Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Introduction: What is Strategy as Practice?
- PART I ONTOLOGICAL AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL QUESTIONS
- 1 Practice in research: phenomenon, perspective and philosophy
- 2 Epistemological alternatives for researching Strategy as Practice: building and dwelling worldviews
- 3 Practice, strategy making and intentionality: a Heideggerian onto-epistemology for Strategy as Practice
- 4 Constructivist epistemologies in Strategy as Practice research
- 5 Constructing contribution in ‘Strategy as Practice’ research
- 6 The challenge of developing cumulative knowledge about Strategy as Practice
- PART II THEORETICAL DIRECTIONS
- PART III METHODOLOGICAL TRACKS
- PART IV APPLICATION VARIATIONS
- Author Index
- Index
- References
2 - Epistemological alternatives for researching Strategy as Practice: building and dwelling worldviews
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Introduction: What is Strategy as Practice?
- PART I ONTOLOGICAL AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL QUESTIONS
- 1 Practice in research: phenomenon, perspective and philosophy
- 2 Epistemological alternatives for researching Strategy as Practice: building and dwelling worldviews
- 3 Practice, strategy making and intentionality: a Heideggerian onto-epistemology for Strategy as Practice
- 4 Constructivist epistemologies in Strategy as Practice research
- 5 Constructing contribution in ‘Strategy as Practice’ research
- 6 The challenge of developing cumulative knowledge about Strategy as Practice
- PART II THEORETICAL DIRECTIONS
- PART III METHODOLOGICAL TRACKS
- PART IV APPLICATION VARIATIONS
- Author Index
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
The ordinary practitioners […] live ‘down below’, below the threshold at which visibility begins […] their knowledge […] is as blind as that of lovers in each other's arms […] It is as though the practices were characterized by their blindness
(de Certeau 1984, p. 93)Most traditional approaches to strategy research have tended to consist of a complex amalgam of activities consisting of the analyses of dependent and independent variables, theoretical conjecturing and the testing of theories and models developed to capture the essence of strategic realities (Rasche 2007). In this regard, the Strategy as Practice approach to research is a welcome departure in its single-minded insistence on focusing primarily on what strategy practitioners actually do. Although the Strategy as Practice field has attracted a mass of empirical work (Balogun and Johnson 2005; Jarzabkowski 2005; Jarzabkowski and Wilson 2002; Regnér 2003; Samra-Fredericks 2003) and theoretical clarification (Denis et al. 2007; Jarzabkowski et al. 2007; Johnson et al. 2003; Whittington 1996, 2003, 2006), the alternative epistemological groundings available and how they may affect further efforts at conceptualizing Strategy as Practice remain relatively unarticulated. This is despite the fact that there have been some notable attempts to clarify research and methodological priorities for the Strategy as Practice movement (Balogun et al. 2003; Jarzabkowski 2003, 2004, 2005; Johnson et al. 2003; Whittington 2006).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Cambridge Handbook of Strategy as Practice , pp. 34 - 46Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
References
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