Negotiating Responsibility in Strategy Implementation

Implementation often occupies a problematic position in accounts of strategy. It is often seen as a separate and low level activity. The assumption of separateness contradicts empirical evidence, while the assumption of low level activity portrays implementation as simple and automatic despite evidence that implementation often fails. We propose to resolve this difficulty by regarding implementers as responsible agents, whose responsibility is negotiated over time. We build a model of responsibility in implementation, arguing that such negotiation needs to account for both responsibility-as-commitment, as an internalized duty; and responsibility-asaccountability, as an externalized answerability. Furthermore, we argue that responsibility requires the capacity to act as responsibility dictates, indicating a third form of responsibility, responsibility-as-capability. We argue that key negotiations take place between responsibility-as-capability in return for responsibility-asaccountability and responsibility-as-commitment.