Sari Laari-Salmela

I am a senior research fellow (management and organization studies) at the University of Oulu Business School, Finland. My overarching mission is to improve our understanding of strategic organizing and organizations' strategy processes and practices through research on humanistic aspects of participation and inclusion, strategic ambiguity, and strategizing in networks. My background is in international business, but currently, I'm focusing on public management issues, such as public procurement as a strategic practice. In my work, I combine organization-theoretical viewpoints with discussions on business relationships and networks, business ethics, and information systems, and apply social practice theories and systems-theoretical perspectives (Luhmann). My work has appeared in journals such as Business Ethics Quarterly, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, and Journal of Strategic Information Systems.

Fields:

• Strategic management, Strategy-as-Practice interest group in AOM
• Organization studies
• Information systems
• Industrial marketing
• Business Ethics

Topics:

• Organizational humanness and dehumanization
• Participation in strategy-making, strategic ambiguity, time and temporality, decision-making
• Strategizing in networks and inter-organizational relationships
• Industry-level digital transformation, regulation of digital technologies
• Public management and innovation

Theoretical perspectives:

• Social practice theories
• Process dynamics
• Systems theoretical and discourse/communication perspectives on organizing

Current research projects:

Spearhead project funded by the University of Oulu Eudaimonia Institute of Human Sciences:

Humanizing Strategy: Examining the Role of Humanness in Strategic Change (HUMAN)

This project addresses the question of humanness in strategic management: what makes us human, and who are regarded as human beings in the context of strategy making. How people are perceived in organizations has profound implications on who are regarded as active subjects and who merely objects of managerial efforts. Empirically, the project examines the case of the Finnish national healthcare and welfare reform and the establishment of the wellbeing services counties. By focusing on the decision-making process and drawing on the data consisting of documentation and interviews, the project will produce understanding of how humanness becomes enacted in strategic change. The findings support the development of a new, constitutive humanness paradigm and thus support the overall objective of theorizing strategic management through the lens of humanness. The results will have an impact on everyone working for an organization. They are especially beneficial to those in management and decision-making position, guiding the development of organizations and societies, as well as for management consultants and educators.

Past research projects:

• 3.9.2018-31.12.2022 Societally Engaged University: Observing Hybridity in University Organization, Academy of Finland, PI Professor Juha Tuunainen
• 1.10.2014-30.9.2016, BRIIF – Public Procurement Bridging International Forerunners, National Technology Agency of Finland, PI Tuija Mainela
• 1.1.2012-31.12.2013, Työelämän innovaatioiden johtaminen ja mittaaminen (INWORK) - Oulu, National Technology Agency of Finland, University of Oulu’s subproject, project manager Sari Laari-Salmela