A project's autonomy, the degree to which a project can evolve without constant interference from the parent organization, is a key feature of innovation projects. The literature treats autonomy as a passive phenomenon and underestimates how projects as temporary organizations interact with more permanent forms of organizations. A dynamic and contextually sensitive understanding of project autonomy is valuable; autonomy can change over the course of the project's lifecycle and evolve into extreme isolation. We show how autonomy is shaped through practices of isolation and how this influences project outcomes. Two innovation projects were studied through qualitative\055interpretive methods and we analyzed symbolic, discursive and spatial practices of isolation. These practices facilitate the exploration of innovations but limit the transmission of these innovations to the parent organization. We contribute to the literature on temporary organizations and project-to-parent integration by illustrating and theorizing the role of practices of isolation in this process. ... Read more

This paper studies the design of co-located spaces and how organizational actors experience such spaces. The literature on co-location is ambiguous about how reduced physical distance increases collaboration. To address this problem, we draw on an ethnographic study of a co-located railway control center, housing the largest Dutch railway organizations under one roof. Although the intention of the co-location was to improve collaboration by bringing different organizations into closer proximity, our findings tell a different story. Railway employees developed several territorial practices (preserving existing boundaries, creating new boundaries, and the situational use of boundaries) through which they resisted the design of the control center, thereby changing the control center from co-located to "dis-located." We argue that understanding the relationship between co-location and collaboration should not only focus on how such spaces are designed but, rather, account for how spaces where collaboration is demanded are experienced and used by employees. ... Read more