How senior managers use interactive control to manage strategic uncertainties: An attention-based view

Abstract

We adopt an attention-based view to examine how interactive control enables the management of strategic uncertainties. An attention-based view invites consideration of the focus of managerial attention, as well as the situational and structural factors that systematically shape the issues to which managers pay attention. Our theoretical framework extends existing accounts of how interactive control enables the management of strategic uncertainties by explaining how discussion is shaped by senior managers’ choices about how, when and with whom to meet. We further explain how interactive meetings operate within a broader structure of communication channels, which determine the manner in which teams are formed and the connections between them. In all, our findings suggest that the management of strategic uncertainties may require not just a single forum for interaction, but rather an interlocking series of meetings which enables the progression of issues over time and through different management groups.