Exploring uncertainty and the managerial and organizational behavioural components in the strategic response to It

Abstract

The research focuses on the process of responding to uncertainty in strategic decision-making (SDM) and the importance of the judgement of managers in the SDM process. It explores the behavioural aspects of managers and organizations which inform their judgement. This vast research area has become fragmented and there is a dip in interest in researching in the area. To achieve the overall aim we conducted three studies reported in three papers.

Paper 1 took up these calls and conducted a systematic review of the literature from which was developed an integrated decisional framework that identify the behavioural characteristics which were grouped into seven step-by step managerial and organizational SDM considerations. The framework is to be used by managers to conduct a systematic and comprehensive examination of the nature and characteristics of the uncertainty they face.

In Paper 2, the framing and associated rhetorical strategies were examined in the Chairman’s statement of FTSE 350 banks during 2007 -2017, as the banks responded to five stakeholders concerns arising from the 2008 financial crisis. The results include the observance of the use of dual frames, and a mix and variation of framing and rhetorical strategies employed during the framing contest over the prolonged time period as part of their institutional maintenance efforts to protect their status quo business model. The results provide insights into the strategy-in-practice of crisis and institutional maintenance in a longitudinal empirical study, something that has been called for by researchers especially in outlining the actual work of elite actors. There are also policy implications for regulators and government officials which can assist them in their work to provide greater compliance and supervisory efforts of banks especially by paying more attention to their annual reports.
In paper 3, managers’ perceived environment uncertainty (PEU) experiences were studied through interviews on how they were dealing with the uncertainty of Brexit. The high level of deficiency of the information about Brexit matched deep uncertainty and resulted in intense sensemaking by managers. As a result, the composite-view and directional flow of Milliken’s 1987 PEU theory (state to effect to response uncertainty) was suspended. Also the impact of uncertainty in a collective setting, where differences in perceptions of senior executives (SEs) and
mid-level executives (MEs) resulted in a decrease in trust of the MEs in the abilities of the SEs to respond to Brexit.

The overall research offers a number of theoretical contributions of the managerial and organizational behavioural characteristics examined as well as managerial and policy implications, by highlighting the strategy-in-practice of these characteristics and drawing the interconnections between them in dealing with the impact of uncertainty on SDM.

More information

Identifiers

ORCID for Yehuda Baruch: orcid.org/0000-0002-0678-6273

Catalogue record

Export record