From threat‐rigidity to flexibility ‐ Toward a learning model of autogenic crisis in organizations

Complementing prior research by Staw et al. (“Threat‐rigidity effects in organizational behavior: a multilevel analysis”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 26 No. 4, 1981, pp. 501‐24), the authors develop a new conceptual model of organizational change, “autogenic crisis”. The authors’ update of Staw et al.’s threat‐rigidity model shows that top managers may initiate strategic “pre‐adaptations” to future crises, thereby using latent threat to generate organizational flexibility, learning, renewal and, possibly, longer life.