Temporal work and the power to delay: How organizations negotiate climate change

Abstract

How do organizations navigate the tension between climate action and entrenched business interests? Our 4.5-year ethnographic study of an energy company examines hidden power dynamics and temporal practices that shape corporate sustainability efforts. Our analysis shows that “practicing time,” that is, actively mediating between past legacies and future ambitions, is not merely a matter of scheduling or planning. Rather, it constitutes a contested arena in which organizational actors negotiate change. We identify three distinct temporal work practices—temporal confirming, temporal compromising, and temporal borrowing—each shaped by shifting dominance between organizational units. Power constellations between units influence how actors (can) engage in temporal work, while, in turn, temporal work itself can be seen as a way of exercising power. In so doing, our study highlights how powerful units draw on temporal practices to delay change, while less powerful units leverage shifts in the salience of internal and external sustainability pressures to accelerate sustainability actions. By uncovering how temporal work and shifting power entrenchment can either accelerate or delay climate action. We highlight how time and power dynamics shape corporate responses to climate change.