The design of emergence in organizations

Eisenman, Micki; Paruchuri, Srikanth; Puranam, Phanish

doi:10.1186/s41469-020-00089-6

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Emergent designs are common, both in systems without significant differences in power as well as in those with significant power differentials. In the former, patterns of mutual adaptation among actors (as well as selection out of organizations with poor solutions) can give rise to designs without a designer (Eisenman, Paruchuri, & Puranam, 2020; Levinthal & Warglien, 1999). In the latter, powerful actors may enact a different de facto design from what is intended de jure (Gray et al, 2022).…”

Section: Design Considerations In Organizing For Grand Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Partnering for Grand Challenges: A Review of Organizational Design Considerations in Public–Private Collaborations

George¹,

Fewer

Lazzarini

et al. 2023

Journal of Management

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We conduct a theory-guided review of the literatures on public–private partnerships and grand challenges (GCs). We adopt an organization design approach to review and identify constructs in public–private collaborations (PPCs) that address societal challenges. Our review identifies the complexities of organizing to tackle GCs, highlights the plurality of organizational forms in PPCs, and explores organizational design considerations in these partnerships. Given the elevated role of private actors in these collaborations, our review provides a new understanding of how they can shape a private-public interface that is robust to the scale and scope of global problems. This leads to a rich research agenda on when, why, and how public and private collaborations matter, and their implications for addressing societal challenges.

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Section: Design Considerations In Organizing For Grand Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Partnering for Grand Challenges: A Review of Organizational Design Considerations in Public–Private Collaborations

George¹,

Fewer

Lazzarini

et al. 2023

Journal of Management

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“…Our 2-year observation identifies four practices not found in more typical, predefined, open organizing. Despite the resemblance of some aspects of the identified practices to models and forms available in the literature, in HyperloopTT we see a confluence of practices that appear unique as a form of “design of emergence” (Eisenman et al 2020 , p. 1). We expand perspectives on open organizing to consider aspects of VUCA versus stable contexts and the possibilities of shifting the roles of open organizing participants from task workers to creative work designers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We leverage a practice lens (Feldman and Orlikowski 2011 ) because its attentiveness to social and material elements such as artifacts, actions, and interactions is context-specific (Nicolini and Korica 2021 ). We see the practice lens as a robust approach to understanding VUCA contexts and identifying elements of “designed” or “guided” emergence (Giustiniano et al 2019 ; Eisenman et al 2020 ).…”

Section: Literature Review On Practices To Support Participant Engage...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Hyperloop transportation technologies: practices for open organizing across VUCA contexts

Majchrzak

Giustiniano

2023

J Org Design

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Open organizations are structures in which members of the public engage in work for the organization. Examples include open-source software, Amnesty International, Wikipedia, and Lego communities. Much research focuses on structural design characteristics of open organizations, such as pre-specified task divisions and integration teams. These practices require the organization to a priori structure in response to its mission. Increasingly, however, open organizations like CrowdDoing and Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HyperloopTT) require public involvement across volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous (VUCA) contexts. These open organizations must respond to changing political, competitive, and socio-economic events. Structural clarity is more difficult, and contributors may participate in the creative development of new technologies, new policies, and new sources of funding. Working from practices supporting participant engagement in more stable environments, we qualitatively observe HyperloopTT to understand internal practices for open organizing in more VUCA contexts. We observe four practices allowing for the flexibility, versatility, and accommodations needed for open organizing in such settings. The HyperloopTT practices allow more porosity and self-determination—not simply in how people divide and integrate tasks, but also in the exploration and experimentation of the work itself. More than task workers, we see a new class of open organizing participants: creative work designers.

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“…This suggests the design of interorganizational collaboration structures may be vital for effectively dealing with major challenges such as COVID-19. These structures can facilitate and enhance adaptation to the disruption (Eisenman et al 2020). More specifically, structures with less hierarchy and more decentralized decision-making processes may cultivate the collaboration's resilience (Mosca et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Few studies have addressed the impact of organizational design on organizational resilience (Eisenman et al 2020;Välikangas and Romme 2013). This design challenge is even greater at the interorganizational level because interorganizational collaboration cannot be organized in traditional ways (Alberts 2012;Palumbo et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing for Resilience: How Dutch Maternity Care Collaborations Anticipate, Adapt, and Thrive during a Pandemic

Berg

Alblas

Blanc

et al. 2022

Administrative Sciences

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The success factors and challenges of interorganizational collaboration have been widely studied from different disciplinary perspectives. However, the role of design in making such collaborations resilient has received little attention, although deliberately designing for resilience is likely to be vital to the success of any interorganizational collaboration. This study explores the resilience of interorganizational collaboration by means of a comparative case study of Dutch maternity care providers, which have been facing major challenges due to financial cutbacks, government-enforced collaborative structures, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings make two contributions to the literature. First, we further develop the construct of interorganizational resilience. Second, we shed light on how well-designed distributed decision-making enhances resilience, thereby making a first attempt at meeting the challenge of designing for interorganizational resilience.

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The design of emergence in organizations

Cited by 3 publications

References 28 publications

Partnering for Grand Challenges: A Review of Organizational Design Considerations in Public–Private Collaborations

Partnering for Grand Challenges: A Review of Organizational Design Considerations in Public–Private Collaborations

Hyperloop transportation technologies: practices for open organizing across VUCA contexts

Designing for Resilience: How Dutch Maternity Care Collaborations Anticipate, Adapt, and Thrive during a Pandemic

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