Strategic Improvisation Research Articles

Strategic Decision Making and Strategic Decision Practices in Intelligent Organizations: A Review

Strategic decision-making is a key tool to drive business growth. It helps figure out the best way of achieving a business objective, provided an organization has a decision-making process that involves a well-defined set of policies that must be adhered to by all. Strategic decision making is used in competitive companies and is intended to give a company a competitive advantage by transitioning its scope and the way the company runs its activities. The difference between strategic decision-making and other decision-making processes like administrative and operational is that strategic decision-making is a long-term process which needs to be done very carefully by taking into account all the resources to be utilized and keeping in mind all uncertainties which may occur. Administrative decisions are short-term strategies. Strategic decision-making keeps the company's long-term future in mind, unlike other decision-making processes. The research aims to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how things work in strategic decision making. The research by reviewing the literature and previous studies the research indicates that the strategic decision-making process plays an important role in the effective performance of the organization. The study also showed that how strategic improvisation is done in intelligent organizations and the interconnection of SDM’S with managerial functions.

Firefighters in Action: How Strategic Improvisation Enables Agile and Creative Responsiveness in Complex Adaptive Systems

This study explored “how strategic improvisation (SI) enables agile and creative responsiveness in dynamic organizations recognized as complex adaptive systems.” We highlight “what” constitutes SI, “why” it is strategic and “how” it allows for agile and creative responsiveness. We advance the conceptualization of SI proposing it as “ an improvised deliberate practice that combines coupling unconventional ideas with emergency actions seeking new strategic patterns to indeterminacy.” This is the case of firefighters, with unique features, such as operating continuously in experimental conditions, exposure to failure, risk, and unpredictability, despite strict protocols to guide operations. Furthermore, agile and creative responsiveness in a complex system is the rule rather than the exception and, therefore, requires new adaptive managerial practices. Our findings provide the SI framework based on four main dimensions such as (i) resolvability; (ii) experimentation; (iii) interactivity; and (iv) sensemaking, composing a SI mechanism. Practical implications and future perspective were proposed.

The impact of strategic knowledge on strategic improvisation: an exploratory study of some private hospitals in the city of Baghdad

The current study aimed to know the role that strategic knowledge plays on strategic improvisation in private hospitals (the Royal Hospital, Al-Salama Hospital, Al-Karkh Al-Ahli Hospital, and Al-Shifa Hospital). To achieve the objectives of the study, the descriptive analytical approach was adopted, where the researchers developed a questionnaire consisting of (30) items. A random sample was drawn so that the study sample consisted of (103) workers in private hospitals, and the results were analyzed based on the (SPSS) program and descriptive statistics tools. It was concluded that private hospitals currently have a great interest in the strategy of strategic knowledge and strategic improvisation, and provide services It is of high quality and attracts highly experienced doctors. Strategic knowledge is closely linked to strategic improvisation. It has been concluded that private hospitals’ use of strategic knowledge contributes to increasing strategic improvisation

The Effect of Strategic Improvisation in Achieving Organizational Brilliance: An Analytical Study in a Sample of Private Iraqi Commercial Banks

Aims: This research aims to determine the level of impact of strategic improvisation in achieving organizational brilliance in a sample of private Iraqi commercial banks. Study Design: The research adopted the descriptive analytical method to describe the research variables and interpret the results. Place of Study: The research was applied in a sample of private Iraqi commercial banks. These banks were chosen due to their importance, their close market shares, the great competition between them, and the role, size, and influence of these banks in the Iraqi banking sector, as they represent one of the tools for supporting investment and developing the Iraqi economy. Methodology: A sample was chosen to represent the original community, and its size reached (160) individuals from the administrative leadership in ten private Iraqi banks. The research relied on the questionnaire form as the main tool, and a group of statistics was used, represented by (arithmetic mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation and simple regression), and the research data was analyzed using the program (SPSS V.25). Results: The results of the research showed that there is a significant, positive influence relationship for all dimensions of strategic improvisation on organizational brilliance at the level of the private Iraqi commercial banks investigated, and all research hypotheses were accepted. Conclusion: The research was conducted by taking a sample of administrative leaders in private Iraqi commercial banks, and the research conclusions indicate that there is a positive effect of strategic improvisation on organizational brilliance, and the conclusions also indicate that there is a positive effect of all dimensions of strategic improvisation (strategic vigilance, strategic agility, minimal structure and bricolage) on organizational brilliance in private Iraqi commercial banks.

