IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eurman/v39y2021i4p467-475.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Constructing managerial manoeuvring space in contradictory contexts

Author

Listed:
  • Filstad, Cathrine
  • Olsen, Trude Høgvold
  • Karp, Tom

Abstract

This paper discusses manoeuvring space and demonstrates how autonomy, power and discretion need to be understood as constructed and integrated behaviours where managers manoeuvre between dilemmas in their own management practices. Twenty-seven Norwegian police managers were shadowed and interviewed. We found that constructions of manoeuvring space presupposed that managers balanced dilemmas. We identified three different strategies through which managers constructed manoeuvring space by navigating between dilemmas and actively constructing demands and constraints. These strategies were (1) decoupling, (2) sensegiving and (3) strategic positioning. Our findings add to the managerial discretion literature, arguing that constructions of manoeuvring space are central to managers’ development and to how they create opportunities and possibilities to make choices that balance conflicting dilemmas in contradictory contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • Filstad, Cathrine & Olsen, Trude Høgvold & Karp, Tom, 2021. "Constructing managerial manoeuvring space in contradictory contexts," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 467-475.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eurman:v:39:y:2021:i:4:p:467-475
    DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2020.10.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026323732030150X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.emj.2020.10.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rosemary Stewart, 1989. "Studies Of Managerial Jobs And Behaviour: The Ways Forward," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 1-10, January.
    2. van der Voet, Joris, 2014. "The effectiveness and specificity of change management in a public organization: Transformational leadership and a bureaucratic organizational structure," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 373-382.
    3. Margaret Peteraf & Randal Reed, 2007. "Managerial discretion and internal alignment under regulatory constraints and change," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(11), pages 1089-1112, November.
    4. Joris Van der Voet & Ben S. Kuipers & Sandra Groeneveld, 2016. "Implementing Change in Public Organizations: The relationship between leadership and affective commitment to change in a public sector context," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(6), pages 842-865, July.
    5. Geilinger, Nina & Haefliger, Stefan & von Krogh, Georg & Rechsteiner, Lise, 2016. "What makes a social practice? Being, knowing, doing and leading," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 319-327.
    6. Dennis A. Gioia & Kumar Chittipeddi, 1991. "Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(6), pages 433-448, September.
    7. Kimberley R. Isett & Sherry A.M. Glied & Michael S. Sparer & Lawrence D. Brown, 2013. "When Change Becomes Transformation," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, January.
    8. Hutzschenreuter, Thomas & Kleindienst, Ingo, 2013. "(How) Does discretion change over time? A contribution toward a dynamic view of managerial discretion," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 264-281.
    9. Ann L. Cunliffe, 2001. "Managers as Practical Authors: Reconstructing our Understanding of Management Practice," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 351-371, May.
    10. Mason A. Carpenter & Brian R. Golden, 1997. "Perceived Managerial Discretion: A Study Of Cause And Effect," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(3), pages 187-206, March.
    11. Karl E. Weick & Kathleen M. Sutcliffe & David Obstfeld, 2005. "Organizing and the Process of Sensemaking," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(4), pages 409-421, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Meda GALEA GAVRILUT, 2018. "Sense and Strategy Building in the Romanian Academy," Revista romaneasca pentru educatie multidimensionala - Journal for Multidimensional Education, Editura Lumen, Department of Economics, vol. 10(2), pages 112-133, June.
    2. Sevda Helpap & Sigrid Bekmeier-Feuerhahn & Luisa Pinkernelle, 2018. "Ambivalenzen in organisationalen Veränderungen [Ambivalence in Organizational Change]," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 70(3), pages 209-241, August.
    3. Giuliani, Marco & Skoog, Matti, 2020. "Making sense of the temporal dimension of intellectual capital: A critical case study," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    4. Beattie, Vivien, 2014. "Accounting narratives and the narrative turn in accounting research: Issues, theory, methodology, methods and a research framework," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 111-134.
    5. Ekaterina Jussupow & Kai Spohrer & Armin Heinzl, 2022. "Radiologists’ Usage of Diagnostic AI Systems," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 64(3), pages 293-309, June.
    6. Florence Allard-Poesi, 2015. "Dancing in the Dark: Making Sense of Managerial Roles during Strategic Conversations," Working Papers hal-01145772, HAL.
    7. Jeffrey S. Bednar & Benjamin M. Galvin & Blake E. Ashforth & Ella Hafermalz, 2020. "Putting Identification in Motion: A Dynamic View of Organizational Identification," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(1), pages 200-222, January.
    8. Lionel Garreau & Serge Perrot, 2012. "Comprendre la dynamique de la socialisation organisationnelle: Une approche par le sensemaking," Post-Print halshs-00949067, HAL.
    9. Florence Allard-Poesi, 2015. "Dancing in the dark: Making sense of managerial roles during strategic conversations," Post-Print hal-01490734, HAL.
    10. Mathieu Detchessahar & Benoît Journé, 2018. "Managing Strategic Discussions in Organizations: A Habermasian Perspective," Post-Print hal-02070709, HAL.
    11. Costa, Sandra & Coyle-Shapiro, Jacqueline, 2021. "What happens to others matters! An intraindividual processual approach to coworkers’ psychological contract violations," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 109872, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Mike Metcalfe & Saras Sastrowardoyo, 2016. "Sense-making Innovative Systems: Prestigious MOOCs," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 437-451, May.
    13. Lionel Garreau & Serge Perrot, 2012. "Comprendre la dynamique de la socialisation organisationnelle : une approche par le sensemaking," Post-Print halshs-01054809, HAL.
    14. Robert J. Blomme, 2012. "How Managers Can Conduct Planned Change in Self-organising Systems: Actor Network Theory as a Perspective to Manager¡¯s Actions," International Journal of Business Administration, International Journal of Business Administration, Sciedu Press, vol. 3(5), pages 9-22, September.
    15. Vos, Janita F.J. & Rupert, Joyce, 2018. "Change agent's contribution to recipients' resistance to change: A two-sided story," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 453-462.
    16. Adele Santana, 2012. "Three Elements of Stakeholder Legitimacy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 105(2), pages 257-265, January.
    17. Mesa, William B., 2019. "Accounting students’ learning processes in analytics: A sensemaking perspective," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 50-68.
    18. Sameer B. Srivastava, 2015. "Intraorganizational Network Dynamics in Times of Ambiguity," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(5), pages 1365-1380, October.
    19. Loréa Baïada-Hirèche & Lionel Garreau, 2014. "Exploring the dynamics of ethical judgment : the sensemaking-based evolution model," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) halshs-01009708, HAL.
    20. Jane Hendy & Theopisti Chrysanthaki & James Barlow, 2014. "Managers’ Identification with and Adoption of Telehealthcare," Societies, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-18, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eurman:v:39:y:2021:i:4:p:467-475. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/115/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.