Neo-Industrial Organising: Renewal by Action and Knowledge Formation in a Project-intensive Economy

by Ekstedt,Eskil

• ISBN13: 9780415203340
• ISBN10: 0415203341
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-07-26
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Neo-Industrial Organisingoutlines the fundamental mechanisms at work in transforming traditional 'permanent' organizational structures. The authors draw upon several international companies for empirical evidence including Volvo, Ericsson, Digital Equipment and the Royal Swedish Opera.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	viii
Preface	x
Acknowledgements	xii
List of abbreviations	xiii
Neo-industrial organising -- issues and challenges	1	(13)
Features of neo-industrial organising	1	(4)
Three observations	5	(1)
The transformation dilemma and the renewal paradox	6	(3)
Action and knowledge formation in permanent and temporary organisations	9	(2)
The aim of the book	11	(3)
Towards a project-intensive economy	14	(22)
Traditional industrial organisation challenged	14	(4)
Computerisation and IT	18	(1)
Increased knowledge intensity	19	(6)
Knowledge-intensive firms	25	(1)
Macro-level indicators	26	(1)
Increased project prevalence	27	(2)
Cultural aspects	29	(2)
Why are project organisations becoming more common?	31	(5)
Shortcomings of present theorising about permanent and temporary organisations	36	(25)
Permanent organisation theories as rooted in industrialism	37	(12)
The sphere of project theories and project thinking	49	(1)
Projects as important phenomena	50	(9)
Towards a theory of action and learning	59	(2)
The project landscape -- our empirical base	61	(36)
General aspects and choice of cases	63	(1)
Characterisation of cases	64	(32)
Group 1: projects concerning total organisation renewal in a flow-process context	66	(11)
Group 2: projects concerning part-organisation renewal in a flow-process context	77	(3)
Group 3: projects concerning total organisation renewal in a projectised context	80	(8)
Group 4: projects concerning part-organisation renewal in a projectised context	88	(5)
Group 5: projects concerning societal--interorganisational renewal in a projectised context	93	(3)
Some concluding remarks	96	(1)
Action formation in temporary and permanent organisations	97	(27)
Social action and action contexts	98	(2)
Action embeddedness	100	(9)
Action in permanent and temporary organisations	109	(10)
Action embeddedness and contexts -- a summary of notions	119	(5)
Knowledge formation in permanent and temporary organisations	124	(31)
Approaches to knowledge formation	125	(1)
Forms of knowledge and learning in organisations	126	(2)
Knowledge embeddedness	128	(6)
Knowledge in temporary and permanent organisations	134	(2)
Renewal of (or acquiring) knowledge in permanent and temporary organisations -- learning processes vs. combinatorics	136	(1)
Learning processes in permanent organisations -- promoting incremental (or constrained) change	137	(5)
The transformation dilemma -- obstacles for renewal in neo -- industrial organising	142	(4)
Combinatorics of temporary organisations -- to be caught in the renewal paradox or to promote radical change?	146	(7)
Knowledge embeddedness and renewal -- a summary of conclusions	153	(2)
Marrying action and knowledge formation in 25 renewal projects	155	(31)
Renewal problems brought to the fore	155	(2)
Renewal -- a close relation between action and knowledge formation	157	(2)
Classification of the cases	159	(2)
Renewal approaches	161	(18)
Summarising renewal approaches	179	(2)
The anatomy of renewal	181	(2)
Revisiting the transformation dilemma	183	(1)
Summary	184	(2)
Neo-industrial managing	186	(23)
On the concurrent need for projects and permanent organisations	187	(3)
The essence of organising	190	(4)
The renewal paradox in the neo-industrial organisation	194	(2)
Refined managerial roles in the neo-industrial organisation	196	(4)
The traditional CEO and the project manager in the shadow of NIM	200	(1)
Neo-industrial management and the renewal paradox	201	(3)
The renewal paradox and combinatorics	204	(1)
The renewal paradox and knowledge/action transfer	205	(3)
Organising	208	(1)
Neo-industrial organising -- implications and prospects	209	(20)
Will terms of employment be affected in a projectised economy?	210	(6)
Will work participation and work identity be impaired in a projectised economy?	216	(2)
Will the labour market become segmented and precarious in a projectised economy?	218	(3)
Labour force movements	221	(1)
Efforts to handle the transformation dilemma	222	(1)
Global renommee and local presence	223	(3)
Neo-industrial organising and the traditional institutions	226	(1)
A final word of caution	227	(2)
Bibliography	229	(10)
Index	239