The Role of Visionary Leadership in Achieving Strategic Change Through Strategic Improvisation

The research seeks to explain the role of visionary leadership in strategic change through a modern and contemporary theoretical framework for the most prominent presentations of writers and authors on research variables, especially independent variables, visionary leadership and strategic improvisation, which have become the subject of interest's academics' , especially in environments with dynamism and rapid change, as well as a practical framework. My analysis of the opinions of a sample of university leaders in private colleges. The aim of the research is to indicate a set of objectives, including: a statement of the relationship between the dimensions of visionary leadership and strategic change, and between improvisation and strategic change and the dimensions of visionary leadership and strategic change through strategic improvisation in private colleges, the research sample, as well as a statement of the effect between these variables, and the research was conducted on a sample It includes 81 university leaders in private colleges in Baghdad, relying on the questionnaire as a basic tool in data collection. The results of the study indicated that the hypotheses of the relationship and influence between all the variables of the study were achieved with varying results, especially with regard to visionary leadership, strategic change, improvisation, and strategic change.

The Impact of Strategic Improvisation on Organizational Health: An Analytical Study of the Opinions of a Sample of the Leaders of the Dhi Qar Health Department

The current research aims to identify the level of impact of strategic improvisation as an independent variable on organizational health. The dependent variable in the Department of Health of Dhi Qar to reach appropriate mechanisms in order to reach appropriate mechanisms and recommendations proposed to contribute to the achievement of organizational health in the Department of Health of Dhi Qar (the research department) and based on the importance of the subject of research in government institutions and the important and service role of the Department of Health of Dhi Qar in the Iraqi society. The descriptive analytical approach was adopted in the completion of the research based on the opinions of the leaders in the surveyed department (department managers and division managers) and data was collected from 113 respondents representing the research community sample, which includes administrative leaders in the Department of Health of Dhi Qar and the method of the intentional sample, has been relying on the questionnaire in the process of data collection, as well as personal interviews, with the use of a set of statistical methods represented by (confirmatory factor analysis, simple linear regression, coefficient of determination, alpha-Cronbach coefficient, normal distribution test, relative importance, frequencies, percentages, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, Coefficient of variation) as well as reliance on ready-made statistical programs (Amos 26. v, spss 26. v, Excel 2010). To find out the effect between variables, and to test the main research hypotheses. The statistical analysis of the research concluded a number of results, the most prominent of which was the existence of a significant effect of strategic improvisation in organizational health, and this indicates that strategic improvisation has an active and influential role in achieving organizational health, and this means that whenever the Department of Health of Dhi Qar initiates the application of strategic improvisation, it will be a major and effective factor to reach the achievement of organizational health.

IMPROVISATIONAL MANAGEMENT MODELS IN CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

Improvisational management is not popular among scholars who study organisations, and the topic of improvisation has not been studied extensively outside of the field of management, even though the term improvisational management was formulated and published back in the 90s of the 20th century. This article analyses the peculiarities of improvisational management and the most important models of improvisational management, looks at how improvisation in management is related to competencies of its participants, what degrees it may have on different levels, and how strategic improvisation emerges. In order to improve the understanding of improvisational management in creative industries, the article analyses existing models of improvisational management that encompass learning, real-time decision-making, improvisational communication, collective improvisation, the improvisational process and the matrix of improvisation; moreover, the article discusses the levels of improvisational management, i.e., individual, interpersonal and organisational, as well as their interaction at different degrees of improvisation. According to these models and levels, a new model of improvisational management relations is developed.

