Managerially-held meanings of strategy-structure fit

Abstract

This paper addresses the question of how managers understand the concept of ‘strategy-structure fit’. In a case-research design, 16 middle and top managers from four organizations were asked to identify, recount, and assess concrete and important organizational decisions. Analysis of the transcripts from a symbolic interactionist perspective exposed ‘facilitator of performance’ and ‘constraint on performance’ as alternative managerial conceptualizations of fit. The symbolic paths respondents took to arrive at the meanings are exposed. Implications of the findings for research and practice are discussed.