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

Conclusion
study also reveals the complex nature of the boundary between a temporary
organization and a permanent organization by illustrating how this
boundary is built up of different aspects, including the task-based,
temporal, physical and spatial, authority related, social and identity-based
as well as knowledge boundaries. The study illuminates the dynamic nature
of the boundary already during the early phases of a change program.
In the present study, a unique approach to change initiation has been
taken by highlighting the boundary between the key individuals and the
others in the organization. The practice of change initiation has been
approached by identifying the different types of boundary activities that
define, reinforce, maintain, and cross that boundary. The study has shown
how the boundary between an emerging change program and its parent
organization is both an enabler and a barrier to the successful
implementation of the change program. On the one hand, the boundary
limits the interaction and sets the emerging change program apart from the
surrounding organization. This creates a need for various kinds of
boundary crossing activities. On the other hand, the boundary has a role in
protecting the emerging program. To achieve this protection, the boundary
may be purposefully strengthened and blocked. The current study has
illustrated this complex interplay that takes place at the change program’s
boundary, showing how the boundary is constantly being drawn, reinforced
and guarded, and also actively crossed from both directions.
The study has also broadened the understanding of the concept of
readiness for change. The findings suggest how readiness for change may
be analyzed at the organization level to consist of the shared intent for
change, the resources required for mobilizing change and the sufficient
autonomy of the change program. Through detailed descriptions of each of
these three dimensions, the current study proposes an approach for
analyzing the conditions of successful change implementation already
during the early program stage.
The concept of boundary management provides a means for illustrating
how readiness for change may be increased and the potential resistance to
change may be overcome. The study proposes that the interaction taking
place at the boundary is in a significant role in determining the course of
the change program. The described interplay at the program’s boundaries
increases understanding of the micro-level dynamics of how the success
factors can be enacted in practice. In this sense, the present study serves as
a bridge between the normative success-factor oriented research on
organizational change and the contemporary research streams that
appreciate the actual practice of the organizational actors.
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