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Escalating Indecision: Between Reification and Strategic Ambiguity

Author

Listed:
  • Jean-Louis Denis

    (Institut de recherche en santé publique de l'Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec H3C 3J7, Canada)

  • Geneviève Dompierre

    (Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2, Canada)

  • Ann Langley

    (HEC Montréal, Montréal, Québec H3T 2A7, Canada)

  • Linda Rouleau

    (HEC Montréal, Montréal, Québec H3T 2A7, Canada)

Abstract

This paper examines an organizational pathology that we label “escalating indecision”---where people find themselves driven to invest time and energy in activities and decision processes aimed at resolving an issue of common concern, but where closure appears elusive. The phenomenon is illustrated through a case history in which a strategic orientation decision involving the configuration of a group of large teaching hospitals was continually made, unmade, and remade, producing little concrete strategic action over many years before achieving more tangible moves toward implementation. The paper introduces the notion of a “network of indecision” in which participants have become sufficiently attached to a common project to continue working together to move it forward, but their divergent conceptions of what this involves prevent them from materializing it in a tangible form. The paper suggests that networks of indecision are dialectically constituted through a set of practices of reification and practices of strategic ambiguity. The phenomenon is strongly associated with pluralistic settings characterized by diffuse power and divergent interests, and its prevalence is likely to be greater in situations of reactive leadership, uncertain resource availabilities, and long time horizons.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-Louis Denis & Geneviève Dompierre & Ann Langley & Linda Rouleau, 2011. "Escalating Indecision: Between Reification and Strategic Ambiguity," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 225-244, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:22:y:2011:i:1:p:225-244
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1090.0501
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    References listed on IDEAS

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