Who are the individuals involved in this activity?

ctivity What is the activity?
Objective Why is the activity occurring?
Subjects Who are the individuals involved in this activity?
Tools What are the means used by the subjects performing this activity?
Rules What are the rules governing the performance of an activity?
Division of
labor Who is responsible for what and how are the roles assigned?
Community What is the environment in which this activity is carried out?
Outcome What is the desired outcome from carrying out this activity?
Note: Adapted from “Conceptualising Work Activity for CAL Systems Design,” by D.
Mwanza, 2002, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning,18, p. 86. Copyright 2002 by
Blackwell Science Ltd.
Activity system analysis involves identifying the components of the activity
system being examined and understanding how those components relate to and influence
each other. Based on the questions posed by the eight-step model of inquiry (Mwanza,
2002), the activity system investigated in this study was organizational strategy
implementation. The primary actors (subjects) whose perspectives were the focus of this
study were middle managers. Companies use various strategy tools and frameworks to
help guide their strategic activities (Jarzabkowski & Whittington, 2008). Some of the
most widely used strategy tools are the strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats
(SWOT) analysis, strategic planning, the political-economic-social-technological-legal
(PESTL) analysis, and the balanced scorecard (Jarzabkowski & Wilson, 2004; Knott,
2008). Within the activity system of strategy implementation, organizations may use13
other tools such as technology (e.g., software applications) and financial incentives in
order to facilitate the implementation of a new strategy. Managers use symbols,
concepts, and language as the major implementation tools throughout the strategy
implementation process (Narayanan, Zane, & Kemmerer, 2011).
Strategy implementation activity is governed by certain rules and regulations.
Some of those rules are explicit, such as the strategic plan, and some are implicit, such as
norms, culture, and decision rights. Because middle managers act as mediators between
senior management and staff at various operating levels (Floyd & Lane, 2000; Floyd &
Wooldridge, 2000), the community of practice in the activity system comprise of top
management teams and operating employees. Within the division of labor element,
middle managers are expected to have certain roles and responsibilities related to
strategic activities (Mantere, 2008) and in strategy implementation in particular
(MacLellan, 2011).
For the purpose of this study, the conceptual framework of activity theory, as
displayed in Figure 3, comprises the key elements of strategy implementation as an
activity system. This conceptual model is appropriate for studying strategic issues from a
practice-based view of strategy (Jarzabkowski, 2010). In this conceptual model, five key
elements are involved. The first three elements are built on the practice-perspective
framework developed by Whittington (2006), who argued that strategic activities
comprise strategy practices, strategy practitioners, and strategy praxis.
For this study, the concept of strategy practices includes the shared pattern of
behavior, norms, traditions, symbolic, and physical tools through which strategy