We are a network of young researchers funded by the German Research Foundation (“Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft” [DFG]) and dedicated to the topic "Temporary Organizing under Tension: Between Stability and Change". The activities of the network start in June 2017. Within a period of 18 months, the network will among other host 4 workshops on selected topics in the field of temporary organizing. International keynote speakers will present their views on temporary organizing and engage in discussions with the network members as well as with invited guests.

 

Temporary organizing in the shape of projects, events or contract and temporary work is a widely spread empirical phenomenon that still continues to grow in importance and that reflects both, the uncertainty resulting from intensified competition in globalized markets and the "Zeitgeist" of acceleration and time limitation in society. Forms of temporary organizing provide a high degree of flexibility to the actors involved and it is the predominant form of organizing to implement innovative and transformative activities. Although temporary organizing is analyzed by different disciplines (e.g. management research, organizational sociology, innovation research, economic geography), so far no integrated approach has been developed. The aim of this network is therefore to illuminate temporary organizing from the perspective of different disciplines and thus promote transdisciplinary theory development. In particular, the tension between temporary and permanent organizing will be addressed in order to consider the following central question: How can the interaction between stability and change in organizations be understood and possibly balanced? In addition, the network will debate on how insights drawn from the temporary perspective influence the development of organizational theory, which is currently increasingly addressing issues of time and temporality. Not least, the scientific network will reflect on the empirical methods that are employed and systematically discuss both the potential of a more process-oriented approach and the combination of different methods (survey, ethnography and network analysis). Such a mixture of methods may well detect the inherent change, the relational embeddedness of temporary organizing and the tensions involved more effectively.

We are indebted to the "Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft" (DFG) for providing the generous funding of our network.

Project Duration:	July 2017 until January 2019
Funding Agency:	Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Principal Investigator:	Prof. Dr. Timo Braun Junior Professor for Project Management  Freie Universität Berlin School of Business & Economics

Other scientific networks at the Freie Universität Berlin: