Improvisation and emergent strategizing : the role of group support systems

Eden, Colin and Ackermann, Fran and Vito, Vincenzo; Morais, Danielle Costa and Fang, Liping and Horita, Masahide, eds. (2021) Improvisation and emergent strategizing : the role of group support systems. In: Contemporary Issues in Group Decision and Negotiation - 21st International Conference on Group Decision and Negotiation, GDN 2021, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing . Springer, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 16-24. ISBN 9783030772079 (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77208-6_2)

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Abstract

This paper synthesises the conceptualisation of improvisation within the frameworks of emergent strategizing and sensemaking. In doing so, it explores how the arguments presented in the literature offer an important role for improvisation in strategy making, with particular attention to its significance in understanding emergent strategizing and sensemaking. Through a synthesis of the literature, we show that emergent strategizing, sensemaking and improvisation, working in harmony, provide a powerful combination, particularly when developing strategy following a pandemic. We postulate that a group support system may be able to uniquely offer management teams the possibility of encompassing improvisation into their strategic thinking. This is likely to be increasingly relevant as organisations move out of the uncertainties of a global pandemic.