CONGREGATE COGNITIVE MAPS: A UNIFIED DYNAMIC THEORY OF ORGANIZATION AND STRATEGY

How a dynamic cognitive approach makes organization theory and strategy theory inseparable is discussed, which creates a unified dynamic theory of organization and strategy.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Recently and independently, two dynamic approaches to organization and strategy have emerged in fields traditionally confined to static methods. One approach uses the cybernetic properties of collective cognitive maps to create a dynamic theory of organization and social system change. The other approach uses the hierarchic properties of collective cognitive maps to create a dynamic theory of strategy. This article discusses how a dynamic cognitive approach makes organization theory and strategy theory inseparable. The approach distinguishes between aggregate and congregate collective cognitive maps. The approach creates a unified dynamic theory of organization and strategy. In this unified theory, the hierarchic and cybernetic aspects of collective cognitive maps combine with the cryptic aspect of concepts and connections present in maps to further explicate the association between organization and strategy. In practice, the cryptic character of many concepts ‐ especially those responsible for the congregation of individual cognitive maps ‐ is exploited to generate both a potent interview technique and a powerful method for facilitating the initiation and development of strategy workshops.