Despite the ascendency of temporary organizations to common practice in many industries, and their expansion as an area of academic inquiry, research evidence on their genesis, development and impact remains fragmented across diverse fields, many of which fail to engage with each other. Our purpose in this article is to bring greater systematics to the scholarship on temporary organizations through documenting their evolution and assembling their bricolage. To this end, we first define and delineate the concept of the temporary organization and we develop an inductively derived framework for organizing the literature comprising individual/team attributes and interior processes, task attributes, tensions between the temporary organization and the permanent organization, networks and organizational fields and performance/outcomes of temporary organizations. Following an explication of these attributes and the dominant relationships between them, we suggest how this nascent area of inquiry might advance through the identification of a number of significant research opportunities. Finally, we highlight the consequences for broader management and organization theory development.
AnconaDGOkhuysenGAPerlowLA (2001) Taking time to integrate temporal research. Academy of Management Review26(4): 512–529.
2.
ArthurMBDeFillippiRJJonesC (2001) Project-based learning as the interplay of career and company non-financial capital. Management Learning32(1): 99–117.
3.
ArvidssonN (2009) Exploring tensions in projectified matrix organisations. Scandinavian Journal of Management25(1): 97–107.
4.
Badke-SchaubPNeumannALaucheKMohammedS (2007) Mental models in design teams: A valid approach to performance in design collaboration?CoDesign3(1): 5–20.
5.
BakkerRM (2010) Taking stock of temporary organizational forms: A systematic review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews12(4): 466–486.
6.
BakkerRM (2011) ‘It’s Only temporary’: Time and Learning in Inter-Organizational Projects. Tilberg: University Tilberg.
7.
BakkerRMCambréBProvanKG (2009a) The resource dilemma of temporary organizations: A dynamic perspective on temporal embeddedness and resource discretion. In: KenisPJanowicz-PanjaitanMCambréB (eds) Temporary Organizations. Prevalence, Logic and Effectiveness. Cheltenham and Northampton: Edward Elgar, 201–219.
8.
BakkerRMJanowicz-PanjaitanM (2009b) Time matters: The impact of ‘temporariness’ on the functioning and performance of organizations. In: KenisPJanowicz-PanjaitanMCambréB (eds) Temporary Organizations. Prevalence, Logic and Effectiveness. Cheltenham and Northampton: Edward Elgar, 121–141.
9.
BarrettPSextonM (2006) Innovation in small, project-based construction firms. British Journal of Management17(4): 331–346.
10.
BechkyBA (2006) Gaffers, gofers, and grips: Role-based coordination in temporary organizations. Organization Science17(1): 3–21.
11.
BechkyBAOkhuysenGA (2011) Expecting the unexpected? How SWAT officers and film crews handle surprises. Academy of Management Journal54(2): 239–261.
12.
BennisWGSlaterPE (eds) (1968) The Temporary Society. New York: Harper & Row.
13.
Blindenbach-DriessenFVan den EndeJ (2006) Innovation in project-based firms: The context dependency of success factors. Research Policy35(4): 545–561.
14.
BradyTDaviesA (2004) Building project capabilities: From exploratory to exploitative learning. Organization Studies25(9): 1601–1621.
15.
BredinKSöderlundJ (2006) HRM and project intensification in R & D-based companies: A study of Volvo Car Corporation and AstraZeneca. R&D Management36(5): 467–485.
16.
BreeceR (2012) Benefits realisation management: Panacea of false dawn?International Journal of Project Management30(3): 341–351.
17.
BresnenMGoussevakaiaASwanJ (2004) Embedding new management knowledge in project-based organizations. Organization Studies25(9): 1535–1555.
18.
BrymanABresnenMFordJ. (1987) Leader orientation and organizational transience: An investigation using Fiedler’s LPC Scale. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology60(1): 13–19.
19.
BurgersJHVan Den BoschFAJVolberdaHW (2008) Why new business development projects fail: Coping with the differences of technological versus market knowledge. Long Range Planning41(1): 55–73.
20.
CacciatoriE (2008) Memory objects in project environments: Storing, retrieving and adapting learning in project-based firms. Research Policy37(9): 1591–1601.
21.
Cannon-BowersJASalasEConverseS (1993) Shared mental models in expert decision making. In: CastellanNJJ (ed.) Individual and Group Decision Making: Current Issues. Hillsdales, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 221–246.
22.
CattaniGFerrianiSFrederiksenLTäubeF (eds) (2011) Project-Based Organizing and Strategic Management. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
23.
CicmilSWilliamsTThomasJHodgsonD (2006) Rethinking project management: Researching the actuality of projects. International Journal of Project Management24(8): 657–686.
24.
CleggSCourpassonD (2004) Political hybrids: Tocquevillean views on project organizations. Journal of Management Studies41(4): 525–547.
