"Organizational Renewal: Review, Proposal, and Guidance for Theory Development"

Abstract

Management researchers use the term “organizational renewal” inconsistently and fail to differentiate it from organizational change, innovation, and learning. As a result, although the term has been the subject of articles and books, such work remains indistinct within the management literature. Efforts toward developing a theory of organizational renewal have been sporadic and diffuse, rather than focused and cumulative. In response, this article reconceptualizes renewal to identify it as a distinct organizational phenomenon meriting researchers’ attention. Our central contention is that organizations can draw upon their own former technologies, practices, and beliefs as the basis for performance-enhancing innovation and organizational change. We begin by reviewing the literature on organizational renewal. We then propose a definition and discuss our conceptualization in relation to social theory, hermeneutics, and management theory. Finally, we provide suggestions to guide and encourage research aimed toward advancing our theoretical understanding of organizational renewal.