Coordination practices in extreme situations

in European Management Journal (2012), 30(6), 475-489

This article addresses coordination practices in extreme situations. Whereas past literature has heavily focused on a structural and contingent approach of the phe- nomena, we argue that a practice-based ... [more ▼]

This article addresses coordination practices in extreme situations. Whereas past literature has heavily focused on a structural and contingent approach of the phe- nomena, we argue that a practice-based approach of coordination fruitfully enhances our understanding. We draw on an abductive approach and perform a systematic compar- ative analysis of four case studies: the crew of a sailing boat engaged in a race, military air and ground forces in theater, medical staff in a neonatology unit and a polar expedition confronted with polar bears. We outline highly heterogeneous coordination practices along four dimensions (formalization, verticality, openness, and specificity). Our results lead to invalidate both a configurational and a contingent perspective on coordination. We show that despite high heterogeneity, these four attributes represent a useful frame- work for managers to leverage coordination practices produced in situ. [less ▲]