strategy and philosophical action theory, part II. on what kinds of actions there are
Saku
What kinds of actions are there? This seems like a weird enough question, doesn’t it? Yet, G.H. von Wright, a student of Wittgenstein, as well as his successor in Cambridge, produced a surprisingly robust-looking typology of action in his Norm and Action. A logical enquiry (1963). The typology of action is built upon the notion that actions involve a tranformation in some state of affairs (p). My opening a window, for instance can be expressed as a transformation A(Saku opening the window): not-p(window not open) T p (window open). That is, my action is the transforming of a state of affairs from non-existence to existence.
Thus, there are four kinds of actions:
not-p T p :Creating
p T not-p: Destroying
p T p: Maintaining
not-p T not-p: Inhibiting.
This can be expressed as a four-cell matrix, which I am sure that all management scholars will just adore. I have added some examples from strategy literature to enliven the model (Table 1).
Table 1. Four generic types of strategic action
|
State of affairs resulting from action |
State of affairs before action |
|
|
Existence (“p”) |
Inexistence (“not-p”) |
|
|
Existence (“p”) |
Maintaining (”p” transformed into “p”). Example: an organization trying to keep a product alive through a marketing campaign |
Creating (”not-p” transformed into “p”). Example: an organization creatimg a new product |
|
Inexistence (“not-p”) |
Destroying (”p” transformed into “not-p”). Example: an organization buying a smaller competitor, making it cease to exist |
Inhibiting (”not-p” transformed into “not-p”). Example: an organization lobbying to keep a new environmental legislation from being realized |
Those scholars who think inquiries into the nature of strategic action is cool might want to check Dr. Petri Aaltonen’s recent dissertation, which contains a grounded typology of strategy implementation actions (read it here).
