Employed under different rules: the complexities of working across organizational boundaries

Abstract

A major element of the transforming work debate is the spread of complex organizational forms. Hierarchical and strictly bounded employing organizations are said to be being replaced by fluid networks of organizations, working in partnership to achieve shared goals. Case studies of four co-production networks cast doubts on the extent to which employment hierarchies have lost salience. Inter-organizational relations are found to result not in the absence of hierarchies but in their overlapping, intertwining and fragmentation. These interactions raise problems of consistency and fairness within the employment relationship, particularly related to distributive justice, procedural justice and career development. © The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved.