Dietrich, Perttu. (2019).

Coordination Strategies in Organizational Development

Programs. 978-951-22-9075-8. The complexity of services and products has driven
organizations to utilize programs to manage different kinds of development tasks
that are far too complicated to be organized through single projects. In the multi-
project organizing frame, coordination between the participating actors is one of
the key factors that distinguish successful programs from unsuccessful ones. This
dissertation focuses on the coordination mechanisms between interdependent project
teams in programs. The research question of the thesis is what kinds of
coordination strategies enable effective coordination in complex and uncertain
organizational development programs. The research question is approached by
identifying the repertoires of coordination mechanisms utilized in programs, and by
investigating how the components of complexity and uncertainty affect the
utilization of these repertoires. This study employs the inductive multiple case
study method. The empirical part of the study includes analysis of 7 organizational
development programs executed in 6 large and medium-sized Finnish organizations.
The empirical material consists of 64 interviews, 48 interview-related
questionnaire responses, documents, and templates. The analysis of the empirical
data results in the identification of three distinct strategies; centralized
strategy, balanced strategy, and subordinate strategy that describe the logic
through which inter-team interaction takes place in the case programs. In the
centralized strategy the inter-team interaction is primarily based on the
utilization of formal and informal inter-team group meetings. The balanced strategy
is based on the utilization of a network of formal and informal ties, in which
group meetings are complemented with localized coordination mechanisms, such as
direct contacts, electronic mail, liaison persons, plans, and schedules. In the
subordinate strategy inter-team interaction is rather rare, highly formalized and
primarily based on hierarchical referral through the parent organization's chain of
command. The results of the study suggest that the utilization of distinct
coordination strategies is related to three dominant antecedent factors: the number
of projects, interdependency and task analyzability. The results suggest that a low
number of projects, high interdependency, and low task analyzability are related to
the utilization of the centralized coordination strategy. A low number of projects,
high interdependency, and high task analyzability are related to the utilization of
the balanced coordination strategy. A high number of projects and low
interdependency are related to the utilization of the subordinate coordination
strategy. In addition, the study reveals that the three identified coordination
strategies if fit with the dominant antecedent factors are equally effective and
provide equal potential for learning and innovations. Moreover, the results suggest
that if the utilized coordination strategy fits with the dominant antecedent
factors, the effectiveness of the coordination is determined by the following
constraining antecedent factors: task analyzability, task novelty, geographic
dispersion, and the number of participating organizations. The results show that in
the case of the centralized coordination strategy, a high number of participating
organizations and geographic dispersion are related to better potential for
learning and innovations. In the case of the balanced coordination strategy, high
task novelty and high geographic dispersion are related to a lower effectiveness of
the program. Finally, in the case of the subordinate strategy, high task
analyzability is related to a better the effectiveness of the program and lower
potential for learning and innovations. This dissertation offers a contribution to
the literature in the area of organizational coordination. In addition, the study
contributes to the understanding of complex programs and multiple contingency
theory. The findings have practical implications for organizational designers and
managers responsible for the planning and management of complicated organizational
change and development activities. Doctoral dissertation series / Helsinki
University of Technology, Laboratory of Industrial Management, ISSN 1795-2441;
2007/3