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W. R. Scott & J. W. Meyer (1983) argued that the contradictory demands placed on organizations by technical & institutional environments can lead to higher levels of internal conflict, & that organizations can deal with this dialectic tension by adopting more complex administrative systems. This dialectic view fails to fully appreciate the dualistic relationship between the kinds of technical & institutional environments that organizations must confront. Focusing specifically on unbounded technological systems -- multicomponent systems that can be linked together in network industries -- it is proposed that the relationship between technical & institutional environments can be better understood & more adequately managed through development of transient designs -- designs that serve as stepping stones for future product offerings. 1 Figure. M. Maguire

We report on a longitudinal study of the emergence of the ATLAS detector, a complex technological system developed at CERN, Geneva. Our data show that the coordination of initial architectural choices was driven by cycles of contestation and justification that resulted in the creation of what we term interlaced knowledge—pockets of shared knowledge interwoven within and across subsystem communities at ATLAS. We also found that these justifications were possible because of the presence of a boundary infrastructure that served as a common substrate of knowledge for all ATLAS participants. Together, the boundary infrastructure and interlaced knowledge enabled participants to make co-oriented technological choices, address latent interdependencies, and minimize the incidence and severity of glitches when integrating the various subsystems.

Innovation processes are complex. It is through local interactions among people and technologies that diverse and novel outcomes emerge. Even when governed by simple rules, such interactions can generate nonlinear temporal dynamics. Given such complexities, how might an organization sustain innovation for continued growth and vitality? Drawing on an in-depth study of innovation practices and journeys at 3M Corporation, we identify how combinations of practices — which we conceptualize as complexity arrangements — afford multiple agentic orientations simultaneously for the actors involved and thereby facilitate sustained innovation.

We explore how organizations may be designed to transform themselves even as they continue to perform seamlessly on a day-to-day basis. Our inquiry frame recognizes that organizational designs comprise several elements—people, technologies, processes, and governance. Our study of an exemplary organization, Infosys Technologies, yields two insights. At Infosys, each design element is seeded with generative properties. As these design elements interact, reinforcing and balancing one another, an overall organizational platform of resources, capabilities, and options emerges. The company draws on this emergent platform to perform in real time even as it transforms itself to adapt to changing environments.