Token-Centric Work Practices in Fluid Organizations: The Cases of Yearn and MakerDAO

Abstract

An emerging type of organization challenges the assumptions of what an organization is and how actors work: fluid organizations are characterized by continually changing templates of boundaries, decision-making, and task and role allocation. Increasingly, fluid organizations form around digital tokens, which resemble common shares in a corporation. In this study, we draw on the theoretical lens of practices to explore how the use of tokens shapes work in fluid organizations. We conduct a netnography among actors of two token-issuing fluid organizations in the decentralized finance sector. We identify token-centric practices that (i) leave actors striving toward a goal, giving rise to flexibility, and (ii) are institutionalized, giving rise to a structure. However, these practices also evoke tensions that the actors seek to continuously mitigate through action on a continuum of solutions to emerging problems. The findings contribute to the emerging literature on work in fluid organizations.