Firm strategy and conflicting discourses: dominant, strategic and marginal

The present research has studied an Iranian oil holding using a critical discourse analysis approach to identify the organization's modes of discourse. This research explores the possible relationship between discourse conflicts and strategy failure. This study showed that there are three modes of discourse named as dominant, strategic, and marginal which are active in the three levels of top management, middle management, and employees; due to the conflict and sometimes opposition between them, a common understanding of the mission, goals, and strategies were lost. Therefore, the current research has revealed the gap in the "classical" strategic literature by adding a discursive perspective. Also, the necessity of knowing and understanding the multiple discourses of the organization as an important factor in the implementation of the strategy has been revealed. The results of this research suggest that the strategist's responsibility is not only limited to analyzing competitiveness but also to studying and shaping the cultural and social aspects of the organization.