Coordination as energy-in-conversation

By: Ryan W. Quinn, Jane Dutton


Quinn, R.E. & Dutton, J.E. (2005). Coordination as energy-in-conversation: A process theory of organizing, Academy of Management Review, 30(1), 36-57.

Abstract:

Coordination is the process people use to create, adapt, and re-create organizations. We propose a theory of coordination as energy-in-conversation to help organizational scholars comprehend the emotional and motivational dynamics of coordination. Our model describes how people generate and diminish their energy in their attempts to coordinate, how this energy affects attempts to coordinate, and how coordinating affects the effort devoted to the activities in the process. This account of the coordination process presents a new approach for understanding performance in interdependent situations.