Coordinating organizational routines is a strategic challenge in contexts ranging from healthcare to software development. Yet, we have few theories of the design of routines. This paper compares field data on routines at two Korean restaurants to theorize their design. We identified a core...

The bureaucratic organizational structure has been recently challenged by a number of organizations that claim to offer employee emancipation and autonomy through self-management, self-organizing, or "holacracy." To facilitate theorizing about such organizational-level self-management, I examine...

The corporate headquarters (CHQ) is an important part of the organization of large firms; yet, it is neglected in organization design theory. In this brief essay, I argue that we need a better understanding of the CHQ to further our understanding of the link between the top-management team and...

The type of organization design that I practice is strategic organization design. It has roots in Chandler's (1962) work which states, "Structure follows strategy." It applies to organizing at the enterprise, business unit, region, or functional levels. It is a top-down design methodology. The...

Meta-organizations, such as joint ventures and other complex forms of inter-firm organizations, are characterized by the absence of formal authority. This lack of internal hierarchy can lead to severe conflicts between cooperating organizations and hence requires specific governance. This paper...

In this edition of the organizational zoo series, we take a closer look at an interesting organization design case-GitHub, a software company from California. Similar to Valve, the subject of the previous article in the series (Puranam and Håkonsson, J Organ Design 4: 2-4, 2015) GitHub is used...

In this interview with Professor James G. March, we focused on the key insights stemming from his work, with a special emphasis on the lessons for organization science and organization design. We discussed the major ideas and theories that he and his coauthors generated over the several decades...

Organization design is a major factor determining an organization’s performance and how the people work together in these organizations. In the paper, we argue that designing organizations should be scientific-based and forward-looking. This raises challenges in designing organizations in...

Organizational scholars have shown increasing interest in the ways in which managers enact and respond to competing demands and the tensions they prompt as constitutive elements of their organizations. There is now a proliferation of conceptualizations of such competing demands that can be...

Articles published in the Journal of Organization Design (JOD) from its inception in 2012 until mid-2018 are reviewed and summarized according to their type: research, point of view, translational, case study, research primer, and Organization Zoo. Using multiple assessment criteria, JOD's...