SWG 01 – Meta-Organizations and Meta-Organizing (MOMO)

 

Coordinators

Mariana Baldi, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Héloïse Berkowitz, CNRS, Aix Marseille University, France
Sanne Bor, LUT University, Finland
Nils Brunsson, Uppsala University, Sweden
Ingrid Gustafsson Nordin, Score, Sweden
Annachiara Longoni, ESADE Business School, Spain
José Carlos Marques, University of Ottawa, Canada

The Standing Working Group (SWG) 01 on “Meta-Organizations and Meta-Organizing (MOMO)” aims to provide a platform for scholars interested in investigating meta-organizations and meta-organizing processes and dynamics. This community of scholars has grown significantly since the initiation of meta-organization theory by Göran Ahrne and Nils Brunsson in 2005. The community stands at the intersections between organization studies and many other fields, among others political science, sociology, marketing & communication, social movements and (public) management, and thus includes a diverse set of scholars.

Meta-organizations, defined as organizations whose members are themselves organizations (Ahrne & Brunsson, 2005, 2008), can be found everywhere in the contemporary world and keep increasing in number. Meta-organizations play major roles in organizing our societies including world society and meta-organizations are involved in most attempts to handle grand challenges, wicked problems and other complex societal problems (Chaudhury et al., 2016; Berkowitz et al., 2020; Berkowitz & Grothe-Hammer, 2022).

Meta-organizations constitute a salient phenomenon, bringing together states (Kerwer, 2013), businesses (Spillman, 2018), civil society organizations (Laurent et al., 2020), universities (Brankovic, 2018), municipalities (Zyzak & Jacobsen, 2019) or multiple stakeholders from various domains (Berkowitz et al., 2022). Traditionally, organization scholars have been mainly interested in organizations with individuals as their members and thus has focused little on these organizations.
 
However, existing organization theories may be ill-suited to this specific kind of organizations, owing three key features: 1) their specific membership composition, i.e. organizations, 2) their own organized dimension, 3) their associative nature. Meta-organizations therefore profoundly differ from the classical object of organizations studies, organizations made of individuals (Ahrne & Brunsson, 2005, 2008). Where there has been attention to organizations as members, literatures have generally focused on inter-organizational relations, that is to say flows and interconnections between members, whereas meta-organization theory shifts the emphasis on the meta-level actor (Berkowitz et al., 2020), and the resulting implications and tensions from the three features, for instance on autonomy (Kerwer, 2013) or collective identity (Laviolette et al., 2022).
 
Research on meta-organization and meta-organizing has flourished in the last fifteen years. This community has grown particularly at EGOS (sub-themes on the topic in the last years), as well as in other conferences (BAM, ISA, EURAM, among others). In addition, there has been a dedicated international workshop (2019), special issues (in M@n@gement and in International Studies of Management & Organization), two edited volumes, and

soon the launch of an international research network TGMO (Tackling Grand challenges: a Meta-Organizational approach) to be funded by the French National Science Foundation.

However, so far, systematic research focused mostly on the differences between organizations and meta-organizations, and the research community remains fragmented (Berkowitz et al., 2022; Berkowitz & Bor, 2018). There is less systematic knowledge about how and why meta-organizations differ from one another, whether and how their form relates to their functions, and under which conditions these meta-organizations can have a positive impact on societies – a topic of growing importance. There still is a broad need for specific theorizing efforts dedicated to meta-organizations (Carmagnac & Carbone, 2019; Cropper & Bor, 2018; Spillman, 2018; Valente & Oliver, 2018).
 
As meta-organizations are studied in a variety of fields, from organization studies to political science, sociology, management and strategy, Berkowitz and Bor (2018) called for bringing these pluridisciplinary insights on meta-organizations together to strengthen future studies.
 
SWG 01 aims at unifying different streams of research while advancing important topics that have been neglected so far. We also aim to have methodologically oriented meetings to develop novel approaches together with the SWG participants interested. During the EGOS Colloquia and through other planned activities, we aim to address transversal issues by bringing together the fragmented and diverse community of scholars studying meta-organizations and meta-organizing.

With this SWG on MOMO, we pursue two main objectives:

  1. To create an international, pluridisciplinary community of scholars that will unite various streams of studies from different disciplines, methodologies and research traditions.

  2. To foster the development of novel and insightful research by tapping into and cross-fertilizing the pluridisciplinarity of the field.
     

