Abstract
A central idea in organizational research and practice is that change efforts demand a sense of urgency. It is also commonly accepted that renewal beyond incremental improvements demand individuals and teams to have what earlier research has called a “promotion focus”—to think innovatively, see opportunities, and think long term. Urgency, however, leads to a “prevention focus,” with which teams and their members are more inclined to seek incremental improvements and error reduction. Hence, urgency seems to both support change and prevent it. Earlier research has not established the conditions under which urgency may lead to creative and productive outcomes. This paper aims to do so. In a study of seven change initiatives at a large media company undergoing a serious crisis, we found that urgency cues could be productively handled by managers and project team members when they addressed three core relationships: (a) the success-failure relationship, (b) the safety-accountability relationship, and (c) the operative-strategic relationship. We make three related theoretical propositions regarding the role of urgency in innovation-driven change and transformation.
Highlights
Traditional change models commonly describe the need for an organization-wide sense of urgency (Cady et al, 2014; Kotter, 1995; Lewin, 1947; Oreg et al, 2011), such as a perceived threat, that creates the motivation needed to move away from the current state and toward a new state
We provide insight into the resolution process in which teams managed to create a promotion focus, despite environmental and managerial cues that logically would lead to a prevention focus
We found three key components that helped turn pressure from the sense of urgency to a promotion focus instead of a prevention focus: the success-failure relationship, the safety-accountability relationship, and the operative-strategic relationship
Summary
Traditional change models commonly describe the need for an organization-wide sense of urgency (Cady et al, 2014; Kotter, 1995; Lewin, 1947; Oreg et al, 2011), such as a perceived threat, that creates the motivation needed to move away from the current state and toward a new state. A prevention focus favors upholding current standards, risk aversion and error avoidance, something that is highly efficient in creating a faster set response. It is not sufficient in situations where new, creative solutions are needed.
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