Designing the social software

In this article the organizing of discourse in management teams is illustrated by a close examination of a video recorded discussion of a strategic initiative inside an industrial network in crisis. The deliberation/decision treated here controlled significant parts of the successful action toward a major customer over the next 5 years. The purpose is to convey a sense of the complexity of the situation and how members collectively work out a project narrative that will guide action over the next few years. The extreme uncertainty of the situation requires members to construct a project narrative that will mobilize (action) bias and overcome hesitation. The situation is pre-rational in the sense that it is not calculable. Instead it is assumed that a more general conception of “virtuous action” is at play. Virtue ethics is referred to and some methodological aspects are discussed in conclusion.