Boundary activities and readiness for ... - Projekti-Instituutti

Results
personnel of the local units, who represented central targets of the changes
promoted by the program.
4.2.3 Comparison of the findings across the cases
As discussed in the previous section, all three cases demonstrated
numerous indicators of a boundary between the change program and the
parent organization. Although at least some indicators of all six boundary
types could be found in all three case programs, the overall boundary
strength seemed to differ across the cases. To summarize the results, Table
13 presents the perceived strength of the different boundary types in each
case, as well an overview of the overall boundary strength. The perceived
strength of each boundary type has been judged based on the qualitative
analysis of the interview accounts.
Table 13 Summary: perceived program-parent organization boundary strength across the
three cases
Boundary type Boundary strength
in Center
Task
Weak in terms of task;
Strong in terms of
process
Boundary strength
in Bureau
Medium strong in
terms of task; strong in
terms of process
Boundary strength
in Chain
Medium strong in
terms of task; medium
strong in terms of
process
Authority Strong Medium strong Weak
Physical or spatial Medium strong Medium strong Medium strong
Temporal Strong Medium strong Weak
Social and identity Strong Medium strong Medium strong
Knowledge Strong Medium strong Medium strong
Overall
boundary
strength
Differences
among the
program’s intraorganizational
stakeholder
groups
Strong Medium strong Weak to medium
strong
Strong boundary in
terms of top
management and
medium to strong
boundary to other
experts
Medium strong
boundary to top
management and weak
to strong boundary to
experts in local units
Weak boundary to top
management, medium
strong boundary to
other experts, and
strong boundary to
shop floor level
employees in local
units
As Table 13 indicates, in case Center the overall boundary between the
change program and its parent organization seemed strong (or “thick”),
whereas in case Chain the boundary was from weak (or “thin”) to medium
strong. Based on the analysis, case Bureau demonstrated a medium-strong
boundary. As discussed in the previous section, the perceived boundary
strength seemed to differ between the stakeholder groups within the parent
organization. The main observations regarding the differences across the
intra-organizational stakeholder groups are also addressed in Table 13.
126