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Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5595-247X

AccessType

Campus-Only Access for Five (5) Years

Document Type

dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Program

Management

Year Degree Awarded

2019

Month Degree Awarded

May

First Advisor

Steven Floyd

Second Advisor

Bruce Skaggs

Third Advisor

Bill Wooldridge

Fourth Advisor

Zeki Simsek

Subject Categories

Organizational Behavior and Theory | Strategic Management Policy

Abstract

This three-paper dissertation focuses on strategic initiatives, the teams that undertake such endeavors, and the team processes that are utilized. A strategic initiative is a temporary undertaking intended to develop or renew organizational capabilities; as such, initiatives are crucial for organizational performance and competitive advantage. In organizations, examples of strategic initiatives include projects for new products, services, and operations, as well as corporate new ventures. Despite their importance for organizational survival, the importance of strategic initiatives is not always acknowledged in academic research. This dissertation starts from the assumption that strategic initiatives, as the vehicles by which organizations develop the capabilities that implement their strategy, need to be considered an important element of strategy process that requires in-depth examination to ensure their successful development. In order to bring attention to strategic initiatives and contribute to a growing body of literature, this dissertation undertakes three distinct but related papers concerning these important projects. I first review and integrate the literature relating to strategic initiatives, which is highly dispersed around different streams of research, and provide a holistic look into the past, present and future of research concerning strategic initiatives. I then explore strategic initiatives and the teams that undertake them in two separate papers; first, by situating the initiative within the larger organizational context through a discussion of goal heterogeneity at multiple levels, and second, by investigating the temporal dynamics between strategic initiative task characteristics and intrateam personal processes. Overall, this research provides an organizing framework to a dispersed literature and attempts to answer just two of the many research opportunities that are charted for future exploration, in a topic that is fundamentally vital for organizational survival.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7275/14175374

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