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The purpose of this paper is to explore intra-firm coordination in temporary organizations (TOs). Specifically, it identifies and explains how operational coordination evolves over time in a particular TO: the 2016 Olympic Games Organizing Committee.

This is an immersive case study based on qualitative analysis and longitudinal fieldwork, which allowed the observation of operational coordination in real time. The main sources of data are participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and internal documents of the TO.

The findings suggest that operational coordination in TOs dealing with multiple and decentralized operations takes place through the combination of both formal and informal coordination mechanisms. Further analysis indicates a contingency logic in using these mechanisms, shaped by the presence of specific coordination challenges in different phases of work. Three main aspects influencing coordination are explored. First, it is suggested that TOs are inherently “hybrid.” That is, they comprise enduring as well as temporary and centralized as well as decentralized elements. These elements change over time. Second, a formal transition phase is explored: “venueization” – a phase between planning and operation in which centralized structural elements and processes are translated to operational units. Third, since TOs present emergence and dynamism, and related challenges across various phases of work, coordination is arguably contingent on the phase of the project.

Although the findings are limited to a particular empirical context, this paper offers theoretically new insights concerning the hybrid nature of processes in TOs, the contingent use of complementary coordination mechanisms, and the importance of the venueization phase, and provides a basis for future research into operational coordination in TOs.

The findings can help practitioners understand and identify the challenges embedded in temporary contexts and develop coordination strategies accordingly.

This study explains how operational coordination takes place in TOs enabled by formal and informal mechanisms, which are contingently combined over time through particular coordination strategies.

Based on the interpersonal interaction perspective of team cohesion, this study aims to examine the effects of team boundedness, formal coordination and organization tenure diversity on both task and social cohesion. The authors test for the interaction effect of organization tenure diversity on the relationships between the independent variables and the dimensions of team cohesion.

Data was collected from 111 software development teams and aggregated to the team level. Common latent factor test for common method bias showed no significant bias. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test all the hypotheses.

SEM results show that team boundedness and formal coordination have positive and significant association with both dimensions of team cohesion. Formal coordination was found to be a stronger positive predictor for task cohesion than for social cohesion. Organization tenure diversity was found to be a stronger negative predictor for social cohesion than for task cohesion. Organization tenure diversity in the team moderates the relationship between formal coordination and task cohesion.

The data was collected using a cross-sectional design. However, the authors have mitigated the effect of common method variance by adopting both procedural and statistical methods.

This paper expands extant literature by examining the antecedents of two important components of team cohesion, task and social cohesion. The authors proposed and found that the independent variables have different impacts on task and social cohesion. This study furthers both theory and practice by considering team boundedness as a variable of interest and its impact on internal team dynamics.

This paper illuminates the distinction between individual and organizational actors in business-to-business markets as well as the coexistence of formal and informal mechanisms of coordination in multinational corporations. The main questions addressed include the following. (1) What factors influence the occurrence of personal contacts of foreign subsidiary managers in industrial multinational corporations? (2) How such personal contacts enable coordination in industrial markets and within multinational firms? The theoretical context of the paper is based on: (1) the interaction approach to industrial markets, (2) the network approach to industrial markets, and (3) the process approach to multinational management. The unit of analysis is the foreign subsidiary manager as the focal actor of a contact network. The paper is empirically focused on Portuguese sales subsidiaries of Finnish multinational corporations, which are managed by either a parent country national (Finnish), a host country national (Portuguese) or a third country national. The paper suggests eight scenarios of individual dependence and uncertainty, which are determined by individual, organizational, and/or market factors. Such scenarios are, in turn, thought to require personal contacts with specific functions. The paper suggests eight interpersonal roles of foreign subsidiary managers, by which the functions of their personal contacts enable inter-firm coordination in industrial markets. In addition, the paper suggests eight propositions on how the functions of their personal contacts enable centralization, formalization, socialization and horizontal communication in multinational corporations.

This paper aims to address an important question of what makes companies succeed or not in their attempt to empower employees. As this study answers this question, the arguments suggest that coordination is essential to creation of employee empowerment climate in organizations.

This is conceptual paper rooted in extensive research on both – empowerment (culture, climate and organizational structure) and coordination (formal and informal).

