Reckoning with: Information use and engaging with strategic decisions in high tech work

Abstract

We know that information use features prominently in strategic decision-making, yet know little about its role in practices of assessing, evaluating, or otherwise engaging with decisions made by others. To investigate this, I draw on an ethnographic study of a high tech firm and examine a strategic direction within the organization: the development and launch of a new software product. I articulate a conceptual process I label reckoning with, which involves two processes of information use – claiming a mandate and renewing debate – each incorporating different types of information and producing different types of engagements with the strategic direction (affirming and re-directing). I discuss these findings and their relation to processes of organizational identity.