Language and Conversation as Part of the Strategic Process

The introductory chapter of this book raised the question of the usefulness of traditional models for strategy processes and how managers explicitly or implicitly apply them to the situations they face. Two of the most critical issues from the previous discussion are the meaning of strategy and the level of activity tied to strategising. In order to achieve an increased level of activity both on the individual and company level, a group of people have to sit down and actively discuss strategy and strategising. Further, the essence for increased awareness and strategic meaning development cannot be separated from what they actually talk about and the strategic reality they develop or construct regarding the firm and its environment Thus, attention here is on how management teams talk about strategy, or more specifically, the strategic conversation taking place among the management team in the firm. Strategy processes or strategising is essentially a series of conversations. Therefore, the outcome of the strategy process will be totally dependent on factors like: who talks to whom, why they talk, what they talk about, and when these conversations take place.