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Riding on the Waves of Change: Towards Pulsating Normality as a Process of Routinizing Novelty

Kim Louisa Dillenberger (Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Germany)

Routine Dynamics: Organizing in a World in Flux

ISBN: 978-1-83549-553-7, eISBN: 978-1-83549-552-0

Publication date: 22 July 2024

Abstract

Our understanding of what we call “normal” in organizations has been shaken multiple times in recent years. As change is perceived as an inherent feature of routine dynamics, it is relevant to understand how change becomes established as a new normal. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore how change in routines takes hold as normality forms. To answer this question, the author studies the change in routines in an in-depth process case study of a higher education organization during the COVID-19 pandemic transforming its teaching model. The author’s findings show that normality formation is a dynamic process. While normality can be described as a snapshot of the current state of what is considered normal at one point in time, normality transforms in sequential waves making the overall process of normality formation pulsate. In drawing out six patterning mechanisms, the author introduces a pulsating normality as the transformative evolution of what is considered normal. This study speaks to routine dynamics literature, contributing to a better understanding of how a variation in performance becomes patterned as a sustained part of a routine.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

I gratefully acknowledge the inspiring feedback of Brian Pentland and Christian Mahringer as well as of both anonymous reviewers. I also thank the participants of the 2022 routine dynamics track at the European Group for Organizational Studies, and of the 2022 Academy of Management Meeting who provided very helpful suggestions for developing the manuscript. I further thank Alfie Jackson for invaluable support throughout the entire paper development process.

Citation

Dillenberger, K.L. (2024), "Riding on the Waves of Change: Towards Pulsating Normality as a Process of Routinizing Novelty", Mahringer, C.A., Pentland, B.T., Renzl, B., Sele, K. and Spee, P. (Ed.) Routine Dynamics: Organizing in a World in Flux (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 88), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 111-129. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20240000088006

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited