Managing the Emotional Dynamics of Open Strategy

Abstract

Open strategy (OS) increases transparency and actor involvement in strategy making, promising benefits such as wider expertise and heightened commitment. Yet, its adoption and enactment can trigger emotions among the different actors involved that prevent these benefits from materializing. Drawing on action research across eleven OS processes in large and medium-sized European firms, this article identifies emotional challenges spanning adoption, formulation, and implementation. This article introduces the concept of “emotional architecture”—the deliberate design of processes through which top managers anticipate and manage emotional dynamics—and distills five design principles to help top managers successfully implement OS processes.