To help managers to be effective in their roles, this study presents four insights to creating empowerment climate. The arguments conclude that coordination provides a vessel for successful realization of empowerment. Specifically, only informal coordination (vs formal) will fully realize empowerment’s benefits. Given that the topic of empowerment is highly germane to managers in today’s context of the increasing number of employees working remotely, this work presents an important and actionable advance for managers.

This study represents original research that has not been published and is not currently under review at any other journal.

In the present study, the authors have explored the research questions, “How do companies in the engineering and automobile manufacturing sector in India determine the coordination strategy with their suppliers?” and “Can we develop a framework which helps the company adopt a particular coordination strategy?” The authors also aimed for developing a generalizable theory of supply chain coordination (SCC) strategy.

The authors have studied upstream SCC practices at eight Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in the Indian engineering manufacturing and automobile sector and identified 11 types of SCC in three categories of suppliers, namely large, medium and small. Each SCC is characterized by the category of items as the authors found the OEMs follow different strategies for different types of items. Initially, the authors started the study with the objective of strategy discovery, and later on, they prescribed a strategic framework based on the consolidated knowledge that they gathered at the discovery phase. The authors propose a SCC strategy framework consisting of four dimensions, i.e. time horizon, the formality of engagement, price and volume for the upstream supply chain. With the framework, the authors have identified the driving factors for choosing a particular strategy. The authors have found both OEMs and suppliers in India prefer to have a long-term relationship for building trust, which helps both the OEMs and the suppliers to go the extra mile when needed. Apart from large suppliers supplying technology and proprietary items, OEMs prefer to have an informal relationship so that they enjoy flexibility and attain agility. The price and volume dimensions are dependent on who enjoys more bargaining power.

The authors propose a SCC strategy framework consisting of four dimensions, i.e. time horizon, formality of engagement, price and volume for the upstream supply chain. With the framework, the authors have identified the driving factors for choosing a particular strategy. The authors have found that both OEMs and suppliers in India prefer to have a long-term relationship for building trust, which helps both the OEMs and the suppliers to go the extra mile when needed. Apart from large suppliers supplying technology and proprietary items, OEMs prefer to have an informal relationship so that they enjoy flexibility and attain agility. The price and volume dimensions are dependent on who enjoys more bargaining power.

This study made a substantial contribution to the literature by presenting a SCC strategy framework, ISCM (Indian Supply Chain Coordination Model). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, in the literature, there was no concrete framework for analyzing the coordination strategy specific to the Indian situation. The framework proposed has been derived based on empirical findings; hence, it is not a conceptual one. The authors also developed a supply chain typology. This study made a substantial contribution to the literature by presenting a SCC strategy framework, ISCM. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, in the literature, there was no concrete framework for analyzing the coordination strategy specific to the Indian situation. The framework proposed has been derived based on empirical findings; hence, it is not a conceptual one. The authors also developed a supply chain typology.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the collaborative aspects of the communication practice and illustrate the importance of role‐related liaison devices for coordination in a project setting.

A case study was made of a large Swedish partnering project focusing on the coordinative and communicative activities carried out within the project. It consists of 18 semi‐structured interviews, three days of observations, meeting participations, document analysis, and was analysed with a theoretically supported thematic categorisation.

The paper describes the communicative sub‐processes of the project and analyses the link between them. The focus is placed on illustrating the importance of the project liaison as a crucial part of the coordination of the project. It is shown how the project liaisons; guides and coordinates the ongoing activities, translates and reduces information, creates space for the experience of the subcontractors, assists in coordinating unexpected situations, and therefore constitutes a crucial part of the success of the project.

From a project management perspective it is suggested that it is beneficial to identify, acknowledge, and create legitimacy for project liaisons in order to facilitate the coordination of the project. As the project liaison is shown to be of major importance it is also suggested that there is a need to further study the existence and role of liaisons within project organisations.

The paper draws on organisational theory and therefore enriches the field of project coordination as it also includes and stresses the importance of the human actors.

Despite good project front-end planning, projects typically need continuous coordination among the participants concerning scope of work, pace, and timing during the execution phase to be accomplished without delays. Coordination can be formal or informal. Research shows that informal coordination of residual and unforeseen interdependencies enhances time saving and facilitates better understandings. Still though, many sub-contractors choose not to coordinate informally. The purpose of this paper is to identify drivers that enhance or inhibit informal coordination among sub-contractors during project execution.

