strategic_management_pluralistic_settings

The Canada Research Chair in Strategic Management in Pluralistic Settings was created in 2008 to carry out research on strategic management processes and practices appropriate to “pluralistic” settings, i.e., organizational contexts where objectives and values are multiple and ambiguous, where power and influence are shared among a variety of stakeholders, and where the knowledge required to make decisions is distributed among people at many levels and in different positions.

Some form of strategic management is needed to enable organizations to pursue their missions effectively in a dynamic and uncertain environment. Yet, most traditional models and techniques of strategic management were developed for organizations with hierarchical structures, clear economic purposes and a concentration of power and expertise at the top. So what are the appropriate methods in organizations where these assumptions are questionable? What types of tools are likely to be useful in such settings? How can strategic change be managed  successfully where authority is limited and where people have different but equally legitimate ideas about what is important? These are some of the questions that will be examined by the Chair.

Pour répondre à ces questions de recherche, la titulaire de la Chaire croit fermement qu’il est important d’apprendre des expériences de ceux qui sont profondément impliqués dans ces problématiques. C’est pourquoi le programme de recherche de la Chaire en met l’accent sur des études de cas longitudinales en profondeur dans des organisations, notamment en santé, mais aussi dans les organisations culturelles, des coopératives et dans le secteur communautaire.

Research projects and themes

1. Strategic change in pluralistic settings

One major interest of the Chair concerns the processes of strategic change in pluralistic settings. Specifically, there is an urgent need to better understand the conditions and processes associated with successful change in health care organizations. With colleagues from the Groupe de recherche interdisciplinare en santé at the University of Montreal (Jean-Louis Denis, Lise Lamothe, Damien Contandriopoulos, Carl Ardy Dubois), the chairholder is conducting research aimed at understanding the strategies and practices used to manage transition towards new network organizational forms and to identify those that seem most promising to improve the quality and continuity of care. The research involves longitudinal case studies in several health and social services centres.Un des intérêts majeur de la Chaire concerne les processus de changement stratégique dans les contextes pluralistes.

2. The role of management tools in strategic practice in pluralistic settings

How can traditional strategic management tools such as strategic planning contribute to strategic management in pluralistic settings? With colleagues from the Strategy as Practice Study Group at HEC Montreal (in particular, Chahrazad Abdallah, Hélène Giroux, Linda Rouleau, Pamela Sloan and Jean-Louis Denis), we are studying this question. We are particularly interested in how strategic texts are developed in contexts where many different viewpoints much be considered, and we are examining the consequences of the way in which texts are produced on the appropriation and implementation of strategy. 

3. Strategic leadership and top management team dynamics in pluralistic settings

Strategic leadership practices are another area of interest for the Chair. As our previous work has shown, strategic leadership in pluralistic settings is most often collective in nature, demanding the collaboration of several people playing differentiated and complementary roles. With Veronika Kisfalvi, Viviane Sergi and Céline Legrand, we are studying the flows of information and influence in top management teams, and are identifying microdynamics within these teams that may have important consequences for decision making.

4. Identity work in pluralistic settings

Identity issues are inherent to pluralistic settings. They are particularly evident in merger situations or in the context of interprofessional collaboration where they may become problematic. The Chair is concerned with the management of these situations. Students Yann Hébert and Laurence Belzile-Pominville have examined these questions in the context of health care mergers. In addition, a new project is beginning with Samia Chreim from University of Ottawa and Trish Reay at the University of Alberta on identity work in the context of interprofessional collaboration.

5. Innovation dynamics in pluralistic settings

Innovation processes in pluralistic settings are another interest for the Chair as evidenced by two projects. The first with Line Bonneau concerns the emergence of temporal institutions in the biotechnology industry. The second with Stéphane Guérard of University of Zurich concerns the diffusion of medical technology in two different institutional contexts.