Killing Boredom: On the Expansion and Contraction of Time during Strategic Change

Sarah Stanske, Matthias Wenzel, Jochen Koch, Madeleine Stefanie Rauch

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperResearchpeer-review

Abstract

While time has become an important topic in management research, the role of an Einsteinian conception of time as dynamic and agentically experienced has only recently gained momentum. We conducted a longitudinal case study in a German IT company going through a series of organizational transformations in order to explore the question: 'How does temporal structuring contribute to the production and re-creation of an organization's identity?' We depict that identity transformations were enabled by an interplay between expansions and contractions of time among top management. More specifically, we depict that boredom was a pivotal mechanism through which organizational transformation was initiated. Management experienced boredom, i.e., periods of time expansions, and engaged in strategic initiatives for the sake of 'killing' it, resulting in contractions of time. With our study we contribute to the literature of organizational identity, time and temporality, and to the burgeoning stream of boredom in organizations.
Original languageEnglish
Publication date2019
Number of pages40
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019
EventThe Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2019: Understanding the Inclusive Organization - Boston, United States
Duration: 9 Aug 201913 Aug 2019
Conference number: 79
http://aom.org/annualmeeting/

Conference

ConferenceThe Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2019
Number79
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBoston
Period09/08/201913/08/2019
Internet address

Keywords

  • Organizational identity
  • Organizational transformation
  • Temporality
  • Boredom

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