The Journey of Strategic Change

Professor Colin Eden and Dr Fran Ackerman

University of Strathclyde, U K

This book approaches strategy-making in a way that is designed to assist most organizations develop strategy appropriate to their size, purpose and resources. It provides a much needed guide to the strategy-making process by: elaborating the key concepts and theories of strategic management; illustrating through case vignettes the issues inherent in the process of strategy making; and providing extensive and detailed practical guidelines on the methods, techniques and tools employed
in the case vignettes. These three aims are reflected in the three-part structure of book. All three parts are closely cross-referenced and integrated to each other throughout in a way which allows the reader to dip into any part of the book and be drawn into the fuller aspects of the processes discussed. The integrated whole forms a cycle or journey of strategy making, which the reader is introduced to in Part One.

Key themes:
the crucial significance of political feasibility; the role of participation; emphasis on stakeholder management; thinking about alternative futures within the overall process of strategy making; and using computer support for strategy making, organizational learning and strategy delivery.

Comments on the Book:
‘Linking theory to details of practice is practically unprecedented in strategy texts. My guess is that once word gets out every OD department in every corporation, government department and large non-profit will want a copy, in part because of the link of theory and practice, but also because mapping is clearly a major wave of the future and they are the first to show people exactly how to do it’
- John M Bryson, University of Minnesota

‘This book is the first on the strategy making process which takes seriously (both theoretically and practically) how people with power in an organization make sense of their world - how cognitive maps and the business of changing them contributes to changing strategic futures’
- Karl Weick, University of Michigan

‘Rarely does a text on strategy formulation so closely link theory with practice. This text is readable - well organized, beautifully written and illustrated - it can serve as a useful guide as well as a long-term reference source’
- Gerry DeSanctis, Duke University

‘I highly recommend The Journey of Strategy Making because it provides both practical and theoretical insights into this complex reality’
- Anne Sigismund Huff, University of Colorado

Contents
PART ONE: THEORY AND CONCEPTS
The Journeyof Strategy Making \ Strategy Making as a JOURNEY \ The Political Feasibility of Strategy \ The Art of Good Journey Making: Working with Strategy Making Teams \ Detecting Emergent Strategizing \ Developing Strategic Intent: Exploring Competencies and Developing the Business Model \ Stakeholder Analysis and Management \ Managing Alternative Futures: Strategic Adaptability and Opportunism \ Strategy Making Closure \ The Journey Making Model:A Summary
PART TWO: VIGNETTES
PART THREE: PRACTICE:METHODS,TECHNIQUES AND TOOLS
Introduction \ Detecting Emergent Strategizing: Individual Interviews and Cognitive Mapping \ Detecting Emergent Strategizing: Working with Strategy Making Teams - The Oval Mapping Technique \ Strategy Making: Working with Teams - Computer Supported Group Workshops \ Strategy Making: Working with Teams - Managing Stakeholding and Alternative Futures \ Managing Process: Designing Interventions and Facilitating Groups \ Analysis: Maps and Models for Workshops \ Delivering Strategy: Closure - Strategic Programmes and Strategy Delivery Support \ Delivering Strategy - Communication, Management and Review \ The Intervention: The Facilitator and the Client

The Book is published by SAGE publications.

ISBN: 0-7619-5224-1 for the hard cover edition.    ISBN: 0-7619-5225-X for the paper cover edition.

Copy and graphics for this page were provided by SAGE Publications, London.