Strategizing as protective interrupting : Preliminary insights from two case studies on strategic change within hospitals

Taking a practice-based perspective on strategy and strategic change, this paper aims at contributing to the current discussion about the interface between organizing and strategizing. Drawing on the concept of strategic episodes, we specifically explore practices and processes conducive to a fruitful interruption and suspension of operational routines allowing the differentiation of strategizing from organizing. The focus is on strategic initiatives, conceived of as series of episodes related in time by a general overarching theme. Based on a preliminary analysis of two longitudinal case studies in hospitals, the paper delineates the concept of "protective interrupting" as an approach that enables strategizing