Tensions and Paradoxes in Temporary Organizing

Breaking new ground in research on temporary organizations, this volume of Research in the Sociology of Organizations brings together papers that examine how temporary organizations navigate the tensions and deal with the paradoxes that are the consequences of temporal limitation.

This volume explores diverse forms of temporary organizations including: animation festivals, cultural celebrations, unconferences, start-up accelerators, humanitarian emergency response, strategic initiatives, projects and megaprojects, project portfolios and networks of projects. This volume uses 3 key questions to unify this empirical diversity:

1. The pace and rhythm of temporary organizing: how do conflicting temporal norms shape work and life in temporary organizations?

2. What are the tactics and practices that temporary organizations develop when dealing with the tensions and paradoxes they confront?

3. When relying for resources and working on behalf of permanent organizations, how do temporary organizations deal with the tensions between attachment to, and detachment from, permanent organizations.

Timo Braun is Professor for Organization and Management at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences and associated scholar at Freie Universität Berlin. His current research on interorganizational projects and underlying project networks has been honoured with the Global Research Award 2018 of the International Project Management Association.

Joseph Lampel is Eddie Davies Professor of Enterprise and Innovation management at the Manchester Institute for Innovation, Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester. His current research interests are strategy, innovation, project-based organizations, and creative problem solving under constraints.