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Article
Publication date: 15 June 2012

Tina Karrbom Gustavsson and Hayar Gohary

Traditional construction project practice has been based on rigid and impermeable boundaries that have made communication, cooperation and integration a major challenge. However…

1999

Abstract

Purpose

Traditional construction project practice has been based on rigid and impermeable boundaries that have made communication, cooperation and integration a major challenge. However, new collaborative approaches have been developed. This paper aims at adding to knowledge on projects‐as‐practice by interpreting findings from a case study on a contemporary collaborative construction project. The purpose of this paper is to provide knowledge about organizational development in the project‐based construction industry by identifying boundary actions in contemporary collaborative construction practices.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on an exploratory longitudinal case study approach covering both early design phase and the following production phase, including interviews, participant observation at formal meetings and informal gatherings and internal and external documents. Thus, the methodology used is triangulation and the analysis has followed an interpretative process.

Findings

The paper provides empirical insights into three examples of boundary actions of a collaborative construction project: stakeholder boundary action, professional boundary action and geographical boundary action. From a project‐as‐practice perspective, these boundary actions turn out to be interesting renewal initiatives, providing increased understanding of where and how renewal can take place.

Research limitations/implications

The findings are based on a single case study and more research on this area is needed. However, the paper shows examples of boundary actions in a contemporary project and thus adds to the knowledge on contemporary projects‐as‐practice.

Practical implications

The paper provides implications for construction project managers on examples of renewal arenas.

Originality/value

The paper is exploratory and the findings are important for much needed development and renewal of the construction industry.

Details

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, vol. 5 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8378

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 May 2008

Ewa Wikström

This purpose of this paper is to examine the ways in which one occupational group used boundary work to increase their influence and power with more influential occupational…

1640

Abstract

Purpose

This purpose of this paper is to examine the ways in which one occupational group used boundary work to increase their influence and power with more influential occupational groups in a medical setting.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative interview study is used to investigate an occupational group (hospital dieticians) as it tried to increase its influence in a setting of established occupational groups. Data were collected through semi‐structured interviews with dieticians and managers at a university hospital, and by the examination of selected hospital documents.

Findings

This study concludes that the dieticians' boundary work to become more influential in a setting of established groups was characterized by their boundary setting actions as inner dialogue and their boundary spanning actions as outer dialogue. In the inner dialogue, the dieticians established a professional group and a vocabulary for the continuous communication of their unique competence that could relate to the existing medical knowledge. In the outer dialogue, the dieticians structured and made sense of their setting by the labelling of roles as power entities and by using self‐images and metaphors.

Research limitations/implications

This research was designed to describe the dieticians' efforts and experiences in the studied setting. Therefore, the data provide access to one occupational group but not to the other groups in that setting. A second limitation is the absence of observations.

Practical implications

This research contributes to the knowledge of the relevance of practitioners involved in boundary work aimed at improving professional collaboration. The study is helpful in identifying important boundaries that facilitate the establishment of collaborative relationships, and the development of accounts, procedures and routines.

Originality/value

The research focuses on how influence on practice is constituted through boundary work.

Details

Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, vol. 3 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5648

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 July 2011

Anu Kajamaa

The aim of this article is to examine whether the boundary between the separate worlds of evaluation and frontline work in a hospital can be overcome. The study provides an…

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this article is to examine whether the boundary between the separate worlds of evaluation and frontline work in a hospital can be overcome. The study provides an example of a rare, innovative creation process of an assessment tool in which the tool users and the tool producer participated. The article aims to widen the understanding of employee initiated organizational change efforts, co‐creation of boundary objects and organizational boundary breaking, which may lead to expansive learning.

Design/methodology/approach

The article takes an activity‐theoretical approach to organizational boundaries, viewing them as tension‐laden triggers for learning and change. The analysis of expansive learning actions is based on longitudinal ethnographic field data on a collaboration effort between nurses and evaluation professionals in a Finnish hospital.

Findings

The collaboration effort between two organizational worlds led to boundary breaking. Initially, expansive learning actions were taken, but then obstacles started to emerge, and the collaboration between the two worlds was not sustained. To be sustainable, the collaboration would have required both a shared assessment tool (i.e. a boundary object) and management support. In this case the latter was missing.

Originality/value

The study analyzes a solid boundary, which delimited organizational learning and development. Rather than boundary crossing, as understood in the current literature, the challenging collaboration effort took the shape of conflictual boundary breaking. The study contributes to the literature on organizational boundaries and learning and has implications on management of employee initiated change efforts, collective tool creation processes and development of quality work in the public sector.

