Mark P. Healey

Toward a (Pragmatic) Science of Strategic Intervention: Design Propositions for Scenario Planning

An enduring problem confronting design science is the question of how to distil design principles and propositions in contexts where only limited evidence has accrued directly in connection with the design problem at hand. This article illustrates how researchers can address this challenge by recourse to well-established bodies of basic theory and research in the wider social and organizational sciences that suggest robust design options. Adopting this approach, we draw upon the insights of social identity theory, self/social categorization theory and the Five Factor Model of human personality from the field of personality and social psychology to distil a series of propositions to inform the design of scenario planning interventions, centred on team composition and the facilitation process. In so doing, our article exemplifies the benefits of adopting a pragmatic science approach to the design of processes that promote organizational change and development, thus adding to the growing design science movement.

Rethinking the philosophical and theoretical foundations of organizational neuroscience: A critical realist alternative

Stimulated by the growing use of brain imaging and related neurophysiological techniques in psychology and economics, scholars have begun to debate the implications of neuroscience for management and organization studies (MOS). Currently, this debate is polarizing scholarly opinion. At one extreme, advocates are calling for a new neuroscience of organizations, which they claim will revolutionize understanding of a wide range of key processes, with significant implications for management practice. At the other extreme, detractors are decrying the relevance of neuroscience for MOS, primarily on philosophical and ethical grounds. The present article progresses this debate by outlining an intermediate, critical realist position, in which the insights of social neuroscience are one of a number of convergent building blocks that together point toward the need for a more embodied and socially situated view of cognition in management and organizations.

Off to Plan or Out to Lunch? Relationships between Design Characteristics and Outcomes of Strategy Workshops

Strategy workshops, also known as away days, strategy retreats and strategic ‘off-sites’, have become widespread in organizations. However, there is a shortage of theory and evidence concerning the outcomes of these events and the factors that contribute to their effectiveness. Adopting a design science approach, in this paper we propose and test a multidimensional model that differentiates the effects of strategy workshops in terms of organizational, interpersonal and cognitive outcomes. Analysing survey data on over 650 workshops, we demonstrate that varying combinations of four basic design characteristics – clarity of goals and purpose, routinization, stakeholder involvement and cognitive effort – predict differentially these three distinct types of outcomes. Calling into question conventional wisdom on the design of workshops, we discuss the implications of our findings for integrating further the strategy process, strategy-as-practice and strategic cognition literatures, to enrich understanding of the factors that shape the nature and influence of contemporary strategic planning activities more generally.

Toward a Theoretical Framework for Organizational Neuroscience

Abstract For organizational neuroscience to progress, it requires an overarching theoretical framework that locates neural processes appropriately within the wider context of organizational cognitive activities. In this chapter, we argue the case for building such a framework on two foundations: (1) critical realism, and (2) socially situated cognition. Critical realism holds to the importance of identifying biophysical roots for organizational activity (including neurophysiological processes) while acknowledging the top-down influence of higher-level, emergent organizational phenomena such as routines and structures, thereby avoiding the trap of reductionism. Socially situated cognition connects the brain, body, and mind to social, cultural, and environmental forces, as significant components of complex organizational systems. By focusing on adaptive action as the primary explanandum, socially situated cognition posits that, although the brain plays a driving role in adaptive organizational activity, this activity also relies on the body, situational context, and cognitive processes that are distributed across organizational agents and artifacts. The value of the framework that we sketch out is twofold. First, it promises to help organizational neuroscience become more than an arena for validating basic neuroscience concepts, enabling organizational researchers to backfill into social neuroscience, by identifying unique relations between the brain and social organization. Second, it promises to build deeper connections between neuroscience and mainstream theories of organizational behavior, by advancing models of managerial and organizational cognition that are biologically informed and socially situated.

Making Strategy Hot

It is often said that being a good strategist requires keeping a cool head. However, eradicating emotional influences from the strategy process is not only infeasible, it is also undesirable. Drawing on the latest advances in the science of emotion, this article explains how emotion regulation is an essential skill that executives must cultivate to ensure that their enterprises are able to adapt effectively in these turbulent times. The authors offer practical steps to help executives manage better the emotional dynamics of strategizing, which left unchecked can derail even the most carefully orchestrated of strategy processes.

Modeling Affect and Cognition: Opportunities and Challenges for Managerial and Organizational Cognition

Abstract In this chapter we examine some possibilities of using computer simulation methods to model the interaction of affect and cognition in organizations, with a particular focus on agent-based modeling (ABM) techniques. Our chapter has two main aims. First, we take stock of methodological progress in this area, highlighting important developments in the modeling of affect and cognition in other fields, including psychology and economics. Second, we outline how ABM in particular can help to advance managerial and organizational cognition by building and testing theoretical models predicated on the interaction of affect and cognition. We argue that using ABM for this purpose can improve the level of specificity of cognitive and affective concepts and their interrelationships in organizational theories, yield more behaviorally plausible models of behavior in and of organizations, and deepen understanding of the generative behavioral mechanisms of multi-level organizational phenomena. We highlight possibilities for using ABM to model affect–cognition interactions in studies of mental models, collective cognition, diversity in work groups and teams, and organizational decision-making.

Leader personality and employees’ experience of workplace stressors

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore relationships between leader personality traits (neuroticism and conscientiousness) and four specific workplace stressors (control; work overload; work-life balance and managerial relationships) experienced by work group members. Design/methodology/approach – The authors accessed personality data from N=84 leaders and surveyed members of their respective work groups (N=928) to measure established workplace stressors. Multi-level modelling analyses were conducted to explore relationships between leader neuroticism and conscientiousness and work group members’ perceptions of sources of pressure. Findings – The results relate to the general problem of how, and to what extent leaders have an impact on the well-being of members of their workgroups. Although previous research has generally associated conscientiousness with effective leadership, the results suggest that some facets of conscientiousness may be less useful for leadership effectiveness than others. ...

WHEN PEOPLE AGREE WHILST DISAGREEING: IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT MENTAL MODELS IN GROUP COGNITION

Cognitive diversity and the related notion of shared cognition are two of the most influential concepts in research on group processes and performance. In this article, we develop a more nuanced view of cognitive diversity/sharedness that distinguishes between cognitions held at implicit and explicit levels. The central argument is that because individuals posses independent implicit and explicit beliefs relating to a task, group members can hold similar explicit mental models while simultaneously possessing dissimilar implicit representations. Drawing on a contemporary dual system view of cognition, we theorize the consequences for group process and performance when: (i) members hold similar explicit mental models but dissimilar implicit beliefs (illusory concordance), and (ii) when members hold similar implicit beliefs but divergent explicit mental models (surface discordance). The analysis yields various propositions concerning the effects of illusory concordance and surface discordance on group decisi...