Co-fabricating the permanent to enable temporary organizing: Insights from an ethnography of emergency response operations

Abstract

Research on temporary organizations such as projects acknowledges the interplay between the temporary and the permanent. However, we still lack deeper understanding of the processes responsible for (re)producing and transforming permanent structures for temporary organizing. We present an ethnography of collaborative emergency response operations in a major German city – a setting providing an example of temporary organizing including more permanent structures drawn from intra- and interorganizational processes. Revealing the recursive interplay between the permanent and temporary across multiple levels, we explore practices of temporary organizing in situations that require both routine and highly situated responses. We also show how more permanent structures are co-fabricated in the process of temporary organizing. Furthermore, our study addresses the intricate interplay between organizing for the temporary and the permanent in relation to the tensions associated with the duality of stability and change. Finally, we outline implications for the effectiveness of emergency management and planning.