Strategy – Process, Content, Context Strategic ThinkingDe Wit & Meyer

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2

STRATEGYProcess, Content, Context

Chapter 2

Strategic Thinking

Strategy – Process, Content, Context Strategic ThinkingDe Wit & Meyer

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2Strategy ProcessSection II

Strategy – Process, Content, Context Strategic ThinkingDe Wit & Meyer

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2Agenda

I. The Issue of Strategic Reasoning Cognitive Activities Cognitive Abilities Cognitive Maps

II. The Paradox of Logic and Creativity The Demand for Logical Thinking The Demand for Creative Thinking

III. Perspectives on Strategic Thinking The Rational Reasoning Perspective The Generative Reasoning Perspective

IV. The Debate and Readings

Strategy – Process, Content, Context Strategic ThinkingDe Wit & Meyer

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2I. Strategic ReasoningCognitive Activities, Abilities, and Maps

The Issue of Strategic ReasoningWhat is the power and what are the limitations of the human mind?

Cognitive Abilities

Till what degree is the human brain limited what it can know?

Cognitive Activities

What are the intended mental tasks in order to increase the strategist’s

knowledge?

Cognitive Maps

What are the maps of a person of how the world

works?

Strategy – Process, Content, Context Strategic ThinkingDe Wit & Meyer

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2Strategic ReasoningCognitive activities, maps and abilities

Strategy – Process, Content, Context Strategic ThinkingDe Wit & Meyer

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2Cognitive ActivitiesElements of the Strategic Reasoning Process

Strategy – Process, Content, Context Strategic ThinkingDe Wit & Meyer

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2Cognitive AbilitiesLimitations

Limited information processing capacity

Limited information sensing ability

Limited information storage capacity

Due to the physical inability to be everywhere, all the time, noticing everything

Humans do not have unlimited data processing abilities

People have only limited capacity for storing information

Strategy – Process, Content, Context Strategic ThinkingDe Wit & Meyer

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2II. Logic and CreativityDealing with the Paradox

Creative Thinking

The ability of a manager to abandon the rules governing sound

argumentation and generate new understanding

Logical Thinking

The ability of managers to critically reflect on the

assumptions they hold and to make their tacit beliefs

more explicit

Strategy – Process, Content, Context Strategic ThinkingDe Wit & Meyer

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2III. Overview of the perspectivesRational Reasoning vs. Generative Reasoning

GENERATIVE REASONING PERSPECIVE

Creativity over logic

Intuitive

Informal, variable rules

Inductive and imaginative

Lateral

Reflecting and sense-making activities

Imagining and doing activities

Unorthodoxy and innovativeness

Subjective, (partially) creatable

Adherence to current cognitive map

Judgment

Strategy

RATIONAL REASONING PERSPECTIVE

Logic over creativity

Analytical

Formal, fixed rules

Deductive and computational

Vertical

Recognizing and analyzing activities

Formulation and implementation activities

Consistency and rigor

Objective, (partially) knowable

Incomplete information

Calculation

Strategy as science