top Teams and Strategy in a UK University, Journal of Management Studies, 39, 3: 355–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heracleous, L. and Barrett, M. (2001), Organizational Change as Discourse: Communicative Actions and Deep Structures in the Context of Information Technology Implementation, Academy of Management Journal, 44, 4: 755–778.Google Scholar
Howard-Grenville, J. A. (2007), Developing Issue-Selling Effectiveness over Time: Issue Selling as Resourcing, Organization Science, 18, 4: 560–577.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, G., Langley, A., Melin, L. and Whittington, R. (2007), Strategy as Practice: Directions and Resources. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaplan, S. (2008), Framing Contests: Strategy Making under Uncertainty, Organization Science, 19, 5: 729–752.CrossRef
Knights, D. and Morgan, G. (1991), Corporate Strategy, Organizations and Subjectivity: A Critique, Organization Studies, 12, 2: 251–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, T. and Suddaby, R. (2006), Institutions and Institutional Work, in Clegg, S., Hardy, C., Lawrence, T. and Nord, W. (eds), The Sage Handbook of Organization Studies. London: Sage, 215–254.Google Scholar
Maitlis, S. and Lawrence, T. B. 2003. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Understanding Failure in Organizational Strategizing, Journal of Management Studies, 40, 1: 109–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mantere, S. (2005), Strategic Practices as Enablers and Disablers of Championing Activity, Strategic Organization, 32: 157–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mantere, S. (2008), Role Expectations and Middle Manager Strategic Agency, Journal of Management Studies, 45, 2: 294–316.Google Scholar
Mantere, S. and Vaara, E. (2008), On the Problem of Participation in Strategy: A Critical Discursive Perspective, Organization Science, 19, 2: 341–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mintzberg, H. (1994), The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Oakes, L. S., Townley, B. and Cooper, D. J. (1998), Business Planning as Pedagogy: Language and Control in a Changing Institutional Field, Administrative Science Quarterly, 43, 2: 257–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orlikowski, W. (2000), Using Technology and Constituting Structures: A Practice Lens for Studying Technology in Organizations, Organization Science, 12, 4: 404–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmisano, S. (2004), Leading Change When Business is Good, Harvard Business Review, December: 128–134.Google Scholar
Parker, J. (2000), Structuration. Buckingham: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Paroutis, S. and Pettigrew, A. (2007), Strategizing in the Multi-Business Firm: Strategy Teams at Multiple Levels and Over Time, Human Relations, 60, 1: 99–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pascale, R. (1990), Managing on the Edge. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Pozzebon, M. (2004), The Influence of a Structurationist View on Strategic Management Research, Journal of Management Studies, 41, 2: 247–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ranson, S., Hinings, B., and Greenwood, R. (1980), The Structuring of Organizational Structures, Administrative Science Quarterly, 15, 1: 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reckwitz, A. (2002), Toward a Theory of Social Practices: A Development in Cultural Theorizing, European Journal of Social Theory, 5, 2: 243–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, M. (2005), Reflections on the Realist ‘Turn’ in Organization and Management Studies, Journal of Management Studies, 42, 8: 1621–1644.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rouleau, L. (2005), Micro-Practices of Strategic Sensemaking and Sensegiving: How Middle Managers Interpret and Sell Change Everyday, Journal of Management Studies, 42, 7: 1413–1442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salvato, C. (2003), The Role of Micro-Strategies in the Engineering of Firm Evolution, Journal of Management Studies, 40, 1: 83–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samra-Fredericks, D. (2003), Strategizing as Lived Experience and Strategists' Everyday Efforts to Shape Strategic Direction, Journal of Management Studies, 40, 1: 141–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schatzki, T. R. (2001), Introduction: Practice Theory, in T. R. Schatzki, , Knorr-Cetina, K. and Savigny, E. (eds), The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory. London: Routledge, 1–14.Google Scholar
Scott, W. R. (2000), Institutions and Organizations, London: Sage.Google Scholar
Stones, R. (2005), Structuration Theory. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sturdy, A., Schwarz, M. and Spicer, A. (2006), Guess who's Coming to Dinner? Structures and the Use of Liminality in Strategic Management Consultancy, Human Relations, 59, 7: 929–960.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sydow, J. and Windeler, A. (1998), Organizing and Evaluating Interfirm Networks: A Structurationist Perspective on Network Processes and Effectiveness, Organization Science, 9, 3: 265–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weick, K. (1995), Sensemaking in Organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Welch, J. (2001), Jack: What I've Learned Leading a Great Company and Great People. London: Headline.Google Scholar
Whittington, R. (1989), Corporate Strategies in Recession and Recovery: Social Structures and Strategic Choice. London: Unwin Hyman.Google Scholar
Whittington, R. (1990), Social Structures and Resistance to Strategic Change: British Manufacturers in the 1980s, British Journal of Management, 1, 4: 201–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whittington, R. (1992), Putting Giddens into Action: Social Systems and Managerial Agency, Journal of Management Studies, 29, 6: 693–712.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whittington, R. (2002), Practice Perspectives on Strategy: Unifying and Developing a Field, Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings, Denver.Google Scholar
Whittington, R. (2006), Completing the Practice Turn in Strategy Research, Organization Studies, 27, 5: 613–634.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whittington, R., Jarzabkowski, P., Mayer, M., Mounoud, E., Nahapiet, J. and Rouleau, L. (2003), Taking Strategy Seriously: Responsibility and Reform for an Important Social Practice, Journal of Management Inquiry, 12, 4: 396–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×