Tania Weinfurtner, David Seidl, Strategizing across different types of meetings, In: Gothenburg Meeting Science Symposium. 2017. (Conference Presentation)
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Violetta Splitter, Practical relevance in practice theory, In: Bourdieu Cafe. 2017. (Conference Presentation)
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Shenghui Ma, David Seidl, The role of actions in sensegiving during strategic change, Academy of Management. Proceedings, Vol. 2017 (1), 2017. (Journal Article)
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Lamprini Soufis, The Effect of Open-Plan Office Design on Perceived Productivity and Job Satisfaction: A Qualitative Study on a Swiss Insurance Company, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2016. (Master's Thesis)
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Shenghui Ma, Dynamics of CEO Identity: How CEOs Construct Their Identity in the Interaction with Different Stakeholders, In: Strategic Management Society Annual Conference 2016. 2016. (Conference Presentation)
There has been an emerging interest in understanding the dynamics of CEO identity and their impact in organizations. Drawing on a longitudinal multiple case study, we show that CEOs dynamically construct their identity in relation to different groups of stakeholders in their organization: co-workers, the TMT, the board of directors, and the organization in general. When defining themselves along these four dimensions, CEOs frequently refer to their predecessor as a point of reference. In other words, they constantly compare themselves with their predecessor. Finally, we show that the conflict between their self-identity and their role expectations triggers CEOs’ identity work and how CEOs defend or modify their identity. Together, our findings contribute to a more comprehensive and deeper understanding of the dynamics of CEO identity. |
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Shenghui Ma, David Seidl, The Strategic Leadership Constellation: How New CEOs Shape Their Group of Immediate Collaborators, In: Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2016. 2016. (Conference Presentation)
An important challenge of new CEOs is to establish an effective group of immediate collaborators, which we call the “strategic leadership constellation.” Drawing on a comparative case study we show that due to constraints on the CEO to change the top management team (TMT) the composition of the strategic leadership constellation initially tends to differ from that of the TMT. In some cases, the strategic leadership constellation merely consists of a subgroup of the TMT members; in others it includes also individuals outside the TMT such as staff members or lower-level managers. We show that the discrepancies between the strategic leadership constellation and the TMT lead to tensions triggering a process of convergence between the two, particularly as constraints on changing the TMT are alleviated.
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Shenghui Ma, David Seidl, The Role of Substantive Actions in Sensegiving During Strategic Change, In: European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium 2016. 2016. (Conference Presentation)
This study examines top managers’ sensegiving in strategic change. It focuses on how top managers’ substantive actions of implementing an intended change contribute to the adjustment of interpretive schemes in the organization. Drawing on a longitudinal comparative case study of three firms, we find that by creating contexts and resources for sensegiving, substantive actions can contribute to scheme change in both direct and indirect ways. In a direct way, top managers mobilize substantive actions for sense breaking, sense specification, and sense anchoring. In an indirect way, substantive actions influence scheme change through the substantive outcomes they produce. Substantive outcomes not only reinforce the new schemes but also lead to their adjustments. Since taking substantive actions often requires formal authority, our findings show how top managers can mobilize their formal power to influence the sensemaking of organizational members. |
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Tania Ulrike Weinfurtner, David Seidl, Toward a spatial perspective: An integrative review of research on organizational space, In: EGOS Colloquium. 2016. (Conference Presentation)
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Tania Ulrike Weinfurtner, David Seidl, Toward a general spatial perspective: An integrative review of research on organizational space, In: European Theory Development Workshop. 2016. (Conference Presentation)
This paper aims at providing a systematic and integrative review of the literature on organizational space. Organizational space, understood as both physical and non-physical places where organizational activities occur, has recently gained considerable momentum. The many publications come along with a large variety of concepts, perspectives and phenomena. While they enrich our understanding of organizational spaces and their different aspects, the literature is rather incoherent and fragmented. In this paper we, therefore, review and subsequently structure the literature to develop and provide an integrated framework that assists future research on this topic. |
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Marco Stegmaier, Sensemaking Dynamics in Organizational Change, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2016. (Bachelor's Thesis)
The social processes of organizational sensemaking play a critical role in the successful implementation of organizational change, especially in multiple waves of change in a relatively short period of time.
This thesis offers an extensive overview on key concepts (such as organizational change, sensemaking, sensegiving, and importance of middle management) and on Maitlis’ (2005) four forms of organizational sensemaking, as well as practical evidence of the dynamics of organizational sensemaking in multiple waves of change between middle management and employees in a Swiss SME, which has been acquired by a large foreign company. The four forms of organizational sensemaking serve as basis for the analysis of the impact of multiple waves of change on the social processes of organizational sensemaking.
