Getting heard? How employees learn to gain senior management attention in inclusive strategy processes

<p><strong>Research Summary</strong> Recent trends toward inclusive strategy processes raise the issue of how employees acquire the discursive competence necessary to gain senior management attention. Building on the emergent dynamic attention-based view's (DABV) emphasis on c...

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Main Authors: Splitter, V, Seidl, D, Whittington, R
Formato: Journal article
Idioma:English
Publicado em: Wiley 2024
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author Splitter, V
Seidl, D
Whittington, R
author_facet Splitter, V
Seidl, D
Whittington, R
author_sort Splitter, V
collection OXFORD
description <p><strong>Research Summary</strong> Recent trends toward inclusive strategy processes raise the issue of how employees acquire the discursive competence necessary to gain senior management attention. Building on the emergent dynamic attention-based view's (DABV) emphasis on communicative interaction, we ethnographically track an inclusive strategy process in a large insurance company. We find that employees typically failed to gain CEO attention because they lacked the discursive competence to integrate their operational knowledge with the CEO's corporate themes. Employees acquired this competence by both experiential and vicarious learning. The CEO promoted employee learning more effectively by specific coaching than by generic coaching. We contribute primarily to the DABV by showing how interactions are sites for learning as well as communications and that communication channels can be both expandable and transparent.</p> <p><strong>Managerial Summary</strong> The benefits of increased employee inclusion in strategy processes depend upon participants being truly heard. This study of an inclusive strategy process in a large insurance company shows that top management attention to employee contributions cannot be assumed. Employees often fail to pitch ideas in a manner that top managers can work with. Employees learn to pitch ideas effectively both by receiving direct feedback from top management and by observing feedback on other employees' contributions. Top managers must also learn how to coach effectively, engaging with the specifics of employees' contributions rather than offering general advice. Designs for new inclusive strategy processes should include opportunities for top managers to improve their coaching and for employees to learn from both direct feedback and indirect observation.</p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:f1c7d9e9-fb34-4210-a0c7-1b0732f771062024-09-20T11:10:54ZGetting heard? How employees learn to gain senior management attention in inclusive strategy processesJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:f1c7d9e9-fb34-4210-a0c7-1b0732f77106EnglishSymplectic ElementsWiley2024Splitter, VSeidl, DWhittington, R<p><strong>Research Summary</strong> Recent trends toward inclusive strategy processes raise the issue of how employees acquire the discursive competence necessary to gain senior management attention. Building on the emergent dynamic attention-based view's (DABV) emphasis on communicative interaction, we ethnographically track an inclusive strategy process in a large insurance company. We find that employees typically failed to gain CEO attention because they lacked the discursive competence to integrate their operational knowledge with the CEO's corporate themes. Employees acquired this competence by both experiential and vicarious learning. The CEO promoted employee learning more effectively by specific coaching than by generic coaching. We contribute primarily to the DABV by showing how interactions are sites for learning as well as communications and that communication channels can be both expandable and transparent.</p> <p><strong>Managerial Summary</strong> The benefits of increased employee inclusion in strategy processes depend upon participants being truly heard. This study of an inclusive strategy process in a large insurance company shows that top management attention to employee contributions cannot be assumed. Employees often fail to pitch ideas in a manner that top managers can work with. Employees learn to pitch ideas effectively both by receiving direct feedback from top management and by observing feedback on other employees' contributions. Top managers must also learn how to coach effectively, engaging with the specifics of employees' contributions rather than offering general advice. Designs for new inclusive strategy processes should include opportunities for top managers to improve their coaching and for employees to learn from both direct feedback and indirect observation.</p>
spellingShingle Splitter, V
Seidl, D
Whittington, R
Getting heard? How employees learn to gain senior management attention in inclusive strategy processes
title Getting heard? How employees learn to gain senior management attention in inclusive strategy processes
title_full Getting heard? How employees learn to gain senior management attention in inclusive strategy processes
title_fullStr Getting heard? How employees learn to gain senior management attention in inclusive strategy processes
title_full_unstemmed Getting heard? How employees learn to gain senior management attention in inclusive strategy processes
title_short Getting heard? How employees learn to gain senior management attention in inclusive strategy processes
title_sort getting heard how employees learn to gain senior management attention in inclusive strategy processes
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