Crossing times: Temporal boundary-spanning practices in interorganizational projects

This paper introduces the notion of “temporal boundary spanning” and highlights the key role of project management in resolving temporal tensions among partners participating in interorganizational projects (IOPs). The present study, which is based on data from 93 IOPs undertaken within a major change program, relies on in-depth, semi-structured interviews, observations, and detailed analyses of written documents and procedures from those IOPs. Based on the data, we inductively develop a practice-based theory that identifies three main practices (framing, synchronizing, hyping) used to resolve the central temporal tensions observed in the studied IOPs. In that respect, the paper offers novel insights into the role and practice of project management in IOPs.     

Practices of isolation: The shaping of project autonomy in innovation projects

A project's autonomy, the degree to which a project can evolve without constant interference from the parent organization, is a key feature of innovation projects. The literature treats autonomy as a passive phenomenon and underestimates how projects as temporary organizations interact with more permanent forms of organizations. A dynamic and contextually sensitive understanding of project autonomy is valuable; autonomy can change over the course of the project's lifecycle and evolve into extreme isolation. We show how autonomy is shaped through practices of isolation and how this influences project outcomes. Two innovation projects were studied through qualitative-interpretive methods and we analyzed symbolic, discursive and spatial practices of isolation. These practices facilitate the exploration of innovations but limit the transmission of these innovations to the parent organization. We contribute to the literature on temporary organizations and project-to-parent integration by illustrating and theorizing the role of practices of isolation in this process.     

The interorganizational innovation processes of sustainable building: A Dutch case of joint building innovation in sustainability

This article's subject is the cooperation process between organizations that develop and implement innovations in sustainable building. Its main research question is how governmental and commercial organizations organize and structure their joint activities to develop innovations in sustainability. In the search for answers to this question the cooperative activities of innovating organizations are modelled as an interorganizational innovation process. The case study research method is used to investigate the development of interorganizational innovation patterns in sustainability in seven house-building projects in the Dutch residential building sector. The empirical research findings are discussed by means of a comparison with the theoretical framework that includes five complementary stage models of interorganizational innovation processes. The main conclusions of the research are that (1) governmental and commercial organizations that successfully innovate in sustainability go through eight consecutive stages of interorganizational innovation, and (2) perform twenty-two interaction patterns that are part of these stages.     

Shared and fragmented understandings in interorganizational IT project teams: An interpretive case study

Shared understanding is essential in interorganizational projects to integrate the divergent knowledge of individual team members and support collaborative knowledge building. This can nevertheless be a challenging undertaking in interorganizational projects as team members must continuously negotiate differences in their organizational and professional backgrounds during project work. In this paper, we explore how interorganizational IT project teams deal with sources of ‘fragmentation’ in their understanding, explicating the theoretical and practical implications that these have for project management. Our study is needed to explore the increasingly complex and emergent nature of interorganizational project management today where neither goals nor the means of attainment are known with precision at a project's launch. We analyze interpretive case study findings from an 8-month IT project involving diverse organizations from industry, academia, and healthcare. Based on our findings, we develop a framework which highlights the relationship between three sources of fragmentation of understanding (interpersonal, technical, and contextual) across key project activities. We contribute towards project management literature by revealing how these sources of fragmentation might be overcome through framing project activities (the problem, method, and solution formulation) differently. While fragmentation may characterize any, or all, of these key activities, it is not without remedy.     

Organizational practices that enable and disable knowledge transfer: The case of a public sector project-based organization

Project-based organizations (PBOs) are framed in a dynamic bi-directional interaction between the permanent organization and its temporary units (projects). The study of knowledge transfer in PBOs has focused exclusively on the knowledge transfer practices held at the realm of the temporary units; however, we still need to understand how the permanent organization can enable this knowledge transfer process. Using a deductive-inductive approach and exploring the case of a division managed as PBO in a provincial government agency in Canada, we analyzed how the practices led by the permanent organization enable the actual knowledge transfer across projects. We found that different practices conducted at the level of the permanent organization were enabling or disabling the performance of formal and informal knowledge transfer practices executed at the temporary units. In this work we show how by distorting the goal of the formal knowledge transfer practices the permanent organization pushed the project team members to the use of informal knowledge practices to overcome this flaw. We argue that a balanced deployment of formal and informal knowledge transfer practices not only can boost knowledge transfer but also can reinforce the temporary organizations’ embeddedness within the permanent organization.     

