Separation and reconnection episodic organizational arenas in the strategic process

Abstract

PurposeWithin the strategy as practice field several studies have recently paid attention to organizational arenas like meetings, workshops and away‐days. There has, however, been a tendency to focus on what happens “inside” separated organizational arenas. The aim of the paper is to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between the separated organizational arenas and other organizational activities in the strategizing process.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is conceptual. The framework rests on Niklas Luhmann's social systems theory and draws on recent empirical studies.FindingsThe main contribution of the article is the presentation of a theoretically well‐founded framework that further specifies and problematizes the relationships of separated organizational arenas. By focusing and conceptualizing the conditions for separation and reconnection, a foundation for analyzing the interconnectedness between different arenas is provided.Practical implicationsThe paper contributes to our understanding of phenomena like meetings and work‐shops in the strategic process.Originality/valueThe framework is in line with, and expands the theorizing that Hendry and Seidl (2003) initiated about strategic episodes and the theorizing about first and second order observations in strategic processes initiated by Schreyögg and Kliesch‐Eberl (2007).