An Ontological Foundation for Strategic Management Research: The Role of Narrative

Abstract

The double challenge of strategic management research is to come up on the one hand with a truthful account of issues relating to the organization itself and on the other hand doing so in a way that is relevant for meeting the challenges of strategic management. To achieve this need for increased rigour and relevance we follow Heidegger's thinking and develop an ontological ascertainment of the organization as being a work. A work in this sense is the kind of entity that is fundamentally characterized by setting up a world for people. We then argue that because an organization is a work, an appropriate way of giving an account of an organization is in the form of strategic narratives: narratives that give a truthful account of the world of an organization as it is and as it could be. Since narratives play a fundamental role in human existence and are a powerful means to shaping peoples thinking and actions, we argue that strategic narrative research and development meet the double challenge of strategic management research and illustrate the application with an account of strategic narrative research and development in an organization.

Citation

Heil, D. and Whittaker, L. (2007), "An Ontological Foundation for Strategic Management Research: The Role of Narrative", Ketchen, D.J. and Bergh, D.D. (Ed.) Research Methodology in Strategy and Management (Research Methodology in Strategy and Management, Vol. 4), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 369-397. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1479-8387(07)04013-1