Similar but different? The influence of job satisfaction,organizational commitment and person-job fit on individual performance in the continuum between permanent and temporary organizations

Permanent organizations and temporary organizations, such as projects, represent two poles of a continuum of organizational temporariness. The literature has shown that organizational temporariness can influence organizational outcomes and employee behavior. Using a sample of 341 members of temporary organizations, we investigate job satisfaction and organizational commitment in a permanent organization and person-job fit in a temporary organization as antecedents of employee performance. We further examine how the degree of organizational temporariness moderates these relationships. The findings show that job satisfaction and organizational commitment negatively influence employee performance in a work environment shaped by the coexistence of a permanent organization and a temporary organization, in opposition to their known effects in permanent organizations.     

Cooperating in interorganizational innovation projects: Toward a better understanding of coupling with the permanent ecosystem

Innovation increasingly relies on a diversity of knowledge held by multiple partners who join their efforts within interorganizational projects. Engaging heterogeneous actors with different and sometimes conflicting expectations to collaborate is not without challenges. Works have already stressed the particularities of such projects and provided guidance for setting up and managing them. However, we know little about the influence of permanent contexts on the pattern of cooperation of interorganizational innovation projects. Based on a field study, this paper aims to explain how the coupling of the project with the ecosystem (the wider permanent context) frames the cooperative stances throughout project execution. We highlight the dialectical nature of changes in cooperative stances, which are driven by evolving degrees of coupling between project partners and the ecosystem. Hence, the coupling tightens as partners are more knowledgeable about the requirements of the wider ecosystem and share the overarching goal of resolving bottlenecks.     

Emergent organizing: Origins and evolution of temporary crisis response organizations

Projects and other temporary organizations play a key role in crisis response. However, little is known about how these organizations adapt and change over time as crises last. We conducted a qualitative, longitudinal study of emergent organizing in temporary crisis organizations. This paper focuses on the origins and development of three temporary organizations responding to the COVID-19 crisis in the Netherlands and how these evolved during the crisis. Results of this study show three stages of emergent organizing: identification of operational voids, dynamics of emergent organizing, and solidification. As such, we theorize how emergent organizing is initiated and how it unfolds in longitudinal crises. In this way, our study contributes to literature on project management, crisis management theory, and the general organization and management literature.     

Dual dynamics: Project-based institutional work and subfield differences in the Dutch construction industry

This article examines how actors use relational institutional work in inter-organizational projects (IOPs) to mobilize key stakeholders from two loosely coupled subfields with the aim to institutionalize a new project delivery method with new underlying practices. In our longitudinal case study in a project-based business, in this case the Dutch construction industry, we identified three types of relational institutional work: awareness creation, selective networking, and coalition building. We found that institutional work was relatively effective in the co-supplier subfield and less effective in the architectural subfield. We explain this by zooming in on the differences between these two subfields on three interrelated dimensions that manifested themselves in institutional IOPs: nature of activities, social positions, and coopetition. Our study connects the literature on IOPs with developments in institutional theory and further advances the institutional project management literature.     

Temporal conditioning and the dynamics of inter-institutional projects

This paper presents an in-depth and processual case study of a major infrastructural innovation project involving diverse private and public-sector organizations. The case study shows how organizing developed recursively in response to diverging temporal requirements, induced by the temporal institutional complexity facing the project. We introduce the idea of temporal conditioning to demonstrate how large-scale temporary organizations dynamically cope with conflicting temporal institutional requirements by making use of three strategies: (1) temporal avoidance, (2) temporal splitting, and (3) temporal matching. With its focus on the emergence of the project, this paper adds to our understanding of the dynamics of organizing in temporary and institutionally pluralistic settings – settings that put greater pressures on our ability to deal with conflicting institutional requirements pertaining to time and timing. Accordingly, we offer a new perspective on the dynamics of large-scale projects and how they respond to a particular kind of institutional complexity.     

