Strategy as Social Practice: a Study of Discursive Practices in Strategizing

Abstract

This study was conducted using a contemporary approach of Strategy as Social Practice (SSP) highlighting discursive practices. This research aimed to understand how discursive practices contributed to a community higher education institution’s strategic practices. We adopted a qualitative approach as suggested by the literature for research in SSP. We chose to do a single case study and collected data through systematic observation of five strategic planning meetings, qualitative interviews with managers at five hierarchical levels of the university, and document analysis. We used Peircean semiotic analysis for data analysis (Dias, 2015). Based on this analysis, we determined what contributed to strategizing: the historical and social context; a power relationship between the academic area strategists and a means, which is implicit in the discursive practices. The voices of practitioners also emerged from the data: leader, manager and external consultant. From the SSP perspective, the decision-making process may have brought limitations since the one hundred and eleven strategists did not participate in all stages of planning, especially in terms of the means.

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