It's time for a turnaround on turnaround studies

Despite abundant research into causes and responses to organizational decline, turnaround success rates remain remarkably low. To help remedy this issue, we adopt a relatively novel perspective that examines turnaround from a process strategy perspective as opposed to the more prominent content strategy perspective. Using an input-throughput-output model, we investigate the internal organizational causes of decline, the different aspects of turnaround practices, their contextual factors, and the assessment of turnarounds. We find that organizational decline stems mainly from internal sources, such as dysfunctional leadership and ineffective human interactions, behaviors, and beliefs. We also find that similar turnaround interventions in comparable situations, such as retrenchment and strategic actions, can lead to both negative and positive outcomes. This suggests that the turnaround intervention's content is not pivotal, but the process – how the turnaround is managed – is. Yet, little has been done to study the processes related to interplays involving leaders and their leadership, turnaround practices, and employees’ psychological and behavioral responses. 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.