Understanding Strategic Planning and the Formulation and Implementation of Strategic Plans as a Way of Knowing: The Contributions of Actor-Network Theory

TLDR

The article argues that strategic planning should be understood as a way of knowing and that actor‑network theory is a suitable method for examining how such planning functions, while also highlighting its potential to foster inclusive, participatory, democratic public management. Using the 1995 and 2007 strategic planning and implementation of MetroGIS—a regional geospatial information sharing network sponsored by the Metropolitan Council and comprising over 300 partners—the study illustrates how actor‑network theory can be applied to analyze planning processes and outcomes. The authors conclude that treating strategic planning as a way of knowing is essential for understanding its role as a vehicle for inclusive, democratic public management. An online supplement provides a table detailing MetroGIS’s 1995‑2008 accomplishments, controversies, participants, processes, technologies, artifacts, and outcomes.

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article has two purposes: first, to take seriously the notion of strategic planning as a way of knowing, and second, to argue that actor-network theory provides a particularly apposite method for understanding whether and how strategic planning works in particular circumstances. Pursuit of these purposes also helps illuminate possible contributions of strategic planning to inclusive, participative, and democratic public management. The paper is illustrated with examples from the 1995 and 2007 strategic planning and subsequent implementation efforts of MetroGIS, an organization created to foster widespread sharing of geospatial information primarily among public organizatons serving the Twin Cities metropolitan area of Minnesota, USA, and further, to enhance their individual and collective effectiveness. The Metropolitan Council, the regional government, is the primary sponsor of MetroGIS, which is comprised of over 300 organizational partners across the region. Conclusions are offered about the importance of viewing and studying strategic planning as a way of knowing and as a potential vehicle for inclusive public management in a democratic society. [A table featuring a complete timeline of the major MetroGIS accomplishments between 1995 and 2008; the controversies, participants, processes, technologies, and artifacts involved; and the outcomes or major consequences resulting from the accomplishment is included as an online supplement on the publisher's website.]