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

Discussion
activities can be utilized in defining the program’s position and authority in
relation to the line organization. Resources for program work may be
negotiated with the parent organization’s representatives through resource
seeking activities. The program may also be connected to the authority
structure of the parent organization through linking activities. A change
program may readily possess authority via its managers’ high-ranking
positions in the line organization (i.e. position power, cf. Lines, 2007), or
the managers may acquire authority by demonstrating charismatic
leadership and expertise in their activities (i.e. expert power, cf. Lines
2007). Isolative activities may be utilized to protect the emerging program
from restrictive external influences, maintaining program autonomy.
The variety of activities related to promoting autonomy for a change
program provide support for previous research that highlights the political
nature of projects and programs, and suggests that their managers must
skillfully utilize the organizational politics for the project’s or program’s
benefit (e.g. Pinto, 2000). By emphasizing the change program’s pursuit of
autonomy, the current study provides support for the studies that underline
the political nature of organizational change (e.g. Buchanan et al., 2005;
Kaarst-Brown, 1999; Lines, 2007) and the inherently political nature of
boundary management (Ancona & Caldwell, 1990; Balogun et al., 2005;
Perry & Angle, 1979).
The discussion above indicates that while program autonomy is identified
as a separate dimension of readiness for change program implementation,
it appears to be in many ways connected to the other two dimensions of
readiness, namely the shared intent for change and the required resources
for change implementation. The program’s autonomy may be strengthened
by the existence of powerful program leaders, credible plans, and receptive
environment. To conclude the discussion, the findings of the current study
propose that program autonomy needs to be actively enabled and
maintained during the early stage of a change program. The autonomy of a
change program does not mean that the program is fully independent of its
environment and exists in isolation, but rather it means that the program
has a legitimate position in the parent organization and that the program is
powerful enough to change the prevailing order of things. As described in
this section, various types of boundary activities appear to have a central
role in promoting program autonomy.
5.2.4 Virtuous and vacuous paths in change program initiation
The study suggests that the early program activities may be regarded as
building readiness for change program implementation through active
boundary management. In this section, an attempt is made to summarize
the findings by adopting the concepts of virtuous and vacuous paths
203