In today’s complex society, organizational change is crucial for organizations’ survival. Previous research regarding organizational change has studied restructuration, mergers and cultural change. However, a research gap was identified in understanding a planned organizational change through the theoretical framework Four Flows. Therefore, a qualitative case study was conducted at an organization that recently changed from a flat to a hierarchical structure. The aim of the study was to create an understanding through Four Flows for how communicative flows at a digital agency, Digitalbyrån, changed in connection to the implementation of a new organizational structure. The methods used in the study were semi-structured interviews in combination with a qualitative content analysis. An organizational document was also collected for background information. The theoretical framework applied consisted of Robert McPhee and Pamela Zaug’s (2000) CCO theory Four Flows, and selected notions from Anthony Giddens’ (1984) Structuration theory. The results from the study showed that communicative flows at Digitalbyrån changed to a certain degree when comparing the communicative flows pre- and post-restructuring. More specifically, a moderate change was found in the flows membership negotiation, self-structuring and activity coordination and a significant change was found in the flow institutional positioning. Furthermore, the study showed that implemented change in an organization and change in communicative flows do not always change accordingly. Thus, the study demonstrated that actual change is constituted through the communicative flows, rather than being the result of the implemented change per se.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The US weather enterprise includes academia, the private weather industry, and government-funded forecasting, research, and dissemination agencies. While not an organization in its own right, the enterprise behaves like an organization of organizations. This thesis applies the communicative constitution of organizations, and McPhee and Zaug’s four flows model in particular, to the US weather enterprise. Each organization in the weather enterprise behaves like individual members of an organization would, which extends this theory to a conceptualization of organization that increases innovation, collaboration, and coordination. The weather is a constitutive force which calls the US weather enterprise into being. Finally, CCO is extended to other collaborative, coordinated efforts among the public and private sectors, indicating the possibilities of CCO as an attractive answer to the great organizational questions of the 21st century and beyond. Future research areas are considered, including how the US weather enterprise manages the unexpected and reduces uncertainty organizationally. Also, considerations as to how CCO can be applied to the incident command structure, often called forward during high-impact weather events, will be made.