Intuitive Pausing In Practice: Navigating Grand Challenges
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51137/wrp.ijarbm.737Keywords:
Pausing, Intuition, Grand Challenges, Sense-making, Strategy-as-practice, Strategy Implementation, Popper’s Three Worlds, Covid-19Abstract
The purpose of this article is to surface pausing as an intuitive, silent and socially constructed concept and action, which merited investigation from a strategy-as-practice micro lens perspective while opening up this discourse towards a macro grand challenge perspective. Human actors are at the forefront of challenges in the contemporary environment of today, notwithstanding the increasing role of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Humans provide a key function in strategizing to discern the impact of challenges; and thereafter seek to improve, stabilize, or advance themselves and their environment. The researchers focused on pausing, which is often intuitive in nature, as a practice, during a disruptive challenge. By adopting a qualitative case study research design, the researchers explored pausing by practitioners as a strategic practice amidst a grand challenge in an apex business area of risk. The Covid-19 pandemic dramatically altered the familiar landscapes of everyday lives and livelihoods and the habituated practices that people took for granted. Using banking credit risk to foreground the research framework, the study centred on practitioners’ pausing (to stop, reflect or reconsider) while they implemented a technology-related strategy across Africa during the complexities of Covid-19. The action of pausing is presented in terms of Popper’s three worlds and affirms the relevance of the three world framework where pausing informs, in World 2, how the physical world is interpreted from an individual or collaborative basis to influence World 3.
References
Adler, N. J., Sackmann, S. A., Arieli, S., Akter, M., Barmeyer, C., Barzantny, C., ... & Zhang, Z. X. (2022). The grand challenge none of us chose: Succeeding (and failing) against the global pandemic. In Advances in global leadership (pp. 3-85). Emerald Publishing Limited.
Agbeyinka, I. (2025). Effect of Asset-Liability Management on Bank Survival of Selected Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria. International Journal of Applied Research in Business and Management, 6(5). https://doi.org/10.51137/wrp.ijarbm.468
Akinci, C., & Sadler‐Smith, E. (2012). Intuition in management research: A historical review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 14(1), 104-122. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2011.00313.x
Arthur-Sam, J. (2025). The Effect of Non-Performing Loans on the Profitability of Banks in Africa. International Journal of Applied Research in Business and Management, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.51137/wrp.ijarbm.2025.jatt.45720
Balogun, J., Huff, A. S., & Johnson, P. (2003). Three responses to the methodological challenges of studying strategizing. Journal of Management Studies, 40(1), 197-224.
Balogun, J., & Johnson, G. (2004). Organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking. Academy of Management Journal, 47(4), 523-549. https://doi.org/10.5465/20159600
Barnard, I.C. (1938). The Functions of the Executive. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bencherki, N., Basque, J. & Rouleau, L. 2019. A sensemaking perspective on open strategy. In D. Seidl, G. Von Krogh, & R. Whittington (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Open Strategy (241-258). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27-40. https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ0902027
Bourdieu, P. 1990. The Logic of Practice. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Brundin, E., Liu, F., & Cyron, T. (2022). Emotion in strategic management: A review and future research agenda. Long Range Planning, 55(4), 102144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2021.102144
Cashman, K. 2012. The Pause Principle: Step Back to Lead Forward. (1st edition). San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Cassaniti, J., Serlemitsos, E., Aisiri, A. & Blackholly, H. 2020. A guide to ‘pause and reflect’ pragmatic advice for practitioners. [Online]. Available on: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348062617_A_guide_to_'pause_and_reflect'_pragmatic_advice_for_practitioners_About_the_Authors#fullTextFileContent [Accessed 30 January 2024].
Corley, K. G., & Gioia, D. A. (2004). Identity ambiguity and change in the wake of a corporate spin-off. Administrative Science Quarterly, 49(2), 173-208. https://doi.org/10.2307/4131471
Dane, E., Rockmann, K. W., & Pratt, M. G. (2012). When should I trust my gut? Linking domain expertise to intuitive decision-making effectiveness. Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 119(2), 187-194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2012.07.009
Da Silva, E. R. D., & Goncalves, C. A. (2016). Practice genealogy and its implications for strategy as practice. RAM. Revista de Administração Mackenzie, 17(4), 130-152. https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-69712016/administracao.v17n4p130-152
Dewey, J. 1933. How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process. Chicago IL: Henry Regnery Co.
Ellingson, L.L. 2009. Engaging in crystallization in qualitative research. An introduction. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Englander, M. (2019). General knowledge claims in qualitative research. The Humanistic Psychologist, 47(1), 1.
