ODC Webinar
ODC Webinar for the JOD Special Issue on
Maverick Organization Design in Practice (Part 2)
Thursday, September 18, 2025 at 3PM CET / 9AM EST
This webinar will explore unconventional organizational practices, examining how they emerge, why they gain widespread adoption—sometimes despite limited evidence of business value—and what differentiates effective implementation from poor imitation. Drawing on insights from a special issue of the Journal of Organization Design, the webinar will bring together leading academics, practitioners, and interdisciplinary experts to discuss this critical challenge. Through a combination of research findings and real-world case studies, we will critically assess the factors that drive the proliferation of these practices and explore strategies for ensuring their meaningful and successful application. Designed for both scholars and practitioners, this seminar strikes a careful balance between academic rigor and practical relevance, offering participants valuable perspectives that can inform and improve their organizational decision-making.
Martin Gonzalez & Jeroen van Bree [Organizers and Moderators]
Martin Gonzalez is a principal of organization and leadership development at Google and author of the bestseller “The Bonfire Moment”. He’s worked extensively with startup founders and tech leaders across the globe on their people and organization design challenges. He’s a frequent lecturer at Stanford, INSEAD, and Wharton.
Jeroen van Bree is Senior Managing Consultant Organization Design at Berenschot Consulting and supports managers and directors in designing and organizing their organizations. He is author of the bestseller “Organization Design: Frameworks, Principles, and Approaches”. He holds a PhD from the Nyenrode Business University. He is a lecturer at the University of Amsterdam and a board member of the European Organization Design Forum.
Constantin Bremer [Presenter]
Paper Title: Scaling or growing agile? The organization design journey of Zenseact
Brief abstract: This presentation will immerse you in the organization design journey of Zenseact, a Swedish company developing software for autonomous driving. Upon its founding in 2017, Zenseact was designed to be a fully agile organization, with 400 employees working in self-managing teams void of any hierarchy. How did this ambition play out as the organization developed? In this presentation, we focus on the contrast between “manifesto agile” and “large-scale agile”, illuminated through Zenseact’s implementation of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) in March 2021 in response to a perceived need for greater “alignment” between teams.
Short bio: Constantin Bremer is a final-year PhD student at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. He explores the world of new and alternative forms of organizing from critical and human-centered perspectives. Prior to his PhD research, Constantin worked in management consulting and at a startup incubator.
Tina Ambos [Presenter]
Paper Title: Technology-Enabled Organization Designs for Tackling the Grand Challenges: The Case of Giga
Brief abstract: We examine how technology enables new “maverick” organization designs that deviate from the norm in order to tackle grand challenges. While such designs disrupt the status quo, their longevity is often fragile—posing a dilemma when long-term collaboration is essential. We introduce the case of Giga, a joint UN initiative that leverages technology to connect every school worldwide to the internet. Giga illustrates how digital tools and open-source approaches can transform organizing, helping to bridge bureaucracy and venture, balance control and orchestration, and integrate technology with human principles. The case shows how technology can extend the lifespan of maverick designs—providing an evolving guiding principle, enabling meta-organizations, and creating a lasting, human-centered narrative.
Short bio: Tina C. Ambos is Professor of International Management and Vice-Dean for Societal Impact at the Geneva School of Economics and Management, University of Geneva, Switzerland. She also directs the School’s Center for Innovation and Partnerships, which hosts the Giga Research Lab. Her research and teaching focus on global strategy and innovation, innovation in the context of multinational corporations, technology start-ups, and international non-profit organizations. She holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from WU Vienna.
Stefan Heusinkveld & Armand Smits [Presenters]
Paper Title: Where do maverick organization design ideas come from?
Brief abstract: To enhance our understanding of where maverick organization design ideas come from, we develop a framework comprising a typology of distinct approaches: design science, life cycle, dramaturgical and translation. These approaches represent influential but distinct research traditions that vary substantially in their primary assumption of envisioned outcomes and drivers of design knowledge development. Yet, in combination, the insights from these approaches extend research into design theory, as well as provide a broader and more integrative basis for management practitioners to adequately deal with new maverick organization design ideas.
Short bio: Dr. Stefan Heusinkveld is associate professor at Radboud University. His research concentrates on organizational change, management ideas and practices, and professions and occupations. Stefan is co-editor of Journal of Professions and Organization and The Oxford Handbook of Management Ideas, and serves on the editorial boards of Organization, and Organization Studies.
Short bio: Dr. Armand Smits is affiliated with Radboud University. His research focuses on collaborative innovation, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and configurations. He applies qualitative research methods, including fsQCA. He teaches courses on organizational change and design.
Hope you will be able to join us!
