Robert Chia - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Robert Chia
Journal of Business Ethics
Author Yuan Li declares that she has no conflict of interest. Author Robert Chia declares that he... more Author Yuan Li declares that she has no conflict of interest. Author Robert Chia declares that he has no conflict of interest. Author Jonathan Gosling declares that he has no conflict of interest.
Cambridge University Press eBooks, 2001
Cambridge University Press eBooks, 2001
Proceedings - Academy of Management, Jul 1, 2012
This article integrates the resource-based view of the firm with the emerging practice perspectiv... more This article integrates the resource-based view of the firm with the emerging practice perspective in social theory. It begins with a historical overview of resource-based theory (RBT). It then goe...
Human Relations, Jun 20, 2020
Emergence of a firm's strategy is of central concern to both Strategy Process (SP) and Strategy-a... more Emergence of a firm's strategy is of central concern to both Strategy Process (SP) and Strategy-as-Practice (SAP) scholars. While SP scholars view strategy emergence as a long-term macro conditioning process, SAP advocates concentrate on the episodic micro 'doing' of strategy actors in formal strategy planning settings. Neither perspective explains satisfactorily how process and practice relate in strategy emergence to produce tangible organizational outcomes. The conundrum of reconciling the macro/micro distinction implied in process and practice stems from a shared Substantialist metaphysical commitment that attributes strategy emergence to substantive entities. In this article, we draw on Process metaphysics and the practice-turn in social philosophy and theory to propose a Strategy-in-Practices (SIP) perspective. SIP emphasizes how the multitude of coping actions taken at the 'coal-face' of an organization congeal inadvertently over time into an organizational modus operandi that provides the basis
The Open University's repository of research publications and other research outputs Book review:... more The Open University's repository of research publications and other research outputs Book review: Strategy without design: the silent efficacy of indirect action.
Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility
Advocates of stakeholder theory have long known that grasping its key insights requires a specifi... more Advocates of stakeholder theory have long known that grasping its key insights requires a specific worldview that is, unfortunately, still not prevalent within the community of strategic management scholars. We argue that this worldview encompasses a process ontology that is radically different from the substance‐ontological outlook typical of the mainstream approaches to strategic management. The unquestioned commitment of strategic management scholarship to a substance ontology leads to the viewing of corporations as macro‐entities comprising aggregations of discrete autonomous actors each relying on individual choice and instrumental rationality. In contrast, within a process‐ontological worldview, corporations and their stakeholders are seen to be sustained and attenuated through social practices and relationships involving interlocking chains of coping actions taken in everyday interactions. We show that adopting a process‐ontological worldview presents a much‐needed step that ...
The Silent Efficacy of Indirect Action, 2001
Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 2003
The recent turn to 'strategy practice' offers a genuine opportunity for establishing an a... more The recent turn to 'strategy practice' offers a genuine opportunity for establishing an alternative perspective that is clearly distinct from the traditional strategy process view. The challenge is to clarify and articulate an alternative set of ontological and epistemological premises for founding this new approach to theorizing strategy. What has been called the 'practice turn' in social theory provides this alternative basis for a 'post-processual' approach to theorizing strategy-as-practice. This 'practice turn' involves a radical reformu-lation of the intractable problem of agency and structure that enables us to bypass the 'micro/macro' distinction so intimately tied to the social sciences in general and to strategy research in particular. Already, there are signs that the discourse of the strategy-as-practice research community reflects this awareness and are thus straining towards some form of 'trans-individual' explanation tha...
Strategy without Design, 2001
This page intentionally left blank Strategy without Design Strategy exhibits a pervasive commitme... more This page intentionally left blank Strategy without Design Strategy exhibits a pervasive commitment to the belief that the best approach to adopt in dealing with affairs of the world is to confront, overcome and subjugate things to conform to our will, control and eventual mastery. Performance is about sustaining distinctiveness. This direct and deliberate approach draws inspiration from ancient Greek roots and has become orthodoxy. Yet there are downsides. This book shows why. Using examples from the world of business, economics, military strategy, politics and philosophy, it argues that success may inadvertently emerge from the everyday coping actions of a multitude of individuals, none of whom intended to contribute to any preconceived design. A consequence of this claim is that a paradox exists in strategic interventions, one that no strategist can afford to ignore. The more single-mindedly a strategic goal is sought, the more likely such calculated instrumental action eventually works to undermine its own initial success.
