Title: Emergence of strategic management practices and devices within changing French public agencies

Authors: Christian Mahieu

Addresses: National Center for Scientific Research, CNRS, Institute for Business Administration, IAE, University of Lille, 104 avenue du Peuple Belge, 59043 Lille Cedex, France

Abstract: Using a qualitative research approach, we discuss emerging strategic practices in French public agencies. Focusing on strategic practices according to the new theories on strategy process, our results contribute to better understanding of organisational requirements and mechanisms for strategic dialogue. In France, public agencies are going through a transitional period because of the emergence of utility demands. Within this context, we find out how these agencies are inventing new managerial practices in order to legitimise the exploration of new activities, how they develop a process that allows them to design and deploy these activities, and how original roles and managerial positions emerge at the same time: putting together a strategic apex; building processes and organisational devices; and developing the social construction of the players needed for such a dialogue. Our approach could help to design better management development devices using strategic and dialogical situations and mechanisms as learning processes.

Keywords: change management; civil service; civil servants; learning processes; organisational governance; organising mechanisms; public agencies; public sector; strategic dialogue; strategic management; strategic practices; strategy process; value creation; France.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCM.2011.041824

International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 2011 Vol.3 No.3, pp.155 - 168

Published online: 07 Mar 2015 *

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