References

  • Ahrne, G., & Brunsson, N. (2005): “Organizations and meta-organizations.” Scandinavian Journal of Management, 21 (4), 429–449.
  • Ahrne, G., & Brunsson, N. (2008): Meta-Organizations. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • Berkowitz, H., & Bor, S. (2018): “Why Meta-Organizations Matter: A Response to Lawton et al. and Spillman.” Journal of Management Inquiry, 27 (2), 204–211.
  • Berkowitz, H., Brunsson, N., Grothe-Hammer, M., Sundberg, M., & Valiorgue, B. (2022): “Meta-organizations: A clarification and a way forward.” M@n@gement, 25 (2), 1–9.
  • Berkowitz, H., Crowder, L.B., & Brooks, C.M. (2020): “Organizational perspectives on sustainable ocean governance: A multi-stakeholder, meta-organization model of collective action.” Marine Policy, 118, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2020.104026.
  • Berkowitz, H., & Grothe-Hammer, M. (2022): “From a Clash of Social Orders to a Loss of Decidability in Meta-organizations Tackling Grand Challenges: The Case of Japan Leaving the International Whaling Commission.” In: Gümüsay, A.A., Marti, E., Trittin-Ulbrich, H., & Wickert, C. (eds.): Organizing for Societal Grand Challenges. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 79. Leeds: Emerald Publishing Limited, 115–138.
  • Brankovic, J. (2018): “How do meta-organizations affect extra-organizational boundaries? The case of university associations.” In: Ringel, L., P. Hiller, P., Zietsma, C. (eds.): Towards Permeable Organizational Boundaries? Research in the Sociology of Organizations. Leeds: Emerald Publishing Limited, 259–282.
  • Carmagnac, L., & Carbone, V. (2019): “Making supply networks more sustainable ‘together’: The role of meta-organisations.” Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal, 20 (1), 56–67.
  • Cropper, S., & Bor, S. (2018): “(Un)bounding the Meta-Organization: Co-Evolution and Compositional Dynamics of a Health Partnership.” Administrative Sciences, 8 (3), 1–19.
  • Kerwer, D. (2013): “International organizations as meta-organizations: The case of the European Union.” Journal of International Organizations Studies, 4 (2), 40–53.
  • Laurent, A., Garaudel, P., Schmidt, G., & Eynaud, P. (2020): “Civil Society Meta-organizations and Legitimating Processes: The Case of the Addiction Field in France.” VOLUNTAS – International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 31 (1), 19–38.
  • Laviolette, E.M., Arcand, S., Cloutier, M., & Renard, L. (2022): “Same but different: Meta-organizations and collective identity dynamics.” M@n@gement, 25 (2), 45–59.
  • Spillman, L. (2018): “Meta-Organization Matters.” Journal of Management Inquiry, 27 (1), 16–20.
  • Valente, M., & Oliver, C. (2018): “Meta-Organization Formation and Sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Organization Science, 29 (4), 547–571.
  • Zyzak, B., & Jacobsen, D.I. (2019): “External managerial networking in meta-organizations. Evidence from regional councils in Norway.” Public Management Review, 22 (9), 1347–1367.

About the Coordinators

Mariana Baldi is currently a visiting researcher at IÉSEG School of Management, France, and an Associate Professor at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Her research focuses on social networks and critical institutionalism, specifically with the relationships between the Global North and the Global South, different modes of organization, and organizing (meta-organization and meta-organizing). Mariana’s research interest also covers topics related to transnational companies, and transnational social movements in Brazil, focusing on their role as policy shapers.
 
Héloïse Berkowitz is a permanent research fellow at CNRS, Aix Marseille University, France, and a senior Researcher at IBEI, Spain. Her research deals with transitions to sustainability, with a focus on sectoral governance and meta-organizations, in various empirical settings from natural resources to collaborative economy or ocean sustainability. Héloïse’s work has been published in outlets including Academy of Management Review, Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Journal of Business Ethics, and European Management Review.
 
Sanne Bor is a post-doctoral researcher and project manager at LUT University, Finland. Her research deals with questions related to inter-organizational collaboration, specifically with the internal dynamics of meta-organizations, and the role of inter-organizational collaboration in sustainability transitions. Sanne’s research interest also covers topics related to self-steering, horizontal organizing, collective decision-making and governance, and knowledge co-creation more generally. Current research projects relate to sustainable food packaging, environmental conflicts, and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Sanne has published in journals such as Journal of Management Inquiry and Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning.
 
Nils Brunsson is Professor of Management and affiliated with Uppsala University and Score, Sweden. Together with Göran Ahrne he introduced the concept and theory of meta-organizations in an article in 2005 and a book in 2008. Nils is currently studying organization outside and among formal organizations as well as the roots and consequences of competition in social life. He has published 30 books and numerous articles on organization. Since 2009, Nils is an EGOS Honorary Member.
 
Ingrid Gustafsson Nordin is an affiliated researcher at Score (Stockholm Centre for Organizational Research). Her research is focused on questions about responsibility distribution, globalization, and various forms of audits. Empirically, she studies the use and vast proliferation of international standards such as ISO 9001. Ingrid has published in various outlets such as Organization Theory and Critical Perspectives on Accounting. She is also author of the book “How Standards Rule the World. The Construction of a Global Control Regime” (Edward Elgar, 2020).
 
Annachiara Longoni is an Associate Professor in the Department of Operations, Innovation and Data Sciences at ESADE Business School, Spain. She is also Director of the Business Network Dynamics research group and Academic Director of the Master of Research. Annachiara studies the role of sustainability in products and processes innovation within operations and supply chains. Her research explores new manufacturing and supply chain paradigms related to sustainability management, emerging in local and global environments.
 
José Carlos Marques is Associate Professor of Strategic Management at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Canada. His research, at the intersection of strategic management, sustainability, and transnational governance, has been published in academic and practitioner journals, including MIT Sloan Management Review, Regulation & Governance, Organization Studies, Journal of Business Ethics, and Journal of World Business.