I am confident that we have all experienced the phenomenon of entrainment in daily life. Think about the experiences of ‘being on the same wavelength’, or ‘being in sync’. They typically generate an elevated emotion or feeling. Also physiologically, many of us have witnessed the adjustment of our bodies that occurs when we change time zones and suffer from jetlag. However, we are less familiar with the word “entrainment”, which stems from the French verb “entraîner” (to drag, to pull). It was the Dutch mathematician, Christiaan Huygens (17th century), who discovered the syncing of pendulum clocks if they were put on the same beam (Minorsky 1962). Before management scholars recognized its potential for organizations, the phenomenon has been studied in various other disciplines – including physics, neuroscience, physiology, and biology. Naturally occurring cycles exist within individuals, groups, organizations, and environments, and these cycles entrain each other (both consciously unconsciously). Moreover, recent studies identified a positive correlation between entrainment and organizational outcomes. (e.g., Khavul et al. 2010; Shi & Prescott 2012; Dibrell et al. 2015). In other words, entrainment provides a new lens to look at organizational phenomena and emphasizes the existence of distinct variables, such as pacing, duration, intensity, stage, and implementation speed (Ancona et al. 2001; Ancona & Chong 1996). Moreover, this entrainment lens can help leaders and their organisations to navigate through these VUCA times (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous).
Before giving an overview of the research done in the area of management domain entrainment, it is important to understand its characteristics and how it differs from the concepts of coherence, resonance and flow. For entrainment to happen, cycles need to interact and adjust to one another, and finally maintain a consistent relationship, in frequency or in phase. For example, the monthly sales cycle of an organisation can be entrained to the quarterly reporting cycles. Holiday periods of an organization or specific marketing efforts can be scheduled to be in phase with the holiday periods of colleges, and the availability of additional workforces. Thus, entrainment is an adjustment process between several independent cycles, typically to the more powerful or deliberately chosen cycle. Coherence describes the degree of entrainment of that end state. Resonance, on the other hand, involves syncing of dependent cycles. Think about the wine glass that synchronizes to the vibration of a tuning fork. The glass itself does not vibrate. It can only attune to the vibration of the tuning fork . The term ‘flow’ refers to a state of mind and is defined as “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990, p. 4).
In reviewing the literature about entrainment in organisations, I identified six major themes that have been researched: organisational outcomes; organisational theory; time; change; knowledge and emotion. First, the reviewed articles establish a positive relationship between entrainment and several
context-dependent outcomes at the organisational and group levels. However, there are some key requirements: cycles need to be perceived, and skills need to be present to manage rhythmic strategic choices over time (Pérez-Nordtvedt et al. 2008; Shi & Presott 2012). Next, regarding organisation theory, entrainment primarily contributed to greater understanding of higher levels of theoretical complexities, in the environment (Schmitt & Klarner 2015; McCarthy et al. 2010; Chiles et al. 2010), in organisations (Ofori-Dankwa & Julian 2001), and also in consciousness (Letiche & Hagemeijer 2004). To what extent leaders can be trained to quickly identify and effectively entrain and detrain themselves and their organizations, remains a topic for further research. The temporal lens in research may help us to discover new views on leadership, organisations, and capabilities in which entrainment plays a crucial role (Ancona et al. 2001). There are numerous cycles in organisations (e.g., action and reflection activities; work-life balance). Scholars argue that there is an opportunity for organizations to rethink and sync their rhythms through strategic action. Studies in change management highlight the role of entrainment as a pacer to which other activities align. However, these studies highlight that change agents need to possess temporal capability skills to perceive and manage the change effectively. Another theme is that of knowledge management. Scholars argue that teams with low levels of entrainment exhibit lower levels of knowledge integration. Sometimes knowledge creation relies on cyclical rather than an incremental perception of time (Remington & Söderholm 2009), as this is evidenced in new management methods, such as agile. Finally, researchers introduced two new applications of entrainment that could drive emotions: behavioural and emotional entrainment. Successful participation in those processes is key to create group affect. Intensity also plays a role in interactions. Less is sometimes more.
