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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Theoretical background<br />
program should confirm that potential “buyers” exist <strong>for</strong> the program<br />
outputs within the organizational environment.<br />
Previous research has acknowledged that internal change projects <strong>and</strong><br />
programs are especially interesting in terms of their interaction with the<br />
organizational context (Johansson et al., 2007). Blomquist <strong>and</strong> Packendorff<br />
(1998) describe change projects <strong>and</strong> programs as the most embedded kind<br />
of temporary organizations. An internal change program aims at changing<br />
the parent organization <strong>and</strong> gains its resources <strong>and</strong> the entire reason <strong>for</strong><br />
existence from it. As Pellegrinelli (1997) states, a program operates on the<br />
existing structures, systems <strong>and</strong> procedures to trans<strong>for</strong>m or replace them.<br />
The managerial structures <strong>and</strong> procedures of some organizations may also<br />
constrain programs (Ferns, 1991). Furthermore, Huy (2002) notes how it<br />
may be a considerable challenge to balance between achieving change <strong>and</strong><br />
maintaining operational continuity during radical organizational<br />
trans<strong>for</strong>mation. The attempted change typically requires considerable<br />
ef<strong>for</strong>ts from the recipients, as change deals with people’s behaviors, not<br />
only with tangible deliverables (Pellegrinelli, 2002). Adding to the<br />
complexity, the participation in a change program can be part-time<br />
(Eskerod & Jepsen, 2005), <strong>and</strong> the program staff may themselves represent<br />
the clients or “users” of the attempted change, besides their roles as<br />
planners, “sellers”, <strong>and</strong> implementers of change (Andersen, 2000). The<br />
present study examines this complex interplay between a change program<br />
<strong>and</strong> its parent organization in detail.<br />
2.3.4 Integration or isolation?<br />
Within organization theory <strong>and</strong> management studies, the relationships <strong>and</strong><br />
connections between organizational entities have typically been examined<br />
as integration. Integration has been viewed as the process of achieving<br />
unity of ef<strong>for</strong>t among the various subsystems (Lawrence & Lorsch, 1967), as<br />
collaboration (Ledwith & Coughlan, 2005), coordination (Martinez &<br />
Jarillo, 1989) <strong>and</strong> communication (Griffin & Hauser, 1996). Integration<br />
may deal with any of the organization’s components, such as departments,<br />
functions, processes, systems, people, <strong>and</strong> technology. Integration can be<br />
achieved through diverse solutions <strong>and</strong> integration mechanisms (Griffin &<br />
Hauser, 1996; Martinez & Jarillo, 1989). Research on organizational<br />
integration has examined integration within <strong>and</strong> between organizations.<br />
Studies on intra-organizational integration have primarily centered on<br />
integration between organizational units or functions (Griffin & Hauser,<br />
1996; Nihtilä, 1999; Souder & Moenaert, 1992; Turkulainen, 2008), or<br />
integrating knowledge or technologies into an organization (Becker &<br />
Zirpoli, 2003; Carlile & Rebentish, 2003). External integration has been<br />
studied as supplier integration (e.g. Koufteros, Cheng, & Lai, 2007;<br />
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