Building Resilience in Temporary Organizations: Lessons from a Shipyard

This chapter discusses the organizational and occupational dimensions of resilience in temporary organizing contexts and how these contribute to sustained reliable performance. When dealing with issues related to high levels of safety in complex settings, longstanding organizations with strong organizational routines are often described as the most appropriate forms of organizing. However, temporary forms of organizing are developing and little is known on how actors engaged in such contexts can enhance and sustain resilience when facing uncertainty in safety-critical contexts. This chapter addresses this gap in the literature by demonstrating that temporary organizations, such as project-based ones, can also deal with major safety issues, and that temporary forms of organizing can help complex projects to be efficiently and safely carried out. We examine this proposition by studying the case of an inter-organizational and safety-critical project: the construction by a shipyard of a series of ships. Looking at the meso-level, i.e. the occupational groups involved in the project, we show how temporary forms of organizing and occupational groups together contribute to the resilience of the whole project. We highlight that the ability of the project to coordinate temporary organizing forms is key in achieving (safe) performance.

Relational and Networking Character: Threat or Savior for the Sustainability of European Erasmus+ Projects in the Times of COVID-19 Pandemic?

Turbulent and unstable times caused by the COVID-19 pandemic constitute specific training grounds as well as a stress test to verify in practice the validity of assumptions underlying the modern paradigms in management on the one hand, and to assess which factors contribute, or pose challenges and threats, to the resilience and sustainability of modern organizations on the other hand. Research was conducted among 990 Erasmus+ project leaders to assess to what extent the factors connected with the relational and networking characteristics of Erasmus+ projects, functioning as temporary organizations, facilitate the sustainability of European transnational cooperation projects in the times of the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion concentrates on the digital and social dimensions of transnational cooperation and places these dimensions in the broader context of relational view and network paradigm in the modern science of management as well as in the context of strategic management. Bibliometric analysis shows that no such research has been conducted so far. Researchers tend to analyze the impact of Erasmus+ projects on regional, national, and European communities but do not touch upon the aspects connected with the management of the projects themselves, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, this research fills a research gap in this respect.

Temporary and permanent aspects of project organizing – operation and maintenance of road infrastructure

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the interdependencies between temporary and permanent aspects of project organizing and how they affect the management of public infrastructure operation and maintenance (O&M) activities.Design/methodology/approachThe paper applies a case study approach and uses Lundin and Söderholm's (1995) framework of the temporary organization (with the themes of time, task, team and transition) to distinguish between temporary and permanent aspects of organizing two infrastructure O&M projects.FindingsThis paper adds to the literature on temporary organizations by recognizing a mixture of temporary and permanent aspects of project organizing in an empirical project-level example. In line with previous research, the themes of time, task, team and transition were shown to be interdependent. Furthermore, the paper broadens the theory of temporary organizations by presenting a project organization with significant permanent aspects.Practical implicationsProject managers of public sector projects need to be aware of the possible mixture of temporary and permanent aspects of project organizing. Management of projects that are found to have a mixture of temporary and permanent aspects should combine the perspectives and management practices of both temporary and permanent organizing. Not acknowledging permanent aspects could lead to management that is not adapted to the prerequisites of project organizing in this context.Originality/valueThe findings further develop the literature on temporary organizations by recognizing that there is not only a mixture of temporary and permanent aspects between the temporary organization and its permanent environment but there is also a mixture of temporary and permanent aspects of organizing within project organizations.

Local Autonomy in Temporary Organizations: The Case of Smart City Pilots

Local actors are to an increasing extent engaging in national and European Union (EU)–based development and sustainability agendas. These ventures often materialize in the form of temporary organizations such as pilots and projects. This article contributes to debates on project-based, experimental and temporary organizations by unpacking the organizational architecture of pilots and analyzing how the democratic autonomy of local public actors is formed. Through the example of smart city pilots, the study shows how a range of intersecting relations and hierarchies enable and circumscribe public-sector autonomy—from local actors’ attempts to align pilots with political goals to the limitations of standardized and scalable knowledge and strict funding requirements.

Developing a Metaphor for Self-Managed Organizations

This chapter presents the Avocado metaphor for advanced value organizations (AVOs) based on emergent, hybrid, and self-maturing temporary organizational theories. The metaphor was constructed through bricolage, bringing in concepts and ideas from different areas. AVOs develop as a response to ever-changing business environments, which are more and more often transiting towards new ways of working, primarily projects. Avocado organizations reflect the global trend of smaller organizational designs creating organizations within organizations and teams of teams. Research is theoretical. It includes a general view on metaphors and their importance in organizational theory. Special attention is given to the definition of advanced value organizations, emergent theories, hybrid organizational designs, organizational lifecycles, and maturing processes, as well as temporary organizations and new working arrangements based mainly on projects. The avocado metaphor is explained in every section allowing a better understanding of how it can be used to describe modern-day organizations.