Improvisation, strategy, and strategic improvisation in emerging markets

Improvisation, strategy, and strategic improvisation in emerging markets

The Impact of Strategic Improvisation on the Nature of the Strategic Choice for the Tourism Organizations - An Exploratory Study in the Iraqi Tourism Board

The research aims to analyze the nature of the strategic options approved by the Tourism Board, The effort exerted in the application and implementation of these options, and the research problem emerges through the dialectic of strategic improvisation as one of the mechanisms or methods that require the Board and the bodies responsible for performance in the sector to adopt to enable the working departments to deal with problems and crises, As well as forming mental perceptions about its work methods at the present and future level to keep pace with its work in light of the increasing environmental changes, in order to determine the optimal strategic option, The Iraqi Tourism Board represented the field container for researching variables in its applied form, as the research sample was represented by (106) respondents from the leaders of the Board with its various formations, departments and people, whose opinions were surveyed and subjected to statistical analysis. One of the most prominent conclusions of the research is that the strategic choice is at the heart of the strategic management process in the body that were question, and this is clear in the mechanisms and steps adopted in this context. It is the most difficult step in it and involves three sequential processes: the generation and evaluation of strategic alternatives and then selecting the appropriate alternative. And one of the most important recommendations is the necessity of increasing the managers interest in the issue of adequacy and alignment between the strategic options selected in the Board and the shape and style of the organizational structures prepared to serve them, because strategic success depends on creating interactive structures that are consistent with the nature of the option and moving away from traditional structures.

How agency and self‐efficacy moderate the effects of strategic improvisational behaviors on sales performance: Evidence from an emerging market

AbstractThis study develops and tests arguments that improvisation is not universal in its benefits for the firm, but rather its multidimensional characteristics (action‐orientation, creativity, and spontaneity) hold differential performance effects. The study further examines whether these relationships are contingent upon individual agency and self‐efficacy. Drawing on primary data from industrial sales account managers in Ghana, the study finds that an increasing level of action‐orientation is associated with decreases in perceived sales performance and the decrease in performance is more pronounced under conditions of stronger sense of agency and self‐efficacy. Similarly, an increasing level of creativity is associated with decreases in perceived sales performance when agency is stronger. However, an increasing level of spontaneity is associated with increases in performance and this increase is strengthened under conditions of stronger sense of self‐efficacy. The study concludes that the effect of strategic improvisation on sales performance outcome within the context of an emerging economy (such as Ghana) is more nuanced than established improvisation literature suggests.

THE MODERATE ROLE FOR ORGANIZATIONAL MEMORY IN PROMOTING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRATEGIC IMPROVISATION AND SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

The constantly changing environment has forced many banks to adopt improvised and harmonious responses to some unexpected events. These events sometimes led to the creation of the need for a method of strategic improvisation in order to preserve the sustainability of the environment. Here, the researcher felt the need to conduct a deep study on the relationship between strategic improvisation and sustainable competitive advantage. Therefore, this research seeks to reveal the relationships that can lead to suggesting an intermediary model that investigates the relationships between the variables of strategic improvisation, organizational memory, and sustainable competitive advantage. The current research uses the quantitative method in collecting data and information through the employees of the senior administrations in (8) eight Iraqi private banks. The research found that strategic improvisation is positively related with sustainable competitive advantage, and the most importantly, organizational memory was the mediating variable between strategic improvisation and sustainable competitive advantage. However, the current research will contribute to reducing to some extent the shortcomings of the traditional resource-based vision, enhancing the understanding of strategic improvisation, as well as contributing to the achievement of sustainable development goals. The research also contributes to providing some suggestions to managers, in terms of encouraging them to learn improvisation, and to make decisions in difficult situations.

Prosecutors’ Habituation of Emotion Management in Swedish Courts

The article examines the professional emotion management underlying prosecutors’ work in court. Building on interviews and observations of forty-one prosecutors at five offices in Sweden, and drawing on sociological theories of emotion habituation, we analyze the emotion management necessary to perform frontstage (in court) professionalism as a prosecutor. We divide our analysis into three key dimensions of habituation: the feeling rules of confidence and mastering anxiety associated with an independent performance; the feeling rules of emotional distance and a balanced display associated with performing the objective party; and the playful and strategic improvisation of feeling rules associated with relaxed emotional presence. The routinization of feeling rules and the gradual backgrounding of related emotion management leads to habituation. Our findings enhance understanding of emotion management skills as part of tacit knowledge conveyed in the legal professions where emotion-talk and emotional reflexivity are little acknowledged. The article also contributes to the largely US-dominated previous research by adding a civil law perspective on prosecutorial emotion management.

