There are two conversations in social science that are relevant for me. One is about strategic management, the other is about human resources management. Each uses own language, definitions and methodology, each unfolds in own ecosystem of events (conferences) and communication channels (journals). Each is quite isolated from the other.
I cannot take part in both conversations. I must choose and stick to my choice for the length of the PhD research.
The upside of the situation is that my research question gives me a fair chance to add value in either conversation. My conceptual model appears to be capable of challenging implicit assumptions which underlie both discourses. And it takes only minor adjustments of the model at this early stage of the thesis.
Which way do I go?
The strategic management conversation
This conversation implicitly assumes that people in organizations do not change over the long term, and it is external environment and internal resources what determines business performance. I may attack that by claiming people do change and it is business succession pattern what influences performance.
The research question adjusted for this conversation would be framed as follows:
The velocity of environment and type of growth strategy define the pattern of business succession which, in turn, influences the company's performance.
The conceptual model for this case is presented in Figure 1.
The human resources management conversation
Those participating in this conversation assume that business succession efficiency depends on companies' internal structures and systems and/or succession participants' qualities. I can challenge that by arguing that the business succession pattern is prescribed by environment and growth strategy, and its compliance with the actual succession practice is what determines stakeholders' satisfaction.
The research question tuned for this conversation is as follows:
The velocity of environment and type of growth strategy define the pattern of business succession which, in turn, influences stakeholders' satisfaction.
The adjusted conceptual model is shown in Figure 2.
The research question adjusted for this conversation would be framed as follows:
The velocity of environment and type of growth strategy define the pattern of business succession which, in turn, influences the company's performance.
The conceptual model for this case is presented in Figure 1.
Figure 1. The conceptual model for the strategic management conversation
The human resources management conversation
Those participating in this conversation assume that business succession efficiency depends on companies' internal structures and systems and/or succession participants' qualities. I can challenge that by arguing that the business succession pattern is prescribed by environment and growth strategy, and its compliance with the actual succession practice is what determines stakeholders' satisfaction.
The research question tuned for this conversation is as follows:
The velocity of environment and type of growth strategy define the pattern of business succession which, in turn, influences stakeholders' satisfaction.
The adjusted conceptual model is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. The conceptual model for the human resources management conversation
So which way should I go? Little or no time left to decide.
References
Davis, Murray S., That's Interesting! Towards a Phenomenology of Sociology and a Sociology of Phenomenology, Phil. Soc. Sci. 1 (1971), 309-344 (Modified), Sage Publications.
Dimov, D., ISM Academic Writing Course (2013).
Huff, A.S. (1999), Writing for Scholarly Publication, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
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