Frederiksen, N and Gottlieb, S C (2020) From partnership to firm: Hybridity as source of routine change. In: Scott, L and Neilson, C J (eds.) Proceedings of 36th Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-8 September 2020, Online Event, UK.
Abstract
Strategic partnerships have recently gained foothold in the Danish construction industry as a novel collaborative form between client organisations and a group of AEC firms. Strategic partnerships have been used in major construction programmes and can be seen as temporary hybrid organisations that combine institutional logics and integrate distinct organisational capabilities and resources for the benefit of the programme. Previous research has examined opportunities and challenges internally in hybrid organisations. Less attention has, however, been devoted to examining the relation between hybrid organisations and their constituent companies, and the company-specific consequences of engaging in hybrid organisations. The aim of the paper is to explore how hybrid organisations can spur organisational changes and innovations in individual companies. Empirically, we draw on data from a strategic partnership between the City of Copenhagen’s client organisation, ByK, and a group of six AEC firms that constitutes the consortium named TRUST. The strategic partnership is tendered under a four-year framework agreement and tasked with a major construction programme of approximately 40 projects. Data is collected over a period of three years and consists of 22 interviews describing developments in the strategic partnership and in the engaging companies. In the analysis, we apply an institutional theory perspective in a parallel analysis of the developments in the strategic partnership and internally in two of the engaged parties (the client and the contractor). We show that the strategic partnership produce knowledge that in turn are transposed by the individual companies leading to company-specific changes and innovations such as establishment of new departments, redefined requirements for employees' competences, and development of calculation concepts. As such, the paper contributes to an understanding of how client organisations and AEC firms can use strategic partnerships and related hybrid activities as an interorganisational enabler for changes and innovations in construction.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | hybridity; knowledge; organisational learning; programme; routine; strategic partnership |
| Index terms: | competence, construction industry, interorganizational, routine, organizational learning, interview, organizational change, framework agreement, consortium, institutional theory, institutional logic, programme, client organization, partnership |
| Subjects: | contractual arrangements, client relations, business, data collection methods, industry analysis, sociology, project controls, partnership management, personnel development, professional development, theoretical framing |
| Topics: | Stakeholder Management, Procurement, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Information Management, Time Control, Organizational Design, Human Resources |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here