Gaiser, T. & Schreiner, A. 2012. Using email for data collection. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Golsorkhi, D, Rouleau, L, Seidl, D & Vaara, E. 2015. What is Strategy-as-Practice? In D. Golsorkhi, L. Rouleau. D. Seidl & E. Vaara (eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Strategy as Practice, 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Hameed, H. 2020. Quantitative and qualitative research methods: Considerations and issues in qualitative research PV Power Systems View project Private Tutoring View project. 8–17.
Hodgkinson, G. P., Sadler-Smith, E., Burke, L. A., Claxton, G., & Sparrow, P. R. (2009). Intuition in organizations: Implications for strategic management. Long Range Planning, 42(3), 277-297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2009.05.003
Hodgkinson, G. P., & Healey, M. P. (2011). Psychological foundations of dynamic capabilities: Reflexion and reflection in strategic management. Strategic management journal, 32(13), 1500-1516. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.964
Jalonen, K., Schildt, H., & Vaara, E. (2018). Strategic concepts as micro‐level tools in strategic sensemaking. Strategic Management Journal, 39(10), 2794-2826. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2924
Jarvenpaa, S. L., & Välikangas, L. (2020). Advanced technology and end-time in organizations: a doomsday for collaborative creativity?. Academy of Management Perspectives, 34(4), 566-584. https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.2019.0040
Jarzabkowski, P., Balogun, J., & Seidl, D. (2007). Strategizing: The challenges of a practice perspective. Human Relations, 60(1), 5-27. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726707075703
Jarzabkowski, P., Bednarek, R., Chalkias, K., & Cacciatori, E. (2019). Exploring inter-organizational paradoxes: Methodological lessons from a study of a grand challenge. Strategic Organization, 17(1), 120-132. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127018805345
Jarzabkowski, P., & Kaplan, S. (2015). Strategy tools‐in‐use: A framework for understanding “technologies of rationality” in practice. Strategic Management Journal, 36(4), 537-558. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2270
Jarzabkowski, P., Kavas, M., & Krull, E. (2021). It’s practice. But is it strategy? Reinvigorating strategy-as-practice by rethinking consequentiality. Organization Theory, 2(3), https://doi.org/10.1177/26317877211029665
Jarzabkowski, P., & Spee, P.A. (2009). Strategy‐as‐practice: A review and future directions for the field. International Journal of Management Reviews, 11(1), 69-95. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2008.00250.x
Jarzabkowski, P., Le, J., & Spee, P. (2017). Taking a strong process approach to analyzing qualitative process data. The SAGE Handbook of Process Organization Studies, 237-253.
Jarzabkowski, P., & Whittington, R. (2008). A strategy-as-practice approach to strategy research and education. Journal of Management Inquiry, 17(4), 282-286. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492608318150
Kaufmann, L. J., & Danner-Schröder, A. (2022). Addressing grand challenges through different forms of organizing: A literature review. Organizing for Societal Grand Challenges, Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20220000079014
Kim, C., & Mauborgne, R. 2005. How to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant. Blue Ocean Strategy.
Kopalle, P. K., Kuusela, H., & Lehmann, D. R. (2023). The role of intuition in CEO acquisition decisions. Journal of Business Research, 167, 114139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114139
Latifi, F., 2026. Leading Organizational Transformation in the Age of AI: A Roadmap to 2035. International Journal of Applied Research in Business and Management, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.51137/wrp.ijarbm.478
Lieberman, M. D. (2000). Intuition: a social cognitive neuroscience approach. Psychological bulletin, 126(1), 109
Linsin, M. 2012. Why A Simple Pause Is A Powerful Classroom Management Strategy. [Online]. Available on: https://smartclassroommanagement.com/2012/11/17/why-a-simple-pause-is-a-powerful-classroom-management-strategy/#:~:text=A%20pause%20gives%20you%20a,nonverbal%20reactions%20to%20your%20lessons. [Accessed 10 June 2020].
Matthies, C., Dobrigkeit, F., & Ernst, A. (2019). Counteracting agile retrospective problems with retrospective activities. In Systems, Software and Services Process Improvement: 26th European Conference, EuroSPI 2019, Edinburgh, UK, September 18–20, 2019, Proceedings 26 (pp. 532-545). Springer International Publishing.
Miller, C. C., & Ireland, R. D. (2005). Intuition in strategic decision making: Friend or foe in the fast-paced 21st century?. Academy of Management Perspectives, 19(1), 19-30. https://doi.org/10.5465/ame.2005.15841948
Mintzberg, H. 2011. Managing. Pearson Education, Harlow, UK.
