ABSTRACT
At this point it is important to not let the ideological or philosophical pendulums swing too far in any particular direction. The insights and methodological approach of more classical methods alongside emergent and intuitive thinking can yield a more thorough/broader level of analysis. The author’s aim in this chapter is not to dismiss classical theory but to critically accept its limitations and utilise its benefits. As we will see in the strategy workshop guide, after the participants have explored issues at the forefront of their thinking, we then recommend the use of classical models to ensure participants have mentally explored a wider range of potential strategic issues: internal, external, macro, industry, and competitive.
An analogy might be to go grocery shopping with a list of required items (i.e. the strategic issues at the forefront of our thinking), but by going down every isle in the supermarket (Classical models – thereby exploring multiple areas of strategic interest), we jog memories and use the process to explore other needed items.
We also accept that this cannot be undertaken in a truly scientific or positivistic manner, as the institutional and constructed realities of the participants and organisational field will affect what and how actors think and perceive reality. Overall then there are philosophical limitations to how actors and groups think, and it would be a mistake to believe that this can be rationally overcome through logic. But clarifying, exploring, and establishing what groups focus on, what they perceive as value, their boundaries to thinking and 94fundamentally accepting a socially constructed reality, do assist strategists in establishing insights and opening up hidden aspects and attributes of group strategy sessions.
