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Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance pp 1–5Cite as

Flexible Organizations

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Synonyms

Adaptable; Adjustable; Agile; Ambidextrous; Contingent; Elastic; Flexible; Malleable; Moldable; Resilient

Definitions

Organizations are currently defined as streams of organizing processes. Organizing is a process of patterning interactions and communications by subjecting them to formal constraints and controls. Most organizations in contemporary societies are professional bureaucracies. Organizations impose a rigid division of labor, establish chains of command, and operate through hierarchy by assigning responsibility and accountability to their human members. However, functioning among unpredictable contingencies often requires breaking the formal rules. This is how flexibility enters the definition of organizations and organizing. Flexibility is measured in an improved ability to cope with unpredictable challenges emerging from complex, evolving environments and in development of hybrid forms. Complexity of continuously changing environment, reflexivity of human...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (Emeritus), Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Slawomir Magala

  2. Faculty of Management & Social Communication, Jagiellonian University Cracow, Cracow, Poland

    Slawomir Magala

Authors
  1. Slawomir Magala
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Slawomir Magala .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA

    Ali Farazmand

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Magala, S. (2016). Flexible Organizations. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_132-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_132-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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