A qualitative, explorative case study approach was applied, involving 15 SME sub-contractors within the offshore wind power energy sector.

Six drivers which enhance informal coordination and three drivers which inhibit informal coordination among sub-contractors in projects were identified.

The findings imply that management in project-oriented organizations can enhance informal coordination across project sub-contractors in the project execution phase by facilitating trust building; by emphasizing previous collaboration successes with the sub-contractors and the possibility of future common projects; by being explicit about expectations on informal coordination; and by developing sub-contractor contracts that are not very tight in economic terms, but instead give some leeway in relation to coordination.

The paper contributes to a gap on coordination within projects and in the specificity of the context of offshore wind energy in which the concept of informal coordination across sub-contractors is explored.

This paper aims to report on a qualitative comparative case study of coordination in three ongoing research and development projects, each conducted by teams working virtually across multiple, geographically dispersed sites and involving varying degrees of task uncertainty at differing stages on an innovation continuum, from basic fundamental research to scale-up and commercial development.

This study investigated characteristics of effective virtual innovation teamwork, primarily using structured interviews, observation and a limited number of surveys. The analysis was based upon Pava’s (1983) methodology of sociotechnical systems (STS) for non-linear work and was used to assess the influence of virtuality and task uncertainty on the quality of team deliberations and the knowledge development barriers experienced at the various stages on the innovation continuum.

The study identified different technical and social coordination mechanisms and their impact in mitigating knowledge barriers for differing levels of task uncertainty. Technical elements, many based in digital information technology, appeared most significant for coordination where task uncertainty and ambiguity were low. However, with high task uncertainty, the most significant mechanisms were closely tied to the formal and informal social systems of virtual organization.

The key implication for future research is the development of further applications to evaluate this coordination model for modern teamwork in virtual contexts.

The findings extend previous theory about coordination of innovation to include fundamental research and virtual collaboration. Based on the results, a four-step STS methodology for design of virtual team coordination mechanisms was developed and piloted successfully by scientific teams at a prominent North American research laboratory.

This research project has shown that modern STS methodology, updated for non-routine work in a virtual context, can provide a way to assess and mitigate “coordination costs” associated with virtual teamwork. Further, it has identified clear categories of coordination mechanisms that are most effective when teams are working at different stages in the innovation process.

This chapter investigates whether traditional design-oriented coordination instruments or more modern management concepts have a stronger influence on the success of forward technology transfers within MNCs.

We conducted an empirical study analyzing the relative influence of (a) traditional coordination instruments (structural, technocratic, and person-oriented) and (b) modern management concepts (epistemic community and absorptive capacity) on the success of forward technology transfers within MNCs.

The study finds evidence that the traditional coordination instruments relate to specific aspects of the success of such transfers. Comparing the different types of coordination instruments, this chapter shows that not only the person-oriented, but also the structural and technocratic coordination instruments relate positively with the achievement of technology transfer goals. The study finds stronger relationships between the traditional coordination instruments and the technology transfer goals than between the modern management concepts and the technology transfer goals.

We believe that these results have important implications for the management of international technology transfers in particular and for the focus of future (international) management research in general. Future MNC research studies need to include traditional coordination instruments, since they continue to strongly influence organizational behavior and outcomes. This would help to make organizational research on MNCs more cumulative and complete.

Purpose – The purpose of the chapter is to introduce an actor-centered conflict perspective into research on multinational company (MNC) coordination. We first develop a theoretical framework of conflictual processes in MNC coordination and then use an empirical study of a German MNC in Japan to illustrate how cultural coordination in MNC subsidiaries triggers conflict processes.

Methodology/approach – The chapter integrates conflict theory and models of MNC coordination. The empirical study is based on qualitative data.

Findings – Coordination programs in MNC such as cultural integration through shared values lead to substantial conflictual processes. Local actors apply micro-political tactics to resist, delay or adjust coordination instruments developed by MNC headquarters.

Originality/value of chapter – The chapter applies conflict theory to MNC coordination issues, a field of research which so far is dominated by contingency approaches.