| Popis: |
Strategic planning ranks as one of the most popular management tools in public and nonprofit organizations and at all levels of government. However, fundamental questions remain unanswered. To both organize and advance empirical research, some prominent scholars have advocated the development of theory. This dissertation uses a complex systems perspective to explore how to develop theories that help us understand the influences of strategic planning on managing the complexities attendant to wicked problems and crises. In the first essay, a logic for theorizing the influences of strategic planning on managing extreme crises is developed and presented. This logic draws from a model-centered epistemology and a loose coupling conceptualization to synthesize an approach to theorizing that accounts for both the routines of strategic planning practice and the uncertainties of crises. In the second essay, a methodological approach to theorizing using computational modeling methods is established and described. The approach, involving the creation of hybrid agent-based and system dynamics models, is illustrated with an example of theorizing municipal strategic planning practices following the Great Recession. Overall, the aim of this dissertation is to advance inquiry in public and nonprofit strategic planning research. The primary contribution is one potential pathway—a logic and a methodology—for developing middle-range theories that address the influences of strategic planning on managing crises. |
