Meta-organizing on the fly in times of crisis: The emergence and morphing of COVID-END

Meta-organizations are created to address issues of common concern that require collaboration from various organizational actors. In crisis situations, the bringing together of independent organizations with different roles could be important to support crisis response. In this paper, we draw on a real-time qualitative case study, that of COVID-END (i.e., the COVID-19 Evidence Network to support Decision-making), to examine how and why meta-organizing might emerge, evolve and dissolve (or not) during the lifecycle of a crisis situation. We show how in the midst of a highly volatile crisis, organizations dedicated to promoting evidence-based knowledge were able to coalesce around a common goal, despite prior failed attempts to create a form of collaboration. We call this process meta-organizing on the fly and trace its development over time through periods of emergence, shapeshifting and transition that imply different forms of identity work, boundary work and practice work. We contribute to the literature by showing how an environmental shock can alter the motivational landscape for meta-organizing suddenly and intensely, and we reveal the critical, yet paradoxical role of centralized leadership in enabling it to take form and potentially sustain itself. While inter-organizational rivalry may re-emerge over time, we suggest that meta-organizing on the fly nevertheless has the potential to lead to longer term transformation of organizational relations towards enhanced collaboration, and the recreation of other meta-organizational forms. • Meta-organizing on the fly is the fast fluid process of creating a temporary meta-organization in response to a crisis. • We study a meta-organization formed during COVID-19, showing how uncertainty and pressure to act facilitate convergence. • We find that as crisis becomes less intense, pre-existing tensions among member organizations may re-emerge. • Centralized leadership can paradoxically enable meta-organizing on the fly but limit member involvement over time. • Though temporary, meta-organizing on the fly can lay the groundwork for longer term efforts at meta-organizing in a sector.