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 18 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 May 2017

Annika Andersson and Berner Lindström

This study aims to investigate how boundary work is carried out at the incident site during exercises with police, ambulance and rescue services, and how boundary awareness is…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate how boundary work is carried out at the incident site during exercises with police, ambulance and rescue services, and how boundary awareness is developed based on this boundary work. Collaboration in emergency work is challenging on many levels. The unforeseen and temporary nature of incidents presents basic challenges. Another important challenge is boundaries between specialised and autonomous emergency service organisations. Knowledge on how exercises are performed to increase the individuals' and organisations' preparedness for future joint-response work is relatively limited.

Design/methodology/approach

Empirically, full-scale exercises involving police, ambulance and rescue services and with repetition of practical scenarios and joint-reflection seminars are studied. Interview data with 26 exercise participants were analysed using thematic analysis. The analytic focus is on how boundaries are identified, negotiated and managed in the participants’ work.

Findings

Much of the work in the exercises was performed within distinct areas of expertise, in accordance with concrete routines, skills and responsibilities. Boundary work was often organised in the form of distribution of labour or creating chains of actions. The exercises shed light on challenges related to other aspects of emergency response, such as a lack of resources, diverging primary responsibilities, time-criticality and hazardous environments. The design allowed participants to explicate boundaries, to test and discuss alternative solutions and to visualise the effects of different solutions, as the scenarios were repeated.

Originality/value

The study found that the boundaries that were identified were often of institutional character, and were also related to the specific scenarios and to the actions taken in the activities. By integrating real-life experiences of collaborative work in the exercise, the exercise gained a certain meaning that was essential for the participants to develop boundary awareness.

Details

Journal of Workplace Learning, vol. 29 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1366-5626

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 February 2021

Andreas Schotter

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical perspective on whether the boundary-spanner model and consequently complex disaggregated intra-MNE value chain activities are…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical perspective on whether the boundary-spanner model and consequently complex disaggregated intra-MNE value chain activities are crisis resilient.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is a conceptual theory development based on literature integration and phenomenological juxtaposing.

Findings

The need for boundary-spanning in assisting dispersed new and complex knowledge creation activities – which can hardly be replicated in virtual collaboration spaces alone – will endure if not even grow. This requires deeper understanding of boundary spanning in the context of the globally dispersed MNE. Increased location diversification engendered by COVID-19 implies a greater need for the boundary spanning function, not less.

Research limitations/implications

Regarding future research, the crisis provides a unique opportunity for taking a closer look at the formation, nurturing and resilience of interdependence, particularly behavioural interdependence and the actions and characteristics of individuals associated with [boundary spanning] actions. Specific research questions should focus on the boundary-spanning model in the virtual space; the characteristics and effects of temporality and the boundary-spanning model, the specific actions of boundary spanners during unforeseen events and the empirical testing of the relationships developed in Table 1.

Practical implications

For practitioners, I suggest avoiding compromising structural interdependence with defaulting on top-down hierarchical approaches during crises; and while doing so, not paying attention to the effects of such actions on behavioural interdependence and its champions (i.e. global boundary spanners). Such interference likely results in sub-optimal global collaboration outcomes and innovation, characterized by fundamentally recursive processes involving creativity, failure, reconfiguring, sensemaking and improvisation.

Social implications

TBC

Originality/value

The author develops a critical perspective to assess the crisis-resilience of the boundary-spanning model. In so doing, I juxtapose two contemporary views on the persistence or fading of the global MNE model, and hence, the future need for a socio-behavioural managerial function – like boundary-spanning – connecting dispersed MNE activities. The authors provide numerous avenues for advancing extant research on boundary-spanning in MNEs.

Details

critical perspectives on international business, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1742-2043

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 May 2012

Jacob D. Vakkayil

The article seeks to explore the various ways in which researchers have approached boundaries in relation to organizations.

Abstract

Purpose

The article seeks to explore the various ways in which researchers have approached boundaries in relation to organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is conceptual in nature and explores prominent strands of research into boundaries within and at the periphery of the organization through a selective literature analysis.

Findings

The paper introduces new categories in the way boundaries are conceptualized and explores how researchers can introduce these in their studies.

Research limitations/implications

The literature review is selective and provides an indication of how further work could be directed.

Practical implications

The work could be of use to those exploring the dynamics of organizational boundaries.

Originality/value

A few convergence zones in the literature are identified and a new categorization indicating the dichotomies inherent in the study of organizational boundaries is introduced.

