ABSTRACT
It turned out that the three frequently used theories described in Chapter 2 could not be used as an integral conceptual framework for getting a deeper understanding of the relationship between organizational design, self-organization and the emergence of safety in expeditionary organizations. Hence, this chapter takes the first step in attempting to “fill” this gap by means of an empirical exploration. This chapter aims at answering the second research question, which is this:
What aspects of organizational design influenced self-organization of 107 Aerial Systems battery and the emergence of safety during their operations within Task Force Uruzgan?
As was also addressed briefly in Chapter 1, the first empirical study of this book is carried out on the expeditionary operations of the 107th Aerial Systems Battery (107 ASBt) of the Royal Netherlands Army. This unit performed multiple expeditionary missions within Task Force Uruzgan between 2006 and 2009. The main reason for choosing this unit as a starting point for the empirical investigations in this book is that both the unit itself and the task force were “mixed and matched” out of different units from the military parent organizations in the Netherlands. Hence, starting at this unit enables exploring the relation between organization design and self-organization and the emergence of safety at the level of the unit itself and at the level of the task force. Of course, choosing to explore from the perspective of this unit has consequences for validity of findings at the level of the task force. These issues and the way they are handled in this book are discussed later on in this chapter. Furthermore, it was also introduced in Chapter 1 that a “conceptual compass” based on the Integral Organizational Renewal (IOR) tradition in sociotechnical systems design theory guides the exploration. The goal of this chapter, as visualized in Figure 3.1, is therefore to study 107 ASBt’s operations within TFU by means of this conceptual compass to explore the relation 47between organization design, self-organization and the emergence of safety in expeditionary organizations. In order to do so, this chapter is divided into several sections. Firstly, the content of the conceptual compass is described in detail. Secondly, background information on 107 ASBt and Task Force Uruzgan is presented. Thirdly, the methodology that is used in this chapter is formulated. Fourthly, the results of this chapter are presented. Fifthly, the analysis is presented. Finally, this chapter concludes with a discussion.