Reinforcing cycles involving inter- and intraorganizational paradoxical tensions when managing large construction projects

In recent years, scholars have shown a growing interest in combining control and flexibility when organizing and managing large construction projects, in contrast with the traditional focus on control. Prior research recognizes that there is a paradoxical tension between control and flexibility, meaning that, while both approaches make sense individually, they appear impossible to combine. Large construction projects are interorganizational, which means that tensions between interorganizational control/flexibility coexist with tensions between intraorganizational direction/empowerment, but the interplay and possible reinforcing cycles involving the two tensions have rarely been investigated in prior research. A multiple case study of four large construction projects with three rounds of interviews show how intraorganizational direction/empowerment can influence interorganizational control/flexibility and vice versa, and demonstrate both vicious and virtuous reinforcing cycles that involve the two types of tensions. Therefore, contributing to the project management and construction management literature, it is argued that employing a systemic approach when studying interorganizational projects is essential. A systemic paradox perspective can reveal interdependencies between tensions at different organizational interfaces, improve the understanding of how individuals in all managerial positions interplay, and explain how reinforcing cycles emerge and develop; this is important to recognize when organizing, staffing and managing large construction projects.     

Shaping interorganizational strategic projects through power relations and strategic practices

Power in interorganizational strategic projects, used for implementing strategic change, is essential but not well understood. This paper devises a conceptual framework in which power relations, strategic practices and an order and conflict view are integrated. An ethnoventionist approach, including ethnography and interventions, is used to show power relations and strategic practices in an interorganizational change project. This project aimed to improve the collaboration between nine organizations in the joint building of subsurface utilities and telecom networks. The findings show four relevant power relations and the delegating of power from top managers to shop-flow workers, which triggered middle managers to constrain the change process. implementation of these innovations. Theoretically, the study contributes to the debate on interorganizational strategic projects with a conceptual framework including power relations, strategic practices and the order and conflict view, demonstrating the long-term effects of strategic change projects.     

Projects and institutions: towards understanding their mutual constitution and dynamics

Institutions are long-term and stabilizing mechanisms of social interaction that provide much of the groundwork for projects as temporary systems. Due to amassed change ambitions in contemporary projects, not least reflected in their increasing complexity, such systems to a greater extent revolve around processes of institutional change. This development sparks scholarly inquiries emphasizing the need for better understanding the linkages between projects and institutions, and how projects cope with and trigger institutional change. This introductory paper seeks to provide a background and backdrop to the study of the interlinkages between projects and institutions – to demonstrate how they are mutually constituting each other. However, this paper also points to various problems associated with them and the process in practice, and what problems require particular scholarly attention. Further, we discuss how the papers of this special issue inform a revised research agenda for the study of projects and institutions, and how they help us better understand some of the identified challenges.     

Citizenship behavior and effectiveness in temporary organizations

Studying temporary organizations from a behavioral perspective, we theorize how Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) as a form of cooperative effort may enhance the effectiveness of this type of organization, rendering the temporary organizations vital, even beyond their termination. Building upon such a perspective, a quantitative, cross-sectional study was conducted, with 247 project managers and workers participating. Principal component analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were performed. The results reveal that OCB not only facilitates meeting the “iron triangle” (time, budget, quality) of project management but also improves the relationship quality among individual actors beyond the termination of projects. This relationship is partially moderated by project duration. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

Building Project Capabilities in PBOs: Lessons from the French Special Forces

Project-based organizations (PBOs) have become a widespread form of organizations, ideally suited to deal with unstable and dynamic environments. However, PBOs inherently incorporate the conflicting needs of, on the one hand, the temporary nature of projects and on the other hand, the more permanent organizational setting that defends long-term development and intra-organizational coordination. To overcome this differentiation/integration dilemma, the recent literature suggests that PBOs must develop Project Capabilities, defined as the internal ability of a PBO to create lasting performance based on multiple short term projects. But we still know little about how such Project Capabilities may be efficiently developed in PBOs. In order to contribute to the capabilities perspective on PBOs, this paper proposes to approach Project Capabilities building processes as a multi-level and dynamic process, and offers as an illustration the case of a very specific PBO — the French Special Forces (SF). The Special Forces context provides a particularly interesting illustration of how to build Project Capabilities over time, to the extent that they have been carrying out successfully multiple projects in extreme contexts for more than 60 years.     