The analysis of this thesis, based on data collected in various interviews with middle management and key employees, yields two important findings. First, multiple waves of change can lead to a transition in forms of organizational sensemaking. Specifically, they can lead to a drop in control of the organizational sensemaking processes and to an increase of animation. Secondly, multiple waves of change can be even more demanding on middle management, compared to a single change - even if large - over the same period of time. |
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David Seidl, Tania Ulrike Weinfurtner, Give me space - A review of concepts of and research on organizational space, In: APROS/EGOS Conference “Spaces, Constraints, Creativities: Organization and Disorganization”. 2015. (Conference Presentation)
This paper aims at providing a systematic and critical review of the literature on organizational space. Organizational space, defined as both physical and non-physical places where organizational activities occur, has gained considerable momentum in the past few years. The large variety of concepts, perspectives and phenomena engaged in the literature enriches our understanding of organizational spaces and their different aspects. However, due to the fragmented nature of the literature it is timely to review this research in order to develop a coherent framework of organizational space. In this paper we, therefore, review and subsequently structure the literature to develop and provide an integrated framework that assists future research on this topic. |
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Remo Berger, Comparing Coordination Mechanisms Within and Across Units by Taking a Practice Perspective, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2015. (Master's Thesis)
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Leonhard Dobusch, David Seidl, Felix Werle, Opening up the strategy-making process : comparing open strategy to open innovation, In: UZH Business Working Paper Series, No. 359, 2015. (Working Paper)
In this paper we compare the emerging field of open strategy to the established field of open innovation in order to facilitate their cross-fertilisation both in research and practice. Taking a communication-centred perspective, we argue that in both fields ‘openness’ concerns opening-up the communication process towards previously excluded individuals. On the basis of our review of the literature, we introduce a general framework that distinguishes between two dimensions of openness in terms of the direction that communication takes: sharing communication content with external participants and audiences and receiving communication content from external participants and audiences. Using the two dimensions of sharing and receiving, we map documented cases of empirical research in both fields and identify different forms of openness in processes of open innovation and open strategy. As we will show, in the material that we examined, in most of the cases of open strategy sharing and receiving are combined, while in many cases of open innovation we identified only one dimension. We suggest that this difference arises because, unlike innovation, open strategy typically involves joint sensemaking and thus a bidirectional communication process. Drawing on our findings, we put forward three propositions to provide a foundation for future empirical research on phenomena of open innovation and open strategy. |
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Shenghui Ma, David Seidl, New CEOs and the Practices of Establishing a Strategic Apparatus, In: Strategic Management Society Annual Conference. 2015. (Conference Presentation)
A major challenge of newly appointed chief executive officers (CEOs) is to establish a network of immediate collaborators. These collaborators constitute the strategic apparatus of the CEO as they work closely on dealing with strategic issues and directing the organization. Drawing on a longitudinal qualitative study of eight firms, we identify how new CEOs establish their strategic apparatus and how it co-evolves with the top management team (TMT). Our findings show that strategic and succession needs drive how new CEOs change collaborators within and outside TMT and various constraints they face when doing so. We find that New CEOs’ initial apparatus is likely to be not identical with the TMT but partly overlaps with it. However, the two tend to converge over time due to some interpersonal and temporal dynamics. Theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed. |
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Theresa Langenmayr, Implementation of Strategic Change by Franchisees: A Sensemaking Perspective, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2015. (Master's Thesis)
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David Seidl, Peter Kall, Role of resources in routine change, In: 75th Academy of Management Meeting . 2015. (Conference Presentation)
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Carolin Müller , How do New Managers Establish their Legitimacy in Organizations?, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2015. (Bachelor's Thesis)
The aim of this thesis is to illustrate the relevance for a new manager to establish legitimacy in an organization. Theoretical approaches about legitimacy as a requirement in order to earn sustainable success will deepen the understanding of the importance to possess a position in an organization that is regarded as legitimated while involving different audiences into the process of decision making and actions.
The case study of this work together with “Capri-Sun AG” in Germany supports the findings and gives several recommendations about this topic. Conducted interviews and surveys with employees of different hierarchy levels help to analyze applied methods regarding the development of legitimacy in order to gain the acceptance of the organization’s members.
The results of this empirical part of the thesis approve most of the theoretical implications and even exceed them. The results of the interviews show how important it is in the eyes of the respondents to demonstrate characteristics such as authority, empathy, credibility and fairness as a new manager. Of course there are several other characteristics that may support the development of a legitimized status of a new manager. With regard to the applied methods that help to earn legitimacy as a new manager the case study shows that it is decisive for the success of an organization that the new manager not only demonstrates professional expertise but also a proactive and innovative leadership style that is affected by trust, sympathy and charisma. This proactive way to approach situations can moreover be seen as one of the main deviations from theory, which in turn suggests a reactive leadership style in order to influence audiences and earn their acceptance. |
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Martha Feldman, David Seidl, The Ecology of Organizational Routines: How Routines Work together to Deliver ‘Quality’, In: 31st EGOS Colloquium, Athens, Greece, 2015. (Conference or Workshop Paper published in Proceedings)
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Shenghui Ma, David Seidl, How New CEOs Create and Change the Strategic Apparatus, In: European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium. 2015. (Conference Presentation)
A major challenge of newly appointed chief executive officers (CEOs) is to establish a network of immediate collaborators. These collaborators constitute the strategic apparatus of the CEO as they work closely on dealing with strategic issues and directing the organization. Drawing on a longitudinal qualitative study of eight firms, we identify how new CEOs establish their strategic apparatus and how it co-evolves with the top management team (TMT). Our findings show that strategic and succession needs drive how new CEOs change collaborators within and outside TMT and various constraints they face when doing so. We find that New CEOs’ initial apparatus is likely to be not identical with the TMT but partly overlaps with it. However, the two tend to converge over time due to some interpersonal and temporal dynamics. Theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed. |
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Robin Weil, Pharmaceutical Marketing from a Strategy-as-Practice Perspective, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2015. (Master's Thesis)
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