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

Conclusion
identity, especially in the case of a non-supportive, immature
organizational context where values, norms, and ways of working diverge
from those of the program. The findings of the study suggest that the
leaders of change programs should actively search for a balance between
integrating the program with its parent organization and isolating it to
establish a sufficient level of autonomy. The findings further suggest how
this need for a balance, and the wide repertoire of external activities needed
in achieving it, should be taken into consideration in recruiting managers
and key members for change programs. For instance, in choosing members
for a core program team, the individuals’ opportunities, skills, and
aspirations to engage in boundary management activities should be valued.
Finally, the study draws attention to the contextual nature of change. The
study suggests that the contextual conditions need to be taken into account
when assessing the probability of making a successful transformation and
when selecting the appropriate approach to change. Furthermore, the study
emphasizes context awareness in applying the repertoire of proposed
boundary activities. Awareness of the organizational context is critical in
coping with the constraints and utilizing the enablers of the organizational
context to successfully initiate significant change. The results of the study
challenge program management practitioners to analyze their programs
and program environments to better understand the challenges of change
initiation. The study has portrayed a variety of ways how the complex
relations of projects or programs with their organizational context can be
managed to support successful implementation of change, depending on
the situation-specific features.
6.3 Avenues for further research
The study opens up a number of interesting opportunities for further
research in different areas. First and foremost, the findings indicate that the
focus on external activities is a fruitful direction for project management
research, as it may enhance our understanding of temporary organizations.
The present study has provided initial evidence of the contribution of
boundary activities to the success of change program initiation. Further
research is required to verify these findings. Due to the limitations of the
qualitative case study approach, the developed propositions could be
complemented with further qualitative studies and tested with hypotheticdeductive
studies.
The nature of the program-parent organization boundary has been
examined in the present study by analyzing the different aspects of which
the boundary consists of. The analysis revealed a number of aspects, or
boundary types, that each contributed to the overall boundary. The analysis
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