Table 1 Summary of forms of organizing

Task division

The problem of mapping the goals of the organization into tasks and subtasks.

✓ Initial structure designed by founder (MacCormack et al., 2006);

✓ Participation and contribution by other members (Puranam et al., 2014);

✓ Transparency of task division (Baldwin and Clark, 2006).

Task allocation

The problem of mapping the tasks obtained through task division to individual agents.

✓ Assignment (Hackman and Oldham, 1976);

✓ Self-selection based on internal factors (Puranam et al., 2014);

✓ Self-selection based on external factors such as competition (Moore, 1993).

Reward distribution

The problem of mapping a set of rewards to the agents in the organization and motivating the agents to cooperate.

✓ Compensation (Prendergast, 1999);

✓ Intrinsic motivation (Hackman and Oldham, 1976);

✓ Social norms (Shah, 2006);

✓ Value creation (Thomas and Autio, 2012);

✓ Culture as a tool kit (Spigel, 2015).

Information flow

The problem of ensuring that an organization’s agents have the information needed to execute their tasks and coordinate actions with others.

✓ Physical collocation (Puranam et al., 2014);

✓ Virtual tools (Puranam et al., 2014);

✓ Conference (Garud, 2008).