Temporary Organizing - Characteristics and Control Forms

Abstract

Temporary organizing might be viewed along two different dimensions. One is the structure dimension, which has been the focus for much research on project management and temporary organization, the other one is the participation dimension, which has been the focus for parts of the literature on career theory. This chapter attempts to integrate these streams of research in order to shed light on different temporary forms of organizing and to outline control forms for organizing. In doing so, I rely on writings not only on project management and temporary organizations, but also on literature that deals with increased interfirm mobility and use of temporary employees. More specifically this chapter (1) identifies the main characteristics of temporary organizing, and (2) identifies and analyzes the control forms connected with different temporary forms of organizing. A main conclusion is that network and professional control represent important mechanisms of temporary organizing.