Committees as strategic practice: The role of strategic conversation in a public administration

Abstract

This longitudinal qualitative study examined the role of committees as strategic practice during the implementation of personnel development in a public administration. The results show that the interaction between the management levels is not only organized in formal committees where the middle managers undertake strategic initiatives and the strategic context is set by the senior managers. Rather, the middle managers and the senior managers organize the discussion on strategic issues in informal interactions around committees. These close informal interactions can be understood as a strategic conversation that entails the micro-mechanisms of generating an understanding, aligning towards an issue and making prearrangements which give support for the flow of discussion. The findings show that the strategic conversations are beneficial within shaping strategy as they frame the committee as strategic practice and enable the strategic context to be reshaped and redefined. Copyright © 2007 The Tavistock Institute ® SAGE Publications.