CEF.UP – MaR Seminar/Webinar

Tuesday – March 18^th, 2025 | 18:30h – 20:00h | Room 631 | Online

“Management control and agility: Temporal anchor practices and the (re-)production of temporal asymmetries between waterfall mainland and agile islands”

Sebastian Becker – HEC Paris (France)

Abstract:

Based on qualitative data collected in an organization attempting an ‘agile transformation’, this paper studies the emergence and (re )production of temporal clashes between temporally asymmetric worlds – between agile islands and the waterfall mainland. We argue and empirically demonstrate how temporal asymmetries and concomitant clashes between temporally asymmetric worlds may stem from the existence of different and seemingly incompatible temporal anchor practices, specifying the normatively expected and accepted temporal performance across the nexus of practices within these communities. Our analysis emphasizes the role of management control practices, central for intra-organizational cooperation in (re )producing and manifesting such temporal anchor practices and in bringing tensions between the temporally asymmetric worlds to the fore. Moreover, we outline two particular strategies that the members of the temporally asymmetric worlds resorted to in their attempts to address existing temporal clashes that jeopardized productive cooperation.