Changing forms of organizing: dualities in using remote collaboration technologies in film production

A common argument is that organizations should adopt new organizational pra ctices, in order to respond to the hyper-competitive business environment T he assumption underlying this argument is that such adoption generally enta ils the replacement of traditional practices We suggest, instead, that mana gers are more likely to be managing simultaneously both new and old organiz ational practices. We explore our position through an investigation of the use of remote collaboration technologies in film production In our study of US, UK and Australian film Production houses we identify seven organizatio nal dualities which characterize remote collaborations: creative work/routi nes, freedom/constraint, trust/control, artistic excellence/cost effectiven ess, coallaboration/competition, emotional/rational and closeness/remotenes s. One side of each relationship represents organizational practices common ly associated with traditional forms of organizing, while the other represe nts those practices commonly associated with new forms of organizing. The c oexistence of these dualities suggests that new organizational forms are no t replacing traditional forms but rather co-exist with and become incorpora ted into, remolded traditional forms.