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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Introduction<br />
spanned <strong>and</strong> protected by an array of different types of boundary <strong>activities</strong>,<br />
<strong>and</strong> how these <strong>activities</strong> contribute to the progress of the program. In this<br />
way, the study sheds light on the relationships between temporary <strong>and</strong><br />
permanent organizations, which have been described as poorly developed<br />
(Ekstedt et al., 1999). The study proposes that change programs are in<br />
constant search <strong>for</strong> balance between integration <strong>and</strong> isolation, i.e. adapting<br />
to the structures, norms <strong>and</strong> rules of the parent organization <strong>and</strong><br />
decoupling from its environment to protect its progress. By highlighting the<br />
contextuality <strong>and</strong> the open systems nature of temporary organizations (e.g.<br />
Engwall, 2003; Morris, 1988), the study adds to the underst<strong>and</strong>ing of the<br />
evolvement <strong>and</strong> interaction of temporary organizations in their wider<br />
organizational context.<br />
From the perspective of studies on organizational boundaries <strong>and</strong><br />
boundary <strong>activities</strong> (e.g. Ancona & Caldwell 1988, 1992a; Leifer & Delbecq,<br />
1978), the present study extends the current underst<strong>and</strong>ing by providing<br />
evidence of boundary <strong>for</strong>mation <strong>and</strong> boundary <strong>activities</strong> in temporary<br />
program organizations. The study also contributes to the field of<br />
organizational change management. Firstly, the study provides an<br />
alternative view to studying organizational change from the perspective of a<br />
change program, i.e. a temporary organization that is established to deliver<br />
significant change. The findings also contribute to the ongoing discussion<br />
on the concept of <strong>readiness</strong> <strong>for</strong> change (e.g. Armenakis et al., 1993; Jones et<br />
al., 2005). The findings propose dimensions <strong>for</strong> defining organization-level<br />
change <strong>readiness</strong> in the context of a specific large-scale change program.<br />
The findings particularly bring up the need to achieve the necessary level of<br />
autonomy (Gemünden, Salomo, & Krieger, 2005; Lampel & Jha, 2004) <strong>for</strong><br />
the change ef<strong>for</strong>t in terms of the existence of a legitimate <strong>and</strong> authorized<br />
temporary organization that is dedicated to delivering the change. The<br />
results also join recent studies (e.g. Neves, 2009) in arguing that <strong>readiness</strong><br />
<strong>for</strong> change is something that the leaders of a change ef<strong>for</strong>t need to actively<br />
promote to create a solid ground <strong>for</strong> change implementation. Finally, the<br />
findings illustrate how change <strong>readiness</strong> may be created through various<br />
types of boundary <strong>activities</strong>.<br />
Although situated within the field of project management research, the<br />
study makes an ambitious attempt to bridge the gap between the research<br />
fields of project management <strong>and</strong> organizational change with the help of<br />
the concept of boundary <strong>activities</strong> adopted from organization theory. Many<br />
of the key contributions described above may be located in linking these<br />
traditionally separate fields of study.<br />
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