Timespace episodes: Organizational rituals during strategy implementation

This paper draws on the empirical observation of two rituals conducted during strategy implementation. The rituals acted as transition points in that they contributed to and constituted the end of one stage of implementation and the beginning of the next. Such rituals acted to reinforce and confirm a formulated strategy. We claim three contributions to the strategizing literature. First, we show how rituals are a neglected aspect of strategy implementation projects and that far from being merely empty, symbolic phenomena, they are constitutive performations. Next, by drawing on Schatzki’s notion of Activity Timespace we present a more theorized understanding of space and time than currently exists. Third, we advance understanding of strategic episodes through foregrounding their spatial and temporal qualities.