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

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program launch the program owner resigned and left Center, and none of
the remaining top managers wanted to take over the program owner’s
position. Thus, the starting point for Center’s program was not very
promising. The following quote illustrates how one program core team
member described the reasons behind the program’s slow progress:
Q94 (Center, program core team member): “This task has been too vaguely
defined. It feels that people are waiting for something to happen on its own, that
things would sort themselves out. A stronger management approach is
required: the program should be led more firmly.”
In Bureau the program idea was triggered by an external IT company’s
offer to take over Bureau’s IT management. As a counteraction, the soonto-be
program manager was asked to come up with an alternative, Bureauled
plan for renewing IT management in the organization. His plan was
approved and the top managers made the decision to launch the first stage
of the program, the current state analysis. The program manager and the
program owner dedicated the next few years to skillfully build the basis for
the program. They first convinced top management about the need for
change with the results of the current state analysis, and then committed a
wider audience of people across the organization to the forthcoming
changes by inviting them to participate in the program planning activities.
Much of these activities can be interpreted as boundary activity, which
clearly contributed to gaining acceptance, support and resources for the
program. One top manager described:
Q95 (Bureau, top manager involved in steering the program): “One could say
that this has been well marketed to the top management, starting from [Head of
Bureau]. The top management is standing behind this, and this is why it’s
working well.”
In Chain, the program was initiated by the top managers. While the
program built on the need for replacement investments and on the results
from some earlier pre-study projects, it was the management group of
Domain (the main business division involved in the program) who came up
with the plan to launch a larger change program. Due to this background,
the program was from the beginning tightly linked to the line organization,
and this was also reflected in the program’s central management positions,
since the main line managers of Domain were put in charge of the program
activities as steering group members and development area directors. One
program steering group member explained:
Q96 (Chain, program steering group member): “Since I’m a member in
[Domain’s central management groups], I myself have been involved in
establishing all these structures and setting requirements for this work.”
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