IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/tefoso/v124y2017icp16-25.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Openness disposition: Readiness characteristics that influence participant benefits from scenario planning as strategic conversation

Author

Listed:
  • Burt, George
  • Mackay, David J.
  • van der Heijden, Kees
  • Verheijdt, Charlotte

Abstract

In this paper we examine the impact of participant readiness to engage with, perform and benefit from scenario planning processes. Central to our examination is the concept of ‘openness disposition’, which in the context of scenario planning refers to the tendency to seek either to hold open ambiguity, complexity and uncertainty, or look for closure, simplification and surety when engaging in strategic conversations. Readiness indicates the capacity of individuals and collectives to work with competing narratives, dilemmas, tensions and differences of opinion, as may occur in scenario work. A focus on readiness through openness disposition enables critical evaluation of the utility of scenario planning to different individuals and groups based on their capacity to engage with equivocality during structured, exploratory strategic conversations. Based on findings emerging from a longitudinal field study with ProRail B.V. Holland, we empirically identify three characteristics of participant readiness, which are theorised to extend understanding of how individuals and groups might engage in, cope and benefit from, scenario planning processes.

Suggested Citation

  • Burt, George & Mackay, David J. & van der Heijden, Kees & Verheijdt, Charlotte, 2017. "Openness disposition: Readiness characteristics that influence participant benefits from scenario planning as strategic conversation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 16-25.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:124:y:2017:i:c:p:16-25
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2016.11.024
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162516307739
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techfore.2016.11.024?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert Chia, 1996. "Teaching Paradigm Shifting In Management Education: University Business Schools And The Entrepreneurial Imagination," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 409-428, July.
    2. Paul Shrivastava, 1983. "A Typology Of Organizational Learning Systems," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 7-28, January.
    3. Iain Docherty & Peter McKiernan, 2008. "Scenario Planning for the Edinburgh City Region," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 26(5), pages 982-997, October.
    4. Bowman, Gary & MacKay, R. Bradley & Masrani, Swapnesh & McKiernan, Peter, 2013. "Storytelling and the scenario process: Understanding success and failure," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 80(4), pages 735-748.
    5. Haridimos Tsoukas & Robert Chia, 2002. "On Organizational Becoming: Rethinking Organizational Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(5), pages 567-582, October.
    6. Daniel A. Levinthal & James G. March, 1993. "The myopia of learning," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(S2), pages 95-112, December.
    7. Robert M. Grant, 2003. "Strategic planning in a turbulent environment: evidence from the oil majors," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(6), pages 491-517, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Metz, Ashley & Hartley, Paul, 2020. "Scenario development as valuation: Opportunities for reflexivity," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    2. Forliano, Canio & Bullini Orlandi, Ludovico & Zardini, Alessandro & Rossignoli, Cecilia, 2023. "Technological orientation and organizational resilience to Covid-19: The mediating role of strategy's digital maturity," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    3. Theodore Metaxas & Laura Juarez & Gaby Gavriilidis, 2021. "Planning and Marketing the City for Sustainability: The Madrid Nuevo Norte Project," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-22, February.
    4. Burt, George & Mackay, David & Mendibil, Kepa, 2021. "Overcoming multi-stakeholder fragmented narratives in land use, woodland and forestry policy: The role scenario planning and ‘dissociative jolts’," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Burt, George & Nair, Anup Karath, 2020. "Rigidities of imagination in scenario planning: Strategic foresight through ‘Unlearning’," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    2. Patzelt, Holger & zu Knyphausen-Aufseß, Dodo & Fischer, Heiko T., 2009. "Upper echelons and portfolio strategies of venture capital firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 558-572, November.
    3. Dean A. Shepherd & Jeffery S. Mcmullen & William Ocasio, 2017. "Is that an opportunity? An attention model of top managers' opportunity beliefs for strategic action," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 626-644, March.
    4. Böhling, Kathrin, 2009. "Symbolic knowledge at work: Comitology and learning from experts in European technology policy [Symbolisches Wissen in der europäischen Technologiepolitik: Experten, Lernen und das Ausschusswesen]," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Global Governance SP IV 2009-301, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    5. Luciana D’Adderio, 2014. "The Replication Dilemma Unravelled: How Organizations Enact Multiple Goals in Routine Transfer," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(5), pages 1325-1350, October.
    6. Demir, Robert & Wennberg, Karl & McKelvie, Alexander, 2016. "The Strategic Management of High-Growth Firms: A Review and Theoretical Conceptualization," Ratio Working Papers 273, The Ratio Institute.
    7. Ram, Camelia, 2020. "Scenario presentation and scenario generation in multi-criteria assessments: An exploratory study," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    8. Paula Jarzabkowski & Sarah Kaplan, 2015. "Strategy tools-in-use: A framework for understanding “technologies of rationality” in practice," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 537-558, April.
    9. Laura Castaldi & Claudio Turi & Clelia Mazzoni & Angela Delli Paoli, 2015. "Antecedents and constituents of alliance management capability: the role of valuable alliance experience and governance mechanisms for learning," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 19(4), pages 797-823, November.
    10. Siebelink, Remco & Hofman, Erwin & Halman, Johannes I.M. & Nee, Ingo, 2021. "Roadmapping: (Missed) opportunities to overcome strategic challenges," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 64(4), pages 501-512.
    11. Agulles, Remei & Prats, Mª Julia, 2011. "Learning in practice: What organizational and management literature can contribute to professional and occupational development," IESE Research Papers D/938, IESE Business School.
    12. Kim, Nami & Kim, Eonsoo & Lee, Jongseon, 2021. "Innovating by eliminating: Technological resource divestiture and firms’ innovation performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 176-187.
    13. Omar Radwan Traboulsy, 2023. "The Role of Resource Acquisition in Achieving Sustainable Competitive Performance for SMEs in an Emerging Market: A Moderated Mediation Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-21, August.
    14. Krause-Söhner, Elena & Roth, Angela & Schaller, Christian, 2022. "Multifaceted and even contradictory? Impulses to push efficiency and innovativeness and the dynamic role of ambiguity in context of a German university," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 258-277.
    15. Oh, Chang Hoon & Shin, Jiyoung & Oetzel, Jennifer, 2021. "How does experience change firms' foreign investment decisions to non-market events?," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1).
    16. Johann Fortwengel & Arne Keller, 2020. "Agency in the face of path dependence: how organizations can regain scope for maneuver," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 13(3), pages 1169-1201, November.
    17. Patricia Doyle Corner & Kathryn Pavlovich, 2016. "Shared Value Through Inner Knowledge Creation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 543-555, May.
    18. Filippo Zanin & Giulio Corazza, 2021. "Scenario planning, strategia e performance. Evidenze empiriche in contesti complessi," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2021(2), pages 147-164.
    19. Dermol Valerij, 2013. "Relationship Between Learning, Knowledge Creation and Organisational Performance," Scientific Annals of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 60(1), pages 79-93, July.
    20. Filippo Zanin & Eugenio Comuzzi, 2019. "Scenarizzazione e pianificazione strategica nei contesti complessi," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2019(1 suppl.), pages 95-120.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:124:y:2017:i:c:p:16-25. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401625 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.