01771nas a2200169   4500008004100000245010000041210006900141260000900210300001200219490000700231520123500238653001501473100001701488700001801505700001901523856005901542       2016                        eng d00aDelaying Change: Examining How Industry and Managerial Turbulence Impact Structural Realignment0 aDelaying Change Examining How Industry and Managerial Turbulence  c2016  a791-8170 v593 aThis paper examines when firms pursue structural realignment through business unit reconfiguration, specifically by recombining business units. Our results refine and extend contingency theory and studies of organization design by drawing on theories of decision avoidance and delay to describe environmental conditions when firms pursue or postpone structural realignment. Our empirical analysis of 46 firms from 1978 to 1997, operating within the U.S. medical device and pharmaceutical sectors, demonstrates that while decision makers initiate structural recombination during periods of industry growth (i.e., munificence), they reduce their recombination efforts during periods of industry turbulence (i.e., dynamism), and managerial turbulence (i.e., growth in top management team size). We also find evidence that firms delay realignment and bide their time for better environmental conditions of declining turbulence and industry growth before pursuing more structural realignment. Together, these findings suggest that decision makers often delay initiating structural recombination until they can effectively process information and assess how structural changes will help them realign the organization to the environment.10aManagement1 aCarroll, Tim1 aKarim, Samina1 aLong, Chris, P  uhttps://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amj.2012.0409