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

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defined nor linear. … It has been very important to find those people who can
tolerate this uncertainty.”
Table 18 also shows how boundary activities were utilized to commit and
involve senior management in the change programs. Firstly, various kinds
of informing activities aimed at keeping top management informed of the
program’s key events and progress. The following example from case
Bureau illustrates these activities:
Q64 (Bureau, middle manager of a central unit involved in the program): “It has
been communicated quite a lot towards the [line management], so the line
managers have accepted this and realized its importance. It has also been
communicated to the management of [the business division], so they know quite
well how this will be done.”
As the previous quote shows, communicating about the programs to top
management often aimed at ensuring line management’s support for
program work. The analysis demonstrated how legitimating and
committing activities were performed to actively convince top management
to get involved in the change programs and to visibly demonstrate their
support. Such activities were especially common in Bureau, where the
program manager explained that the ultimate aim of the current state
analysis conducted at program initiation was to convince top management
to support the program. The following quote shows how in Bureau the
program owner was in a central role in gaining top management
commitment.
Q65 (Bureau, program manager): “After he was appointed, [the program owner]
examined this for a couple of months and then he stated that “This is how we’ll
do it”, and he started to take this forward with full speed. And through active
efforts he was able to get every top manager in [Bureau] committed to this,
which was very valuable.”
Table 18 shows how there were as many as four types of boundary
activities associated with making the environment more receptive to
change by preparing the change recipients for the forthcoming changes.
Firstly, linking activities created connections between the programs and
various parts of their parent organizations, which contributed to making
the recipients aware of the programs’ impacts. Such activities were
especially common in Chain, where each of the program’s projects
established its specific connections to the line organization, such as to
support units, permanent decision-making forums, and local units. The
following quote illustrates these activities.
Q66 (Chain, sub-program manager): “Naturally, when we proceed to the
implementation stage, the role of [the local units] will increase. Thus, during
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