Research in the sociology of organizations, 2003
Organizational Analysis as Deconstructive Practice, 1996
Organizational Analysis as Deconstructive Practice, 1996
The Silent Efficacy of Indirect Action, 2001
Journal of Business Ethics
Author Yuan Li declares that she has no conflict of interest. Author Robert Chia declares that he... more Author Yuan Li declares that she has no conflict of interest. Author Robert Chia declares that he has no conflict of interest. Author Jonathan Gosling declares that he has no conflict of interest.
Cambridge University Press eBooks, 2001
Cambridge University Press eBooks, 2001
Proceedings - Academy of Management, Jul 1, 2012
This article integrates the resource-based view of the firm with the emerging practice perspectiv... more This article integrates the resource-based view of the firm with the emerging practice perspective in social theory. It begins with a historical overview of resource-based theory (RBT). It then goe...
Human Relations, Jun 20, 2020
Emergence of a firm's strategy is of central concern to both Strategy Process (SP) and Strategy-a... more Emergence of a firm's strategy is of central concern to both Strategy Process (SP) and Strategy-as-Practice (SAP) scholars. While SP scholars view strategy emergence as a long-term macro conditioning process, SAP advocates concentrate on the episodic micro 'doing' of strategy actors in formal strategy planning settings. Neither perspective explains satisfactorily how process and practice relate in strategy emergence to produce tangible organizational outcomes. The conundrum of reconciling the macro/micro distinction implied in process and practice stems from a shared Substantialist metaphysical commitment that attributes strategy emergence to substantive entities. In this article, we draw on Process metaphysics and the practice-turn in social philosophy and theory to propose a Strategy-in-Practices (SIP) perspective. SIP emphasizes how the multitude of coping actions taken at the 'coal-face' of an organization congeal inadvertently over time into an organizational modus operandi that provides the basis
The Open University's repository of research publications and other research outputs Book review:... more The Open University's repository of research publications and other research outputs Book review: Strategy without design: the silent efficacy of indirect action.
Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility
Advocates of stakeholder theory have long known that grasping its key insights requires a specifi... more Advocates of stakeholder theory have long known that grasping its key insights requires a specific worldview that is, unfortunately, still not prevalent within the community of strategic management scholars. We argue that this worldview encompasses a process ontology that is radically different from the substance‐ontological outlook typical of the mainstream approaches to strategic management. The unquestioned commitment of strategic management scholarship to a substance ontology leads to the viewing of corporations as macro‐entities comprising aggregations of discrete autonomous actors each relying on individual choice and instrumental rationality. In contrast, within a process‐ontological worldview, corporations and their stakeholders are seen to be sustained and attenuated through social practices and relationships involving interlocking chains of coping actions taken in everyday interactions. We show that adopting a process‐ontological worldview presents a much‐needed step that ...
The Silent Efficacy of Indirect Action, 2001
Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 2003
The recent turn to 'strategy practice' offers a genuine opportunity for establishing an a... more The recent turn to 'strategy practice' offers a genuine opportunity for establishing an alternative perspective that is clearly distinct from the traditional strategy process view. The challenge is to clarify and articulate an alternative set of ontological and epistemological premises for founding this new approach to theorizing strategy. What has been called the 'practice turn' in social theory provides this alternative basis for a 'post-processual' approach to theorizing strategy-as-practice. This 'practice turn' involves a radical reformu-lation of the intractable problem of agency and structure that enables us to bypass the 'micro/macro' distinction so intimately tied to the social sciences in general and to strategy research in particular. Already, there are signs that the discourse of the strategy-as-practice research community reflects this awareness and are thus straining towards some form of 'trans-individual' explanation tha...
Strategy without Design, 2001
This page intentionally left blank Strategy without Design Strategy exhibits a pervasive commitme... more This page intentionally left blank Strategy without Design Strategy exhibits a pervasive commitment to the belief that the best approach to adopt in dealing with affairs of the world is to confront, overcome and subjugate things to conform to our will, control and eventual mastery. Performance is about sustaining distinctiveness. This direct and deliberate approach draws inspiration from ancient Greek roots and has become orthodoxy. Yet there are downsides. This book shows why. Using examples from the world of business, economics, military strategy, politics and philosophy, it argues that success may inadvertently emerge from the everyday coping actions of a multitude of individuals, none of whom intended to contribute to any preconceived design. A consequence of this claim is that a paradox exists in strategic interventions, one that no strategist can afford to ignore. The more single-mindedly a strategic goal is sought, the more likely such calculated instrumental action eventually works to undermine its own initial success.
Research in the sociology of organizations, 2003
Organizational Analysis as Deconstructive Practice, 1996
Organizational Analysis as Deconstructive Practice, 1996
The Silent Efficacy of Indirect Action, 2001