Strategic Improvisation and its Role in Managing the (COVID_19) Crisis: An Analytical Study of the Opinions of University Leaders at the University of Mosul

The current research aims to determine the role played by the dimensions of strategic improvisation, represented by (strategic vigilance, strategic agility, minimal-structure, and bricolage) in (COVID_19) crises management represented by (preparing for crisis, crisis management, and crisis management evaluation). The field research was implemented at the University of Mosul as one of the organizations affected by the (COVID_19) crisis, and the comprehensive selection method was used in determining the research sample which consisted of (196) leaders from the university leadership represented by (the university president and his assistants, deans and their assistants, and heads of departments and scientific centers) in the University. The research adopted the descriptive and analytical approach, with the use of a questionnaire form as the main tool for collecting data. The questionnaire was designed and distributed electronically due to the conditions surrounding the (COVID_19) crisis. Data were analyzed using (SPSS V25) and (AMOS) software packages. the research reached several conclusions, the most important of which is the existence of an impact relationship on the total and partial levels of the strategic improvisation dimensions on the (COVID_19) crisis management. The research concluded with several recommendations, the most important of which is that the investigated organization should improve the organization's ability to find practical solutions to new challenges based on current resources. The research also stresses the need to develop a comprehensive crisis management plan that can be adapted to most of the crises that the organization may face.

Diagnosing the Reality of the Dimensions of Strategic Improvisation in Iraqi Universities: An Analytical Study of the Opinions of University Leaders at the University of Mosul

The current research aims to determine the role played by the dimensions of strategic improvisation, represented by (strategic vigilance, strategic agility, minimal-structure, and bricolage), at the University of Mosul. The research hypotheses were formulated, the most important of which were (the dimensions of strategic improvisation are not available for university leaderships at the University of Mosul). The field of research is represented at the University of Mosul, and the research community included all university leaders in Iraqi higher education and scientific research institutions, and the research sample, which amounted to (196) leaders from the university leadership community represented by (the university president and his assistants, deans and their assistants, heads of departments and scientific centers). The research adopted the descriptive and analytical approach, with the use of a questionnaire form that was designed and distributed electronically. and the data was analyzed using (SPSS. V25), and the most important conclusions were that the general rate of responses of the individuals in the research sample was good and with a positive trend, which reflects the availability of these dimensions, as well as the level of understanding and interest in the organization in the field of research. The research was concluded with a number of recommendations, the most important of which is working to increase training programs that revolve around alternatives to using available resources (material, human, and knowledge) in a way that gives the organization the field of research with sufficient flexibility and ability to adapt to the various conditions it faces.

The effect of improvisation in turbulent times on IHR strategy: A case study of French MNEs in Tunisia

This article investigates the evolution of international human resources (IHR) strategies of Western multinational enterprises (MNEs) from a strategic improvisation perspective. It analyzes the effect of the Tunisian context, after the revolution, on the strategic IHR direction of French MNEs. The study is based on qualitative research of two French MNEs in Tunisia, and the findings highlight the influence of contextual, managerial and organizational drivers on the improvisation strategy to revise the MNEs' IHR strategy. The results detail a parallel shift from an ethnocentric to a regiocentric approach, based on a minor improvisation in one case, and from an ethnocentric to a geocentric approach, following a bounded improvisation in the other. The work bears both scientific and industry value, as it defines and interrelates managerial, organizational and contextual forces, and transcribes scientific findings into practicable actions within an emerging market. The research identifies open-mindedness, communication, local managers' skills, mutual trust and strong local networks as keys in the development of an improvisation strategy within a turbulent context.

Revisiting the Challenges Affecting SMEs Through Behavioral Approach

The main aim of this study is to investigate the key challenges affecting small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Simultaneously, it would also discuss the background of those challenges, as well as recognizing the challenges that could be controlled by SMEs, and to propose a model. The paper is exploratory in nature and stands on secondary sources. The data are inclusive of scholarly and publicly sources. The data analysis is built on critical content analysis and theming process. Three figures are presented to demonstrate the methodology of study, the suggested model, and the linkage between the findings of study with the corresponding proposed constructs. The study recognizes six internal and external challenges that affect the SMEs. Resources management, entrepreneurial behavior, SMEs capabilities, problem solving and decision making, as well as leadership are the internal factors. The complexity of the business environment and social influence are external factors. It is found that SMEs organizational behavior is the principal domain behind these challenges. The study suggests practitioners should follow specific behavioral strategies such as entrepreneurial management (EM), transformational leadership (TL), strategic improvisation (SI), and dynamic capabilities (DCs) to overcome the different challenges and scale up their positions. As for the promoters, stimulating entrepreneurship among people and revising the training courses should be conducted to cope with market needs.