25.
CohendetPSimonL (2007) Playing across the playground: Paradoxes of knowledge creation in the videogame firm. Journal of Organizational Behavior28(5): 587–605.
26.
CroninMAWeingartLR (2007) Representational gaps, information processing, and conflict in functionally diverse teams. Academy of Management Review32(3): 761–773.
27.
CropperSEbersMHuxhamCSmith RingP (eds) (2008) The Oxford Handbook of Inter-Organizational Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
28.
DaviesABradyT (2000) Organizational capabilities and learning in complex product systems: Towards repeatable solutions. Research Policy29(7–8): 931–953.
29.
DaviesAHobdayM (2005) The Business of Projects. Managing Innovation in Complex Products and Systems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
30.
DaviesABradyTPrencipeAHobdayM (2011) Innovation in complex products and systems: Implications for project-based organizing. In: CattaniGFerrianiSFrederiksenLTäubeF (eds) Project-Based Organizing and Strategic Management. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
31.
DeFillippiRJArthurMB (1998) Paradox in project-based enterprise: The case of film-making. California Management Review40(2): 125–139.
32.
DukerichJMGoldenBRShortellSM (2002) Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: The impact of organizational identification, identity, and image on the cooperative behaviors of physicians. Administrative Science Quarterly47(3): 507–533.
33.
EdmonsonACNembhardIM (2009) Product development and learning in project teams: The challenges are the benefits. Journal of Product Innovation Management26(2): 123–138.
34.
EngwallM (2002) The futile dream of the perfect goal In: Sahlin-AnderssonKSöderholmA (eds) Beyond Project Management. New Perspectives on the Temporary-Permanent Dilemma. Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press, 261–277.
35.
EngwallM (2003) No project is an island: Linking projects to history and context. Research Policy32(5): 789–808.
36.
EngwallMWestlingG (2004) Peripety in an R&D drama: Capturing a turnaround in project dynamics. Organization Studies25(9): 1557–1578.
37.
FentonEMPettigrewAM (2000) Theoretical perspectives on new forms of organizing. In: PettigrewAMFentonEM (eds) The Innovating Organisation. London: SAGE, 1–46.
38.
FinneyA (2008) Learning from sharks: Lessons on managing projects in the independent film industry. Long Range Planning41(1): 107–115.
39.
Garmann JohnsenIH (2011) Formal project organization and informal social networks: Regional advantages in the emergent animation industry in Oslo, Norway. European Planning Studies19(7): 1165–1181.
40.
GersickCJG (1988) Time and transition in work teams: Toward a new model of group development. Academy of Management Journal31(1): 9–41.
41.
GersickCJG (1989) Marking time: Predictable transitions in task groups. Academy of Management Journal32(2): 274–309.
42.
GoffmanE (1961) Asylums. New York: Anchor Books.
43.
GoodmanRAGoodmanLP (1976) Some management issues in temporary systems: A study of professional development and manpower – the theater case. Administrative Science Quarterly21(3): 494–501.
44.
GrabherG (2002a) Cool projects, boring institutions: Temporary collaboration in social context. Regional Studies36(3): 205–214.
45.
GrabherG (2002b) The project ecology of advertising: Tasks, talents and teams. Regional Studies36(3): 245–262.
46.
GrabherG (2004a) Learning in projects, remembering in networks? Communality, sociality, and connectivity in project ecologies. European Urban and Regional Studies11(2): 99–119.
47.
GrabherG (2004b) Temporary architectures of learning: Knowledge governance in project ecologies. Organization Studies25(9): 1491–1514.
48.
GrabherGIbertO (2006) Bad company? The ambiguity of personal knowledge networks. Journal of Economic Geography6(3): 251–271.
49.
HaslamSAOakesPJMcGartyCTurnerJCOnoratoRS (1995) Contextual changes in the prototypicality of extreme and moderate outgroup members. European Journal of Social Psychology25(5): 509–530.
50.
HellgrenBStjernbergT (1995) Design and implementation in major investments: A project network approach. Scandinavian Journal of Management11(4): 377–394.
51.
HerndonJ (1971) How to Survive in Your Native Lands. New York: Simon and Schuster.
52.
HobdayM (2000) The project-based organisation: An ideal form for managing complex products and systems?Research Policy29(7–8): 871–893.
53.
HodgsonDPatonSCicmilS (2011) Great expectations and hard times: The paradoxical experiences of the engineer as project manager. International Journal of Project Management29(4): 374–382.
54.
HoggMAHainsSC (1996) Intergroup relations and group solidarity: Effects of group identification and social beliefs on depersonalized attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology70(2): 295–309.
55.
IbertO (2004) Projects and firms as discordant complements: Organisational learning in the Munich software ecology. Research Policy33(10): 1529–1546.
