
The Library
The constitutive role of conventions in accomplishing coordination : insights from a complex contract award project
Tools
Gkeredakis, Emmanouil (2014) The constitutive role of conventions in accomplishing coordination : insights from a complex contract award project. Organization Studies, Volume 35 (Number 10). pp. 1473-1505. doi:10.1177/0170840614539309 ISSN 0170-8406.
Research output not available from this repository.
Request-a-Copy directly from author or use local Library Get it For Me service.
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0170840614539309
Abstract
This article advances understanding of how coordination is accomplished in organizations. It builds on and extends recent research, which suggests that coordination is an emergent process of situated interaction aiming to realize a collective performance. In particular, the paper focuses on deliberate efforts to coordinate and contribute to objectives of large-scale integration in practice (e.g., orchestrated, year-long delivery of a megaproject). Such efforts give rise to a novel form of interdependencies, which organizational actors experience as “external” to local activities and group interactions. Drawing on recent developments in social theory, the paper proposes a framework to study coordinative action in situations where organizational actors are faced with a multitude of task-specific and “external” interdependencies. Further, through an in-depth study of a contract award project, it sheds light on the ways ongoing project coordination was adjusted to address interdependencies arising from the deliberate pursuit of two objectives: the concerted delivery of a construction megaproject and the large-scale procurement policy coordination targeted at safeguarding market competition across the European Union. Findings highlight that the situated management of external interdependencies entailed a distinctive type of agency, mediated by formalized industry-wide and policy conventions, and concerned with developing relevant evidence of coordinated contributions. The article explains how and why actors may adjust coordination efforts by alternating between coordination modes. Implications are drawn for studying coordination dynamics in other organizational settings
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Innovation, Knowledge & Organisational Networks Research Unit Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School |
||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Organization Studies | ||||||
Publisher: | Sage Publications Ltd. | ||||||
ISSN: | 0170-8406 | ||||||
Official Date: | 2 October 2014 | ||||||
Dates: |
|
||||||
Volume: | Volume 35 | ||||||
Number: | Number 10 | ||||||
Page Range: | pp. 1473-1505 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.1177/0170840614539309 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
![]() |
View Item |