How can entrainment help leaders and their organizations navigate through VUCA times? First, in aligning rhythms across organizations, may make them more agile; a key element for coping with volatility. Next, information is critical for reducing uncertainty (but also ambiguity). Higher levels of entrainment may foster higher levels of knowledge creation and integration, generating new information. Third, entrainment of the internal organisations to the environmental complexities is an effective way to address this challenge. Finally, the entrainment lens can help leaders to look differently at relations and their coherence among each other, which could reduce ambiguity. As you can see, the understanding and application of entrainment can be complex, but researchers agree that aligning cycles has a positive effect on organisational outcomes.Remember that entrainment is a natural process of adjustment to one or more dominant cycles.
These cycles can be within a system, but also between systems. Entrainment can happen at many levels (e.g., individual, group, organisation), but also across levels (e.g. individual-team). Adjustment can be conscious (through strategic choice) or unconscious. Nevertheless, a good place to start witnessing this process is at the individual level, within yourself.
In my next article, I will explain how to increase entrainment through the application of spiritual leadership.
See also the editorial reflections on Brahma Muhūrta and Entrainment in this OM RISE issue.
1. Dr. Danny Sandra (PhD MBA MSc CST) is an experienced management consultant, researcher, coach, and craniosacral therapist who guides leadership teams and their organizations through the exciting journey of strategic transformation. He is the managing director of NIKETI, a consulting firm specialized in conscious transformation and change. This article is based on Danny Sandra’s doctoral thesis. He recently did his PhD in Applied Economics at the University of Antwerp on the topics of spiritual leadership and entrainment in organizations.
References
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Ancona, Deborah, C. Chong. 1996. “Entrainment: Pace, cycle & rhythm in organizational behavior.” In Research in organizational behavior 18, edited by B.M. Staw and L.L. Cummings, 251–284. Greenwich, CT: Jai Press.
Chiles, T. H., C. S. Tuggle, J. S. McMullen, L. Bierman, D. W. Greening. 2010. “Dynamic Creation: Extending the Radical Austrian Approach to Entrepreneurship.” Organization Studies 31 (1): 7–46.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. 1990. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. NY: Harper & Row.
Dibrell, C., S. Fairclough, P. S. Davis. 2015. “The Impact of External and Internal Entrainment on Firm Innovativeness: A Test of Moderation.” Journal of Business Research 68 (1): 19–26.
Khavul, Susanna, Liliana Pérez-Nordtvedt, and Eric Wood. 2010. “Organizational Entrainment and International New Ventures from Emerging Markets.” Journal of Business Venturing 25 (1): 104–119.
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Minorsky, N. 1962. Nonlinear oscillations. Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand.
Ofori-Dankwa, Joseph, and Scott D. Julian. 2001. “Complexifying Organizational Theory: Illustrations Using Time Research.” Academy of Management Review 26 (3): 415–430.
Perez-Nordtvedt, L., G. T. Payne, J. C. Short, and B. L. Kedia. 2008. “An Entrainment-Based Model of Temporal Organizational Fit, Misfit, and Performance.” Organization Science 19 (5): 785–801.
Remington, J., and A. Söderholm. 2009. “Let’s do the time warp again: the concept of time in complex organizational change projects.” Proceedings of the IX IRNOP Conference, Berlin.
Sandra, Danny, and Sharda S. Nandram. 2020. “Driving Organizational Entrainment through Spiritual Leadership.” Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion 17 (4): 316–332.
Sandra, Danny. 2020. “Entrainment in Organizations. An Exploration at the Individual and Group Level.” Doctoral dissertation, University of Antwerp, Belgium.
Schmitt, Achim, and Patricia Klarner. 2015. “From Snapshot to Continuity: A Dynamic Model of Organizational Adaptation to Environmental Changes.” Scandinavian Journal of Management 31 (1): 3–13.
Shi, W., and J. E. Prescott. 2012. “Rhythm and Entrainment Of Acquisition and Alliance Initiatives and Firm Performance: a Temporal Perspective.” Organization Studies 33 (10): 1281–1310.
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