Book contents
- Cambridge Handbook of Open Strategy
- Cambridge Handbook of Open Strategy
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Introduction
- Part I The Concept of Open Strategy
- Part II Practices of Open Strategy
- Part III Technological Assemblages for Open Strategy
- Part IV Theoretical Perspectives
- Part V Challenges of Open Strategy
- Chapter 18 The Politics of Openness
- Chapter 19 The Relation between Openness and Closure in Open Strategy: Programmatic and Constitutive Approaches to Openness
- Index
- References
Chapter 18 - The Politics of Openness
from Part V - Challenges of Open Strategy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 July 2019
- Cambridge Handbook of Open Strategy
- Cambridge Handbook of Open Strategy
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Introduction
- Part I The Concept of Open Strategy
- Part II Practices of Open Strategy
- Part III Technological Assemblages for Open Strategy
- Part IV Theoretical Perspectives
- Part V Challenges of Open Strategy
- Chapter 18 The Politics of Openness
- Chapter 19 The Relation between Openness and Closure in Open Strategy: Programmatic and Constitutive Approaches to Openness
- Index
- References
Summary
Recently, openness has become a new approach in strategizing as ownership and control of internal assets are no longer vital to achieving competitive advantage (Chesbrough & Appleyard, 2007). Nowadays, knowledge is widespread and open systems are generally regarded as beneficial in terms of organizational design and work culture. However, openness also comes with politics and it is not a practice that will necessarily be welcomed by all. Openness changes the power dynamics within an organization; there are critics as well as friends, as we shall explore. Openness is a process that can change over time, becoming more or less open as events occur and contingencies or actors change. We are interested in how dominant organizational actors can seemingly manipulate “open systems” strategically. Openness is problematic per se for social systems. Systems endogenously construct their differentiation from other systems through closure achieved through specific cognitive rules. In this chapter, we use Clegg’s (1989) “circuits” approach to a theory of power to grasp the politics of openness in terms of three circuits of power. Some of the recent problems posed in the wider world of social media will be analyzed in terms of the three circuits to illustrate some potential problems.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Cambridge Handbook of Open Strategy , pp. 307 - 325Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019
References
- 3
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