International Behavioural Perspectives on How Boards of Directors and Top Management Teams Interact and Plan Strategically for Uncertain Futures

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This project would involve an international comparative study of the role of boards of directors and top management teams in strategic decision making processes. The research would draw on behavioural theoretical perspectives to examine how formal and informal strategy formulation and decision-making routines and processes function and have been developed. It would pay particular attention to how corporate leaders view and analyse risk and uncertainty in strategic planning. The study would take a methodological approach grounded in ethnography. It would draw on a range of qualitative tools. These would include in-depth fieldwork with a number of organisations. This would involve observing meetings and other informal interactions between non-executive and executive directors and senior managers, as well as shadowing a number of them. These techniques would be combined with semi-structured and structured interviews across a larger number of organisations to facilitate comparative perspectives. The aim of employing such an approach would be to gain insight into the 'inner' working of organisations, particularly the dynamics of relationships between executive and non-executive directors and top management teams, and how these affect the political bargaining and knowledge creation processes that accompany strategic planning.The research would make a distinctive contribution in a number of areas. It would aim to enhance understanding of how corporate decision makers think about the future in formulating strategy. In particular, it would aim to analyse how they cope with often subtle differences between quantifiable risk and uncertainty, and what this means for their ways of thinking about futures. In so doing, it would aim to extend understanding of the use of scenario analysis to generate insights into the use of scenario planning methods to anticipate and plan for uncertain futures, as well as potential limitations of this approach. The comparative and international nature of the project would also enhance understandings of the role of wider cultural and institutional factors in how corporate leaders think about and manage risk and uncertainty.In addition, the study would seek to challenge the dominant theoretical view, which sees boards of directors as 'principals' exercising control over executive 'agents'. It would draw on the resource-based view, which sees a role of the board as helping firms secure and maintain access to resources. It would also critically examine the usefulness of the concept of stewardship, which sees executive and non-executive directors and top managers as having shared aims. In so doing, it would aim to contribute to the development of a behavioural theoretical paradigm, which would draw on a number of theoretical strands. This could help explain ways in which collaboration and shared aims between boards of directors and top management teams could improve the effectiveness of strategic planning processes.