Mechanisms of isomorphism in project-based organizations

The paper challenges dominant assumption of goal rationality behind temporary organizations’ design in project-based organizations. While extant literature posits that organizations strive to select most appropriate project arrangements to fit the particular task requirements at hand, findings from an in-depth ethnography-inspired case study suggest that projects tend to imitate each other’s structures, strategies and practices with little consideration of the potential performance effects. The paper builds on the notion of the project as a temporary organization to conceptualize the project-based organization as an organizational field of temporary organizations. Thus the paper draws upon the new institutionalism in organizational analysis in order to discuss isomorphism pressures on temporary organizations within project-based organizations and to explicate these processes. The paper concludes with the discussion of a number of implications of the results for both theory and practice.QC 20170118