Collective Memory and Organizational Narratives: New Directions for Research on Higher Education Strategy

• In Event: 51.081 - Sheraton Roundtable Session Nine - Grand Centre
  In Roundtable Session: 51.081-1 - Leadership and Administration: Understanding Higher Education Roles and Outcomes

Abstract

Despite the widespread use of strategic planning, higher education scholars have conducted little research on the concept of strategy. Importantly, what has been missing from the literature is a consideration of the historical conditions and power configurations that allow some strategies to be pursued, while other strategic directions are dismissed, abandoned, or never considered. This scholarly paper suggests that the concepts of collective memory and organizational narrative can help researchers understand the historical and power-based antecedents of strategy. If researchers lack an understanding of these antecedent conditions, they might portray strategy as an unbiased tool to improve performance, rather than a practice that is embedded in particular histories and power configurations that privilege some activities and outcomes, while marginalizing others.

Authors

• Jay R. Dee, University of Massachusetts Boston

• Liudvika Leisyte, Harvard University

• Anne Marie DeFelippo, Salem State University