Locked-In Working Time Regimes: Exploring Barriers to Change in a Management Consulting Firm
Journal
Academy of Management Proceedings
ISSN
0065-0668
ISSN-Digital
2151-6561
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2015
Author(s)
Abstract
This paper reports the findings of a longitudinal case study that traces the emergence and gradual perpetuation of the long working hours regime of an elite management consulting firm over a period of thirty-two years. Whereas extant research has highlighted the need for changing culturally embedded patterns of extraordinary long and inflexible hours, it has not sufficiently illuminated why, despite the numerous organizationally supported change efforts, consulting firms' working time regimes remain ultra-stable. What are the hidden barriers behind this surprising persistence? Drawing on the theory of organizational path dependence, this paper suggests that in order to understand how to change a working time regime, one first needs to examine in more detail the drivers of its ongoing persistence. In particular, we identify two self-reinforcing dynamics that have driven the formation and continuous stabilization of the working time regime studied. These findings contribute not only to explaining the puzzling persistence of working time regimes but also to current debates about organizational stability and change (i) by advancing a processual view of organizational path dependence and (ii) by highlighting the need for a more dynamic understanding of organizational stability.
Language
English
Keywords
long working hours
management consulting
path dependence
Publisher
Academy of Management
Volume
2015
Number
1