The process and practice of participation in strategy making

The concept of participation in strategy making is poorly understood in the literature. This study seeks to address this by considering how participation is used as part of strategizing. It considers the use of participation by strategy practitioners in strategic episodes that take place over time. Using a single case study approach, semi-structured in-depth interviews with senior and middle managers are combined with direct participant observation and document analysis to abductively explore how participation is used in a third-sector organization. The changes in personnel and role trigger listening exercises and an openness to new strategic discourse. This results in an iterative cycle where individual meaning is formulated, before being explored in strategic episodes, then confirmed against collective understanding. This is presented in a three-stage iterative process model of participation in strategy. Further research is needed to explore the discursive and sociomaterial aspects of the practices used