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

Theoretical background
Related to the program-level antecedents of boundary spanning, the
nature of a group’s task, the group’s composition, dependence on other
groups, and the group’s internal processes may have an effect on the
boundary activities (Ancona & Caldwell, 1988; Choi, 2002; Joshi et al.,
2009). Individual-level antecedents include the boundary spanners’
position, skills, knowledge, prior experience, personal characteristics and
need for power, which all may influence boundary spanning behavior
(Ancona & Caldwell, 1988; Joshi et al., 2009). Boundary spanning may also
be performed differently by different individuals. For example, different
boundary spanners may use different sources of information: some rely on
personal communication, some on impersonal, codified information (Allen
& Cohen, 1969). The focus of boundary activities may also vary depending
on the needs and wants of the boundary spanners’ superiors (Leifer &
Delbecq, 1978). As these different antecedents of boundary activities are
interrelated, empirical studies have been encouraged to adopt multi-level
approaches (Joshi et al., 2009). The present study will follow this
suggestion by examining individual, program-level, and organization-level
contextual factors involved in change program initiation.
Previous studies show how boundary management may depend on the
team’s lifecycle stage (Ancona, 1990; Ancona and Caldwell, 1992a; Katz,
1982; Tushman, 1977), suggesting that the boundaries as well as boundary
activities are especially important for emerging organizations (Choi, 2002;
Katz & Gartner, 1988). First of all, the early stage of a temporary
organization necessarily includes boundary setting. Vaagaasar and
Andersen (2007) describe how the permanent organization directly or
indirectly describes the project’s authority and responsibility and thus
defines its boundaries, creating a basis for the project’s identity. In addition
to boundary setting, the early stage of a temporary organization presumably
requires boundary crossing, as the temporary organization is established in
cooperation with different stakeholder groups. Correspondingly, external
support has been identified as particularly important in the beginning of a
project team’s existence (Gladstein & Caldwell, 1985). The findings by
Woodward (1982, see page 69 of the dissertation) concerning the tasks of
planning a large project also highlight external activities, as most of the
identified early tasks are in essence boundary activities that aim at
positioning the project in the wider organization. Studies on boundary
spanning note that the early project or program phase is about idea
generation, and thus involves significant information scouting (Gladstein &
Caldwell, 1985; Tushman, 1977).
Earlier literature illustrates the relevance of boundaries within and
outside an organization and provides examples of how boundaries are
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