Boundary activities and readiness for ... - Projekti-Instituutti
Boundary activities and readiness for ... - Projekti-Instituutti
Boundary activities and readiness for ... - Projekti-Instituutti
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Discussion<br />
achieving the required level of <strong>readiness</strong> was simply too large. Regarding<br />
the other cases, Bureau may be characterized as a bureaucratic public<br />
sector organization with little experience on change programs, which may<br />
explain why so many legitimating <strong>and</strong> committing ef<strong>for</strong>ts <strong>and</strong> other<br />
boundary <strong>activities</strong> had to be per<strong>for</strong>med to establish <strong>readiness</strong> <strong>for</strong> change<br />
program implementation. In comparison, case Chain showed a somewhat<br />
more mature context in terms of internal change projects <strong>and</strong> programs,<br />
suggesting that the initial <strong>readiness</strong> <strong>for</strong> change was also higher. This might<br />
also explain why there were not many legitimating <strong>and</strong> committing<br />
<strong>activities</strong> in Chain, but the majority of boundary <strong>activities</strong> had other intents.<br />
To conclude the observations, the findings suggest that the initial<br />
maturity of the parent organization in terms of initiating <strong>and</strong> implementing<br />
change programs might affect the amount of overall boundary activity<br />
per<strong>for</strong>med at the change program’s boundaries, the pattern of boundary<br />
activity in terms of the emphasis of different activity types, <strong>and</strong> the level of<br />
challenge in reaching the required <strong>readiness</strong> <strong>for</strong> change program<br />
implementation. The observations provide support <strong>for</strong> Thiry (2004), who<br />
suggests that the program team needs to take into account the parent<br />
organization’s responsiveness to change. The current study proposes that<br />
especially in contexts that lack previous experience from change programs<br />
or other significant change ef<strong>for</strong>ts, close attention needs to be paid to<br />
establishing a solid ground <strong>for</strong> the program through active boundary<br />
management.<br />
The fourth central contextual factor that emerged during the analysis was<br />
the origin of the programs, referring both to the level in the organizational<br />
hierarchy where the program idea originated <strong>and</strong> the early decision making<br />
process of how the program <strong>activities</strong> were <strong>for</strong>mally initiated. Previous<br />
literature describes how the impetus <strong>and</strong> momentum <strong>for</strong> change may follow<br />
a top-down or a bottom-up process, or a combination of the two (Hope-<br />
Hailey & Balogun, 2002). The three investigated cases appeared to differ in<br />
this aspect.<br />
The change program in case Chain was initiated by the top managers <strong>and</strong><br />
the related <strong>activities</strong> followed a top-down process. The program was from<br />
early on seen as a strategic priority, which was reflected in the composition<br />
of the program: key top managers were appointed in <strong>for</strong>mal program<br />
management positions as development area directors <strong>and</strong> steering group<br />
members. Combined with Chain’s experience <strong>and</strong> maturity in internal<br />
projects <strong>and</strong> their management, this may explain why in Chain’s case there<br />
was no need <strong>for</strong> extensive legitimating <strong>and</strong> committing <strong>activities</strong> targeted at<br />
the top management. The gap between the organization’s initial <strong>readiness</strong><br />
<strong>for</strong> change <strong>and</strong> the required <strong>readiness</strong> <strong>for</strong> implementing the particular<br />
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