Motsepe, H., Sethu, M.J., Sikhosana, S. and Dladlama, B., 2026. The Role of Postgraduate Education in Developing Leadership for the Modern Workplace. International Journal of Applied Research in Business and Management, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.51137/wrp.ijarbm.493
Petitmengin, C. (2014). Researching the microdynamics of intuitive experience. In Handbook of research methods on intuition (pp. 188-198). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781782545996.00024
Pinshi, C. P. (2021). Exploring the usefulness of Fintech in the dark era of COVID-19. Journal of Advanced Studies in Finance (JASF), 12(23), 40-50.
Popper, K.R. 1979. Three Worlds. Michigan Quarterly Review. 18: 1-23.
Raelin, J. A. (2007). Toward an epistemology of practice. Academy of management learning & education, 6(4), 495-519. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2007.27694950
Roberts, J. K., Pavlakis, A. E., & Richards, M. P. (2021). It’s more complicated than it seems: Virtual qualitative research in the COVID-19 era. International journal of qualitative methods, 20, 16094069211002959. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069211002959
Sadler-Smith, E., & Shefy, E. (2004). The intuitive executive: Understanding and applying ‘gut feel’in decision-making. Academy of Management Perspectives, 18(4), 76-91. https://doi.org/10.5465/ame.2004.15268692
Saldana, J. 2021. The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. SAGE Publication
Salas, E., Rosen, M. A., & DiazGranados, D. (2010). Expertise-based intuition and decision making in organizations. Journal of Management, 36(4), 941-973. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206309350084
Salmons, J. 2022. Doing qualitative research online (2nd Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Ltd.
Samra-Fredericks, D. (2003). Strategizing as lived experience and strategists' everyday efforts to shape strategic direction. Journal of Management Studies (Wiley-Blackwell), 40(1).
Samra-Fredericks, D. (2010). Where is the ‘I’? One silence in strategy research. In The Globalization of Strategy Research (pp. 411-444). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0742-3322(2010)0000027017
Sangweni, Z., & Daweti, B. (2025). Exploring Artificial Intelligence and Work Agility: Towards an Institutional Perspective. International Journal of Applied Research in Business and Management, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.51137/wrp.ijarbm.2025.zset.45853
Schön, D. A. (2017). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Routledge.
Seelos, C., Mair, J., & Traeger, C. (2023). The future of grand challenges research: Retiring a hopeful concept and endorsing research principles. International Journal of Management Reviews, 25(2), 251-269. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12324
Seidl, D., & Whittington, R. (2014). Enlarging the strategy-as-practice research agenda: Towards taller and flatter ontologies. Organization Studies, 35(10), 1407-1421. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840614541886
Seidl, D., & Whittington, R. (2020). How crisis reveals the structures of practices. Journal of Management Studies, 58(1), 240. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12650
Sinclair, M. (Ed.). (2011). Handbook of intuition research. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Stanovich, K. E., & West, R. F. (2000). Advancing the rationality debate. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23(5), 701-717. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00623439
Suddaby, R., Seidl, D., & Lê, J. K. (2013). Strategy-as-practice meets neo-institutional theory. Strategic Organization, 11(3), 329-344. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127013497618
Vaara, E., & Whittington, R. (2012). Strategy-as-practice: Taking social practices seriously. Academy of Management Annals, 6(1), 285-336. https://doi.org/10.5465/19416520.2012.672039
Weick, K. E. (1995). Seven properties of sensemaking. Weick KE: Sensemaking in Organizations, Sage, 17, 62.
Whittington, R. (2006). Completing the practice turn in strategy research. Organization Studies, 27(5), 613-634. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840606064101
Whittington, R. (2019). Opening strategy: Professional strategists and practice change, 1960 to today. Oxford University Press.
Whittington, R., Jarzabkowski, P., Mayer, M., Mounoud, E., Nahapiet, J., & Rouleau, L. (2003). Taking strategy seriously: Responsibility and reform for an important social practice. Journal of Management Inquiry, 12(4), 396-409. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492603258968
Williamson, C., Van Rooyen, A., Shuttleworth, C., Binnekade, C., & Scott, D. (2020). Wuity as a philosophical lens for qualitative data analysis. International journal of qualitative methods, 19, https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406920926885
Williamson, C., van Rooyen, A., & Dry, R. (2025). In tandem with artificial intelligence: a working framework for coding in ATLAS. ti™. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 24, 16094069241306551. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069241306551
World Health Organisation, 2020. Origin of SARS-CoV-2. [Online] Available from: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/332197 [Accessed on 2 August 2021].
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Sagrie C. Govender, Annemarie Davis, Charmaine Williamson (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
