Coordination practices in extreme situations

SummaryThis article addresses coordination practices in extreme situations. Whereas past literature has heavily focused on a structural and contingent approach of the phenomena, we argue that a practice-based approach of coordination fruitfully enhances our understanding. We draw on an abductive approach and perform a systematic comparative analysis of four case studies: the crew of a sailing boat engaged in a race, military air and ground forces in theater, medical staff in a neonatology unit and a polar expedition confronted with polar bears. We outline highly heterogeneous coordination practices along four dimensions (formalization, verticality, openness, and specificity). Our results lead to invalidate both a configurational and a contingent perspective on coordination. We show that despite high heterogeneity, these four attributes represent a useful framework for managers to leverage coordination practices produced in situ.

► The article addresses coordination practices in extreme situations. ► We perform a systematic comparative analysis of four extreme case studies. ► We outline heterogeneous coordination practices along four dimensions: formalization, verticality, openness, specificity. ► The results lead to invalidate both a configurational and a contingent perspective on coordination. ► We show that four attributes represent a useful framework for managers to leverage coordination practices produced in situ.