It’s Time for a Turnaround on Turnaround Studies: Putting People and Process First

Unsatisfied with the low success rates of turnarounds, this paper investigates the literature on turnarounds from a process perspective. Using an input-throughput-output model we investigate the causes of decline, the different aspects of turnaround practices, their contextual factors, and the assessment of turnarounds. We conclude that all causes of decline are internal, stemming from dysfunctional leadership habits and human interactions, behaviors, and beliefs. Taking this seriously, turnaround studies should start integrating these organizational pathologies into their research objectives, to advance turnaround practices. We also find that similar turnaround measures under similar conditions show very different results, adding to the notion that content doesn’t matter when it comes to turnaround success, but process does. Still, the interplay between leadership style, the turnaround process, and staff engagement and their relationship to turnaround success is little investigated. We develop an agenda to fill this gap, integrating change management and systems psychodynamic concepts into turnaround studies to advance our understanding of decline and turnarounds and improve turnaround practices around the world.