Institutional projects and contradictory logics: Responding to complexity in institutional field change

We develop a theory of institutional field change with project organizing at its heart by posing the question of how projects contribute to institutional field change. We do this by bringing together recent literature on institutional projects with that on institutional logics and institutional complexity to show how institutional projects can act as vectors of change in institutional fields by offering bounded spaces for working through the implications of institutional complexity. We then explore this contention empirically by examining the implementation of strategic field change in a mature, complex, institutional field. We contribute to theory in project organizing research in four ways. First, we show how projects can be complements to hybrid organizations in fields displaying volatile complexity to achieve institutional field change. Second, we respond to the call to link institutional projects with institutional logics and thereby place project organizing at the heart of change in complex institutional fields; third, we demonstrate how change in the institutional field both shapes and is shaped by interactions across the commercial interface between project owner organizations and project-based firms. Fourth we show how the development of institutional theory in project organizing research depends upon a full theorization of the institutional field in which the project is embedded.     

Organizing for knowledge creation in a strategic interorganizational innovation project

A fundamental challenge for interorganizational innovation projects is employing diverse actors’ knowledge, expertise and perspectives for situation-specific demands of complex innovation. Innovation advancement is dependent on the degree to which knowledge is used and synthesized to address emerging and situation-specific demands of innovation. The goal of this study is to shed light on organizing for joint knowledge creation in a strategic interorganizational innovation project. Based on an inductive analysis of interview data from one strategic interorganizational innovation project, we identified the iterative process, self-organizing working groups and dynamic participation as practices through which the actors involved arranged and enacted their joint efforts, namely, knowledge creation and progress of innovation. This study contributes to research on managing strategic interorganizational projects by suggesting that organizing, which involves structural and informal organizing practices, supports managing strategic interorganizational projects where the diverse actors’ knowledge integration is at the core of the innovation project's goals.     

So alike yet so different: A typology of interorganisational projects

Large projects are predominantly carried out in interorganisational networks that temporarily unify the efforts of multiple firms to work towards a shared goal, such as the construction of a complex infrastructure asset. While earlier research has highlighted multiple features that are salient to these interorganisational projects (IOPs), and discussed how they are managed, research that would systematically address the differences amongst IOPs is still at its infancy. Drawing on a review of existing research on project organising and network research, the current paper proposes a typology of IOPs consisting of three ideal network types: market-based network, dyad-driven network, and integrated core network. Differences amongst the three types of networks in their structural properties, governance, and antecedent factors are discussed in light of empirical examples, extending our understanding of IOPs as dominant forms of organising production across a broad range of industries.     

光--建筑的第四维

摘要建筑师和照明设计师在进行高品味建筑照明设计时，都需要找到既满足其功能要求又符合其建筑特色的照明效果。文章通过几个案倒具体讲述了室内室外照明和照明控制系统如何为个综合的、整体性的建筑设计提供完美的照明解决万案。     

Success factors of knowledge management in temporary organizations

The prevalence of temporary forms of cooperation and project-based work is increasing. Likewise, the knowledge-intensity of work contents is growing. However, the unique and temporary nature of projects and programs does not support knowledge transfer from, between and within projects.This research aims at spotting success factors of knowledge management in temporary organizations. Based on a cross-industry sample with 414 organizations, we apply the partial least square (PLS) method to test the influence of cultural, organizational, structural, and process-related factors on knowledge management effectiveness.Besides IT-support and formal elements of the organization, it is cultural factors that strongly influence knowledge management success. In temporary organizations they compensate for the lack of organizational routines and organizational memory. Our results contribute to a more differentiated understanding of knowledge management in project environments.