Megaprojects: A Hybrid Meta-Organisation

Abstract

Megaprojects, formed to develop a vast array of capital assets, are ubiquitous in today’s society. But organization science has yet to qualitatively distinguish them from other modes of organizing. Through a longitudinal study of the development of three megaprojects — London’s Olympic Park, London’s Crossrail, and Heathrow airport’s Terminal 2 — we argue they are a hybrid meta-organization consisting of two symbiotically related structures. At the core, a flat collective shares control over the system-level goal and design requirements; its membership mirrors the organisation that will later share the asset in use. At the periphery, a transactional collective designs and builds, but has no rights over the requirements. A longitudinal analysis reveals two developmental processes — parading, and the hard way — underlying the evolution of the megaproject organization towards a configuration to fit the environment. We conclude with a discussion of how megaprojects combine the characteristics of an open, flat organization with those of a closed, hierarchical organization.

Keywords: Megaproject, Meta-Organization, Organization Design