Organization and Management Theory OMT

Convenors:

René M. Bakker, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Andreas Schwab, Iowa State University, USA

Jörg Sydow, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

Call for Papers

One of the most salient aspects of project-based organizing is that projects (as well as other forms of temporary organizations) are characterized by intentionally finite time spans that enable firms to organize in a flexible, ad-hoc manner. Interest by organization scholars in this subject is rapidly growing and has extended from studying traditional project settings, such as movie production and construction, to studying a much wider variety of temporary organizational processes in firms.

Despite this broadening research interest, our progress toward understanding the temporal organizational processes that are germane to project-based organizing is being limited by the lack of a strong theoretical base. The aim of this sub-theme is to bring together current conceptual and empirical research that deepens our understanding of project-based organizing and the broader temporary organizational processes to which it relates. We are particularly interested in work that involves a temporal lens, as we believe time is one of the most salient dimensions of project-based organizing, and one that can have much broader theoretical implications in organizational research.

Key questions and themes

The following issues illustrate potential areas of interest, but offer only a starting point, as we welcome creativity in topic, theory and method:

Effects of time horizons and varying durations: While generally regarded as its distinguishing characteristic, the temporary nature of project-based organizing has received only scant research attention. Questions that are left unanswered include, for instance:

• What are the antecedents of varying time horizons of organizational processes, and what are their effects on organizational functioning and outcomes?
• How do the shadow of the past (e.g. prior experiences between participants, path dependence) and shadow of the future (the expectation of future interaction) influence project work?
• What exactly are the dimensions of temporariness, and how can and should they be captured?

Organizational tensions between temporary and permanent. In many firms, temporary and more permanent organizational processes are inherently intertwined. However, current theories rarely address the resulting tensions. Key questions include:

• How is temporary organizing interacting with organizational structures that are more permanent?
• Which tensions and contradictions arise in such nested contexts?
• What (additional) managerial activities are required for integrating temporary organizing into more permanent organizational structures?

Appropriate research designs: The study of temporary organizing requires research designs that explicitly model and account for temporality and the often nested nature of data.

• Do existing methodologies hold promise when applied or adapted to project contexts, like process research designs to capture emerging and dynamic phenomena in their temporal order, or advanced multilevel modeling to better capture cross-level effects pertaining to the tensions at the nexus between temporary and permanent?
• What novel methodological approaches hold promise for capturing temporary organizing phenonema? 

Organization Studies, the official journal of EGOS, invites paper submissions for a Special Issue on "Temporary Organizing" (submission deadline: September 30, 2014). For more information, please click here.

Best regards

Jörg Sydow