The Impact of Temporal Schemata: Understanding When Individuals Entrain Versus Resist or Create Temporal Structure

As the pace of contemporary work increases, organizations seek to coordinate their employees' efforts, particularly through the temporal coordination of pace and rhythm. Yet, little research has examined individual cognition, affect, and behavior in response to the "pull" of entrainme...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Academy of Management review 2021-04, Vol.46 (2), p.299-319
Main Authors: Shipp, Abbie J., Richardson, Hettie A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive ability
Contemporary art
Coordination
Cues
Individual differences
Management
Methods
Organizational behavior
Organizational structure
Rhythm
Temporal integration
Temporal logic
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Summary:As the pace of contemporary work increases, organizations seek to coordinate their employees' efforts, particularly through the temporal coordination of pace and rhythm. Yet, little research has examined individual cognition, affect, and behavior in response to the "pull" of entrainment to an organization's temporal structure. In this paper, we develop theory highlighting how individuals use temporal schemata-cognitive frameworks about time-to interpret and respond to temporal cues provided by an organization's temporal structure (i.e., "push back"). We propose that individuals can automatically or deliberately entrain, actively or passively resist, or create additional temporal structure. By identifying how individuals compare temporal cues against their temporal schemata within a situation, we develop a temporal cognitive-affective processing model to explain how individuals navigate the tension between their individualized view of time and social pressures for coordination. This model emphasizes the underdeveloped individual-level aspects of entrainment and contributes to future research by demonstrating that, contrary to prior research findings, (a) entrainment varies in degree and type, (b) entrainment (or lack thereof) is both cognitive and affective, and (c) entrainment may not be sustained.
ISSN:0363-7425
1930-3807
DOI:10.5465/amr.2017.0384