Increasingly, scholars view reliability-the ability to plan for and withstand disaster-as a social construction. However, there is a tendency to evoke this concept only in the face of catastrophes, such as the British Petroleum oil spill or the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. This book...

We examine how two highly successful new biotechnology firms (NBFs) source their most critical input -- scientific knowledge. We find that scientists at the two NBFs enter into large numbers of collaborative research efforts with scientists at other organizations, especially universities. Formal...

Cover -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- PART I: SETTING THE STAGE -- 1. Advancing Organizational Reliability -- 2. The Multiple Meanings and Models of Reliability in Organizational Research -- PART II: IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF RELIABLE ORGANIZING -- 3. Three Lenses for Understanding Reliable, Safe,...

Reflecting the emergence of new organizational forms and hybrid organizations, this edited collection explores the processes of exchange, collaboration and technological management that have changed organizational structures. By investigating the impact that inter-organizational collaboration...

Life, viability, and the art of keeping one’s balance -- VSM in fifteen minutes - How does a soccer club function? -- The product – core and foundation of the organization -- „Joining and coordinating forces“ – The operational metasystem (part 1) -- “Controlling and Optimizing” -...

Contents: Introduction -- 1. Practice as accomplishment -- 2. Practice as collective knowledgeable doing -- 3. Practice as sensible knowing -- 4. Practice as sociomateriality -- 5. The normative infrastructure of practices -- 6. Talking while practicing -- 7. Practices as socially sustained --...