STRATEGY Process, Content, Context Chapter 2 Strategic Thinking

Strategy Process Section II

Agenda The Issue of Strategic Reasoning Cognitive Activities Cognitive Abilities Cognitive Maps The Paradox of Logic and Creativity The Demand for Logical Thinking The Demand for Creative Thinking Perspectives on Strategic Thinking The Rational Reasoning Perspective The Generative Reasoning Perspective The Debate and Readings

Strategic Reasoning Cognitive Activities, Abilities, and Maps The Issue of Strategic Reasoning What is the power and what are the limitations of the human mind? Cognitive Activities Cognitive Abilities Cognitive Maps What are the intended mental tasks in order to increase the strategist’s knowledge? Till what degree is the human brain limited what it can know? What are the maps of a person of how the world works?

Strategic Reasoning Cognitive activities, maps and abilities

Cognitive Activities Elements of the Strategic Reasoning Process

Cognitive Abilities Limitations Limited information sensing ability Due to the physical inability to be everywhere, all the time, noticing everything Limited information processing capacity Humans do not have unlimited data processing abilities Limited information storage capacity People have only limited capacity for storing information

II. Logic and Creativity Dealing with the Paradox Logical Thinking The ability of managers to critically reflect on the assumptions they hold and to make their tacit beliefs more explicit Creative Thinking The ability of a manager to abandon the rules governing sound argumentation and generate new understanding

III. Overview of the perspectives Rational Reasoning vs III. Overview of the perspectives Rational 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