56.
JonesREDeckroRF (1993) The social psychology of project management conflict. European Journal of Operational Research64(2): 216–228.
57.
JonesCLichtensteinBB (2008) Temporary inter-organizational projects: How temporal and social embeddedness enhance coordination and manage uncertainty. In: CropperSEbersMHuxhamCSmith RingP (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Inter-Organizational Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 231–255.
58.
KadeforsA (1995) Institutions in building projects: Implications for flexibility and change. Scandinavian Journal of Management11(4): 395–408.
59.
KatzR (1982) The effects of group longevity on project communication and performance. Administrative Science Quarterly27(1): 81–104.
60.
KeithPM (1978) Individual and organizational correlates of a temporary system. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science14(2): 195–203.
61.
KellerRT (1992) Transformational leadership and the performance of research and development project groups. Journal of Management18(3): 489–501.
62.
KenisPJanowicz-PanjaitanMCambréB (eds) Temporary Organizations. Prevalence, Logic and Effectiveness. Cheltenham and Northampton: Edward Elgar.
63.
KozlowskiSWJBellBS (2003) Work groups and teams in organizations. In: BormanWCIlgenDRKlimoskiRJ (eds) Handbook of Psychology: Industrial and Organizational Psychology, vol. 12. London: Wiley, 333–375.
64.
KozlowskiSWJGullySMNasonERSmithEM (1999) Developing adaptive teams: A theory of compilation and performance across levels and time. In: IlgenDRPulakosED (eds) The Changing Nature of Work Performance: Implications for Staffing, Personnel Actions, and Development. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 242–292.
65.
KramerRMTylerTR (eds) (1996) Trust in Organizations. Frontiers of Theory and Research, Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
66.
KreinerK (1995) In search of relevance: Project management in drifting environments. Scandinavian Journal of Management11(4): 335–346.
67.
LampelJScarbroughHMacmillanS (2008) Managing through projects in knowledge-based environments: Special issue introduction by the guest editors. Long Range Planning41(1): 7–16.
68.
LindgrenMPackendorffJSergiV (2014) Thrilled by the discourse, suffering through the experience: Emotions in project0based work. Human Relations67(11): 1383–1412.
69.
LindkvistL (2005) Knowledge communities and knowledge collectivities: A typology of knowledge work in groups. Journal of Management Studies42(6): 1189–1210.
70.
LindkvistLSöderlundJTellF (1998) Managing product development projects: On the significance of fountains and deadlines. Organization Studies19(6): 931–951.
71.
LøwendahlBR (1995) Organizing the Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games. Scandinavian Journal of Management11(4): 347–362.
72.
LundinRASöderholmA (1995) A theory of the temporary organization. Scandinavian Journal of Management11(4): 437–455.
73.
McGrathJERotchfordNL (1983) Time and behavior in organizations. In: CummingsLLStawBM (eds) Research in Organizational Behavior. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 57–101.
74.
MainemelisC (2001) When the muse takes it all: A model for the experience of timelessness in organizations. Academy of Management Review26(4): 548–565.
75.
MarksMAMathieuJEZaccaroSJ (2001) A temporally based framework and taxonomy of team processes. Academy of Management Review26(3): 356–376.
76.
MathieuJEHeffnerTSGoodwinGFSalasECannon-BowersJA (2000) The influence of shared mental models on team process and performance. Journal of Applied Psychology85(2): 273–283.
77.
MeyersonDWeickKEKramerRM (1996) Swift trust and temporary groups. In: KramerRMTylerTR (eds) Trust in Organizations: Frontiers of Theory and Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 166–195.
78.
MidlerC (1995) ‘Projectification’ of the firm: The Renault case. Scandinavian Journal of Management11(4): 363–375.
79.
MilesMB (1964) On temporary systems. In: MilesMB (ed.) Innovation in Education. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 437–490.
80.
Mintzberg (1979) The Structuring of Organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
81.
MintzbergH (1994) The fall and rise of strategic planning. Harvard Business ReviewJan–Feb: 107–114.
82.
MintzbergHWatersJA (1985) Of strategies, deliberate and emergent. Strategic Management Journal6(3): 257–272.
83.
MorleyESilverA (1977) A film director’s approach to managing creativity. Harvard Business Review55(2): 59–70.
84.
OrdaniniARuberaGSalaM (2008) Integrating functional knowledge and embedding learning in new product launches: How project forms helped EMI. Long Range Planning41(1): 17–32.
85.
PackendorffJ (1995) Inquiring into the temporary organisation: New directions for project management research. Scandinavian Journal of Management11(4): 319–333.
86.
PalisiBJ (1970) Some suggestions about the transitory-permanence dimension of organizations. The British Journal of Sociology21(2): 200–206.
87.
