MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Beware the Pitfalls of Agility

Given the panoply of recent disruptions — including COVID-19, inflation, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — it’s no surprise that many leaders are striving to quickly dial up the agility level of their companies. Indeed, the ability to rapidly adapt to changing conditions can be a shield against disruption and a healing prescription for crisis. But organizational agility is not a panacea. There are pitfalls in the pursuit of agility that can and do produce unintended consequences.

Agility is a multidimensional concept that comprises three sequential and interrelated processes: alertness to the need for change, the decision to make the change, and the mobilization of the organizational resources required to execute the change. Our agility research and observations regarding the behavior of companies, especially during the pandemic, revealed that each process contains a pitfall that can subvert its outcomes: Alertness harbors the pitfall of hubris, decision-making harbors the pitfall of impulsiveness, and mobilization harbors the pitfall of resource fatigue.

About the Author

Bernadine J. Dykes is an associate professor of management at Shenandoah University. Kalin D. Kolev is an associate professor of management at the Marquette University College of Business Administration. Walter J. Ferrier is a professor and chair of the Department of Management at the Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky. Margaret Hughes-Morgan is an associate professor of management at the Marquette University College of Business Administration.

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