Moderating Effect of Strategic Improvisation on product Innovation and Performance of Manufacturing SMEs

In a dynamic, complex and competitive business environment, it is vital for business organisations including manufacturing SMEs to improve product innovation capabilities and increase creativity and spontaneity in order to deal with uncertainties associated with intensity and frequency of changes in the environment. This study attempts to investigate the effects of product innovation on performance of manufacturing SMEs in an emerging economy and examine the role of strategic improvisation on product innovation and performance. Data for the study was collected from 182 owners/managers of manufacturing SMEs in Nigeria. The collected data was analysed using correlation and regression techniques. Findings of the empirical study indicate that the coefficient for product innovation is positive and significant for firm performance. However, the result shows that the interaction term between product innovation and strategic improvisation is not significant in predicting firm performance. Therefore, firms can build and enhance their performance using product innovation capabilities regardless of the present or absent of strategic improvisation in the organisation. This study provides implications for managers, entrepreneurs and government in finding the right way to performance through adopting product innovation.

Strategic improvisation: an introductory conceptual framework

PurposeBy exploring “what is strategic improvisation in organizations?” the authors respond to advances in strategic improvisation (SI) conceptualization with an emphasis on the challenges of combining unplanned but deliberate responses to relentlessly changing environments, in which strategy becomes increasingly improvised.Design/methodology/approachAn integrative review was conducted with the potential to develop new theoretical approaches to research problems. This literature review resulted in an introductory SI framework.FindingsThe authors propose a SI conceptual framework combining foundation, structuration and capillarization. While foundations comprise extemporaneity, novelty and intentionality, considered as triggers for the manifestation of SI, in this study structuration refers to the combination of a minimal structure and a reassessment process in response to unexpected situations. Capillarization means interaction patterns characterized as spontaneous, dynamic and collaborative. This framework leads to the definition of SI as an impromptu deliberate action stream, combining unplanned responses with intentional actions sustaining the convergence of strategy and operation, to integrate and reconfigure resources at the strategic level.Practical implicationsSI in practice considers reconfiguring the internal and external forces to deal with unexpected events and impromptu deliberate responses to face rapidly changing environments. This would enable practitioners and managers to prepare for eventualities that evolve dynamically and spontaneously, and unpredictable imminent global crises.Originality/valueThe authors conducted the first study mapping improvisation as a strategic organizational level phenomenon. SI is recognized as operating across levels, from the tactical and functional to the strategic.

Strategic Improvisation and its Relationship to the Dimensions of Organizational Sustainability for Banks / Applied Research on a Sample of Iraqi Private Banks

The aim of the research is to clarify the correlation between strategic improvisation and its dimensions represented by (improving cultural appropriateness, internal and external communications, generating future visions, organizational transformation) and the dimensions of organizational sustainability for banks represented by (bank orientation, moral stance, regulation, behavior, and evaluation), as it was applied Research in each of the banks (Iraqi Middle East Investment, United Investment, Business Bay, Al-Mansour Investment Bank, across Iraq for investment), and the questionnaire was adopted as a main tool for data collection from the research sample of (152) who are at a job level (high management Middle management, executive management) and the statistical program ((spss) was used in calculating (arithmetic mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, Pearson correlation coefficient, t-test) and the research reached a number of conclusions, the most prominent of which were: -) There is a strong positive correlation between strategic improvisation in general with organizational sustainability and its dimensions).

The effect of Leaders Strategic Improvisation and TQM on SME’s Performance: Examining Mediating Role of Corporate Entrepreneurship

The main purpose of present study is to examine the effect of strategic improvisation and total quality management on performance. This study also examined the mediating effect of corporate entrepreneurship between strategic improvisation and total quality management on performance. The data was collected from the employees of SME’s through questionnaires. For collection of data simple random sampling was adopted. The response rate of study was 60.04%. the gathered data was assessed by using PLS-SEM through smart PLS-3.3.2. Its been revealed from the findings of the study that there exist positive relationship among strategic improvisation, TQM and SME Performance. Moreover, mediating role of corporate entrepreneurship is confirmed as well. The findings of present study are helpful for the policy makers of SME sector to develop strategy to improve organizational performance.