PerrettiFNegroG (2007) Mixing genres and matching people: A study in innovation and team composition in Hollywood. Journal of Organizational Behavior28(5): 563–586.
88.
PipanTPorsanderL (2000) Imitating uniqueness: How big cities organize big events. Organization Studies21(1): 1–27.
89.
PowellW (1996) Inter-organizational collaboration in the biotechnology industry. Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics152(1): 197–215.
90.
RikettaM (2005) Organizational identification: A meta-analysis. Journal of Vocational Behavior66(2): 358–384.
91.
Sahlin-AnderssonKSöderholmA (2002) The Scandinavian School of Project Studies. In: Sahlin-AnderssonKSöderholmA (eds) Beyond Project Management. New Perspectives on the Temporary-Permanent Dilemma. Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press, 11–24.
92.
SapsedJGannDMarshallNSalterA (2005) From here to eternity – the practice of knowledge transfer in dispersed and co-located project organizations. European Planning Studies13(6): 831–851.
93.
SaundersCSAhujaMK (2006) Are all distributed teams the same? Differentiating between temporary and ongoing distributed teams. Small Group Research37(6): 662–700.
94.
SchofieldJWilsonDC (1995) The role of capital investment project teams in organisational learning. Scandinavian Journal of Management11(4): 423–436.
95.
SchreyöggGSydowJ (2010) Organizing for fluidity? Dilemmas of new organizational forms. Organization Science21(6): 1251–1262.
96.
SchwabA (2009) Learning from broadcasts of project participation: Selection of second-tier actors during project-venture formation in the movie industry, 1931–40. Strategic Organization7(2): 137–181.
97.
SchwabAMinerAS (2008) Learning in hybrid-project systems: The effects of project performance on repeated collaboration. Academy of Management Journal51(6): 1117–1149.
98.
ShenharAJ (2001a) Contingent management in temporary, dynamic organizations: The comparative analysis of projects. The Journal of High Technology Management Research12(2): 239–271.
99.
ShenharAJ (2001b) One size does not fit all projects: Exploring classical contingency domains. Management Science47(3): 394–414.
100.
ShenharAJDvirD (1996) Toward a typological theory of project management. Research Policy25(4): 607–632.
101.
ShenharAJDvirDLevyOMaltzAC (2001) Project success: A multidimensional strategic concept. Long Range Planning34(2): 699–725.
102.
SinhaKKVan de VenAH (2005) Designing work within and between organizations. Organization Science16(4): 389–408.
103.
SodaGBizziL (2012) Think different? An investigation of network antecedents and performance consequences of creativity as deviation. Strategic Organization10(2): 99–127.
104.
SöderlundJ (2002) Managing complex development projects: Arenas, knowledge processes and time. R&D Management32(5): 419–430.
105.
SorensonOWaguespackDM (2006) Social structure and exchange: Self-confirming dynamics in Hollywood. Administrative Science Quarterly51(4): 560–589.
106.
StandiferRBluedornA (2006) Alliance management teams and entrainment: Sharing temporal mental models. Human Relations59(7): 903–927.
107.
StarkeyKBarnattCTempestS (2000) Beyond networks and hierarchies: Latent organizations in the U.K. television industry. Organization Science11(3): 299–305.
108.
StoutRJCannon-BowersJASalasE (1999). Planning, shared mental models, and co-ordinated performance: An empirical link is established. Human Factors41(1): 61–71.
109.
SuddabyR (2014) Editor’s comments: Why theory?Academy of Management Review39(4): 407–411.
110.
SydowJ (2009) Path dependencies in project-based organizing: Evidence from television production in Germany. Journal of Media Business Studies6(4): 123–139.
111.
SydowJStaberU (2002) The institutional embeddedness of project networks: The case of content production in German television. Regional Studies36(3): 215–227.
112.
SydowJLindkvistLDeFillippiR (2004) Project-based organizations, embeddedness and repositories of knowledge: Editorial. Organization Studies25(9): 1475–1489.
113.
WeickKE (1974) Amendments to organizational theorizing. The Academy of Management Journal17(3): 487–502.
114.
WeickKE (1979) The Social Psychology of Organizing, 2nd edn. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley.
115.
WeickKE (1995) Sensemaking in Organizations. London and New Delhi: SAGE.
116.
WeickKE (2001) Making Sense of the Organization. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
117.
WeickKERobertsKH (1993) Collective mind in organizations: Heedful interrelating on flight decks. Administrative Science Quarterly38(3): 357–381.
118.
WhitleyR (2006) Project-based firms: New organizational form or variations on a theme?Industrial and Corporate Change15(1): 77–99.
119.
WindelerASydowJ (2001) Project networks and changing industry practices: Collaborative content production in the German television industry. Organization Studies22(6): 1035–1060.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
