DISCOURSES AND DOXIC FIELD IN ORGANIZATION: EVIDENCE FROM SRI LANKA’S COCONUT INDUSTRY

Abstract

The Strategy-As-Practice research explores strategy by considering it as a socially situated, accomplished activity that organizational actors are doing rather than having. When actors are agreed-upon and activated set of practices and identify them as their strategy, then at that moment, that organization can be identified as in a doxic field. Thus, the purpose of this empirical study is to discuss how multiple discourses in Sri Lanka’s manufacturing organization in the coconut industry are intermingled by managers within the organizational strategy to construct a relatively stable doxic field. Based on a case study following the qualitative research approach, the study incorporated semi-structured interviews and observation to generate the data for thematic analysis. The interpretation of the findings is on the concept of doxa in the theory of practice by Pierre Bourdieu. Managers of the case organization have intermingled three discourses, from the societal level, industry level, and organizational level, within the present doxic field with the Lean Management System. In line with the theory of practice by Pierre Bourdieu, it can be identified that the intermingling of multiple discourses has served as a conservation strategy of the heterodox discourse of the lean management system. This study contributes to strategic management literature by explaining the construction of a relatively stable doxic organizational field by organizational actors through intermingling multiple discourses from a particular organization, its industry, and its linked society.