Dynamics of Inclusive Strategizing: exploring the shifts between different degrees of openness

Abstract

Literature has provided valuable insight into the practices, outcomes and limitations of open strategizing, this paper investigates how its dynamics evolve over time. Adopting a longitudinal, inductive case study, this paper explores how movements along the inclusion dimension and shifts between open and more closed forms of strategizing emerge through managers’ distribution of responsibility for action (and decision making) within an organization. Through a qualitative analysis of data on the actions and interactions of researchers, middle managers and top managers at an elite Scandinavian research institution, this study identifies that different degrees of openness and closure are enacted by managers taking, giving and reducing responsibility. The give and take of responsibility shapes different strategizing patterns that enshrine different drivers of open strategizing.