{
  "title": "Prioritising: coordinating handovers",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/prioriser-coordonner-les-passages-de-relais-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-06-25",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "Well-managed individual calendars do not guarantee a smooth collective workflow. Research suggests examining handovers, not just task lists.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Time Management & Prioritisation",
  "place": {
    "name": "Geneva",
    "region": "Genève",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Connie Gersick (1988, Academy of Management Journal) observed that the project teams she studied did not progress through a regular sequence of stages: periods of relative stability were separated by a transition around the midpoint of the available time."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The mechanism: making dependencies understandable",
      "point": "In their review, Gerardo Okhuysen and Beth Bechky (2009, Academy of Management Annals) identify three integrating conditions for coordination: accountability, predictability and common understanding."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The hasty conclusion",
      "point": "One might conclude that teams should add more milestones and formalise every handover."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The limits of the evidence and of calendars",
      "point": "Connie Gersick’s study draws on a small set of project teams; it does not establish a universal law of work rhythms."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Genève",
      "point": "Within SHR’s “[Time Management & Prioritisation](/formation/gestion-du-temps/geneve)” programme, one exercise is to track a Geneva-based workflow for two weeks: file approval in private banking, preparation of a briefing note in an international organisation, quality approval in luxury watchmaking or document processing in commodity trading."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Gersick",
      "year": "1988",
      "source": "Academy of Management Journal"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Bechky",
      "year": "2009",
      "source": "Academy of Management Annals"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 411,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-editorial-2026-06-25-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/prioriser-coordonner-les-passages-de-relais",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/prioriser-coordonner-les-passages-de-relais-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/prioriser-coordonner-les-passages-de-relais-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/prioriser-coordonner-les-passages-de-relais-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation/gestion-du-temps/geneve",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/geneve",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}