Organizational Boundaries in Fluid Forms of Production: The Case of Apache Open-source Software

Barberio, Vitaliano; Höllerer, Markus A.; Meyer, Renate E.; Jancsary, Dennis

doi:10.1108/s0733-558x20180000057006

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The identification of intertwined dynamics of formalization and decentralization in Drupal is congruent with Schweik and English's (2013) study, which uncovered statistical evidence of a trend towards formalization when FLOSS projects grow. Our findings are also congruent with Barberio et al's (2018, p. 164) study of the FLOSS Apache project, in which they identify the emergence of more formal boundaries over time and how they “are not simply existent or nonexistent, but a matter of degree” and how formalization does not necessarily decrease participation and “may increase porosity through clear rules.” In this respect, this study contributes to the FLOSS literature by providing an in‐depth account of how the dynamics of formalization and decentralization of decision making are intertwined, explaining the emergence of these different sociotechnical systems, as well as how these sophisticated organizational processes work in practice.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Loosen control without losing control: Formalization and decentralization within commons‐based peer production

Rozas

Huckle

2020

Asso for Info Science & Tech

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This study considers commons-based peer production (CBPP) by examining the organizational processes of the free/libre open-source software community, Drupal. It does so by exploring the sociotechnical systems that have emerged around both Drupal's development and its face-to-face communitarian events. There has been criticism of the simplistic nature of previous research into free software; this study addresses this by linking studies of CBPP with a qualitative study of Drupal's organizational processes. It focuses on the evolution of organizational structures, identifying the intertwined dynamics of formalization and decentralization, resulting in coexisting sociotechnical systems that vary in their degrees of organicity.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Loosen control without losing control: Formalization and decentralization within commons‐based peer production

Rozas

Huckle

2020

Asso for Info Science & Tech

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“…However, as at Apache Open Source Software (Barberio, Höllerer, Meyer, & Jancsary, 2018), in practice communities tend to develop hierarchies of inclusion and decision rights. While the other dimensions are important, transparency is therefore the primary principle in open source software.…”

Section: Domains and Dimensions Of Open Organizingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Openness as Organizing Principle: Introduction to the Special Issue

Splitter

Dobusch

Krogh

et al. 2022

Organization Studies

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‘Openness’ has become an organizational leitmotif of our time, spreading across a growing set of organizational domains. However, discussions within these specialized domains (e.g. open data, open government or open innovation) treat openness in isolation and specific to the particularities of those domains. The intention of this Special Issue therefore is to foster cross-domain conversations to exchange insights and build cumulative knowledge on openness. To do so, this Introduction to the Special Issue argues that openness should be investigated as a general organizing principle, which we refer to as Open Organizing. Across domains, we define Open Organizing as a dynamic organizing principle along the primary dimension of transparency/opacity and the secondary dimensions of inclusion/exclusion and distributed/concentrated decision rights. As such, Open Organizing raises an overarching problem of design, which results from more specific epistemic, normative and political challenges.

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“…These insights go beyond theories about decision-making logics and sensemaking (Kornberger et al, 2019) and call for greater attention to how spatial co-presence (Subramaniam et al, 2013) and temporal simultaneity (Cohen et al, 1972) work synchronously to produce choices. Our conception of garbage cans as both ordered and disordered resonates with and extends ideas about the productive potential of incompleteness (Garud et al, 2008), undecided orders (Barberio, Höllerer, Meyer & Jancsary, 2018) and collaborative spaces (Irving et al, 2020).…”

Section: Implications For Organizational Studies Of Decision-making I...mentioning

confidence: 58%

Making Space for Garbage Cans: How emergent groups organize social media spaces to orchestrate widescale helping in a crisis

Burke

Omidvar

Spanellis

et al. 2022

Organization Studies

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During the Covid-19 pandemic, citizens self-organized at an unprecedented scale to support vulnerable people in neighbourhoods, towns, and cities. Drawing on an in-depth study of an online volunteering group that emerged at the beginning of the pandemic and helped thousands of people in a UK city, we unpack how citizens co-construct social media spaces to orchestrate helping activity during a crisis. Conceptualizing a novel synthesis of classical garbage can theory and virtual space, we reveal how emergent groups use 'spatial partitioning' and 'spatial mapping' to create a multi-layered spatial architecture that distributes decision-making and invites impromptu choice occasions: spontaneous matchmaking, proximal chance connects, and speculative attraction. Our insights extend the study of emergent organizing and decision-making in crises. Furthermore, we advance a new line of theorizing which exploits garbage can theory, beyond its existing application in classical decision sciences, to posit a spatial view of organizing that paves the way for its novel applications in organization studies.

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Organizational Boundaries in Fluid Forms of Production: The Case of Apache Open-source Software

Cited by 6 publications

References 31 publications

Loosen control without losing control: Formalization and decentralization within commons‐based peer production

Loosen control without losing control: Formalization and decentralization within commons‐based peer production

Openness as Organizing Principle: Introduction to the Special Issue

Making Space for Garbage Cans: How emergent groups organize social media spaces to orchestrate widescale helping in a crisis

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