Underperforming teams in organizational transformations: specific hand-holding required

Organizational transformation refers to the actions where a company or business changes a major component of its organization, which in turn influences organizational performance. In the literature, there is an abundance of study on underperforming teams in organizational transformation. However, little is known on the parameters of an organizational transformation processes in those teams. In an earlier study, we divided teams performance-wise into Green (best), Amber (caution), and Red (worst) teams to signify different scale ratings. Herein, we compare what transformational parameters the red teams differed from the amber and green teams.

We analyzed 3,133 teams in 454 different transformations. Our research findings show that the red team members seemed much less aware and informed about the transformation having unrealistic ambitions about improving their situation. After a management target had been set, the Red teams had (expectedly) more items to work on than Green and Amber. However, this extra work was focused on a much smaller group of team members. Finally, this study may help to focus management attention in an organizational transformation further.