Details

International Journal of Organizational Analysis, vol. 20 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1934-8835

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 August 2023

Ricardo Azambuja, Lisa Baudot and Bertrand Malsch

This study explores the professional work of managers in professional service firms (PSFs) by focusing on the relational position of managers as they interface between diverse…

Abstract

Purpose

This study explores the professional work of managers in professional service firms (PSFs) by focusing on the relational position of managers as they interface between diverse groups of actors and navigate a multiplicity of accountabilities.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on an ethnographic study of managers in a Brazilian PSF, this study demonstrates through observations, interviews and shadowing how PSF managers address multiple accountabilities in the conduct of professional work.

Findings

To navigate multiple accountabilities, PSF managers perform several forms of boundary work, which the authors conceptualize as “revamping” and “remolding” operations and “translating” and “transforming” understandings. The form of boundary work performed depends on the configuration of two elements of accountability demands: knowledge orientation and extent of exposure. Although analytically distinct, these elements intertwine, suggesting the need for a dynamic perspective on accountability. The analysis shows that professional work extends beyond fixed or passive views of hierarchical and intrinsic accountability to emphasize that managers exude accountability of an adaptive nature.

Research limitations/implications

This study illustrates and theorizes the role of boundary work in PSFs, develops its link to accountability, and identifies its scholarly and practical affordances and limitations for understanding managers’ professional work when navigating multiple accountabilities.

Originality/value

The findings reveal perspectives and behaviors of managers embedded in PSFs, illustrating their unstructured and agentic experiences of accountability and boundary work in practice. The insights can be extended to other contexts where managers face multiple accountabilities in conducting professional work.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 36 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2014

Nils M. Høgevold, Göran Svensson, Beverly Wagner, Daniel J. Petzer, H.B. Klopper, Juan Carlos Sosa Varela, Carmen Padin and Carlos Ferro

The purpose of this paper is to describe: corporate reasons for, and organizational challenges of sustainable business models; and the evolution of economic effects, social…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe: corporate reasons for, and organizational challenges of sustainable business models; and the evolution of economic effects, social boundaries and environmental actions in sustainable business practices.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on insights gained from eight Norwegian companies in different industries. Purposeful sampling was employed to ensure that the companies had sustainable business models beyond the level of mere compliance, of sustainable business practices in the marketplace and society. A deductive approach to data collection ensured that the companies had sufficient understanding to relate their sustainable business practices to interviewers. The interviews were subsequently transcribed and analyzed systematically by the research team.

Findings

The empirical findings indicate evolutionary changes as companies move on a continuum from superficial to embedded sustainable business models and the application of sustainable business practices. The planning, implementation and evaluation of sustainable business models evolves over time within companies and their supply chains, as well as in the marketplace and society.

Research limitations/implications

A limitation of this study is that it is exclusively undertaken in Norwegian companies, although the companies are from different industries with different characteristics. Future research is clearly necessary and will be conducted in other countries in similar industries, so as to explore the empirical findings from this study in other contexts. In addition, the interfaces between environmental actions, economic effects and social boundaries need to be investigated further.

Originality/value

The study contributes to a growing body of knowledge on corporate reasons for and organizational challenges of sustainable business models, as well as environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable business practices.

Details

Baltic Journal of Management, vol. 9 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5265

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 September 2014

Lena Lippke and Charlotte Wegener

The purpose of this paper is to explore how vocational teachers’ everyday practices can constitute innovative learning spaces that help students to experience engagement and…

1405

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how vocational teachers’ everyday practices can constitute innovative learning spaces that help students to experience engagement and commitment towards education and thus increase their possibilities for completing their studies despite notable difficulties.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on two ethnographic field studies, we analyse vocational teaching situations in which teachers and students engage in daily remaking of the vocational educational training practice. It is argued that these everyday situations can be understood as innovative transformation of participation and practice.

Findings

The exploration of teachers’ practicing new learning spaces sheds light on innovation potential embedded in everyday educational practices. The paper thus challenges the celebration of radical innovation and argues that innovation emerges from everyday activities in which teachers succeed to balance continuities and discontinuities. Studying innovation as a balance between change and stability thus involves emerging, negotiated processes of learning and participation in everyday practices where people talk, interact and conduct their work and studies.

Practical implications

Based on the analysis, we argue that students’ engagement in education can be enhanced by transforming the educational settings on various parameters such as buildings, artefacts, emotions and experiences. Thus, innovation should be recognised as emerging everyday activities in which frontline workers like vocational teachers are drivers for innovation.

Originality/value

Innovative everyday activities are often invisible; however, we suggest that they can be studied and thus become visible by use of the analytic term: “boundary-pushing“.

Details

Journal of Workplace Learning, vol. 26 no. 6/7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1366-5626

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 June 2023

Geoffrey Mark Ferres and Robert C. Moehler

Effective project learning can prevent projects from repeating the same mistakes; however, knowledge codification is required for project-to-project learning to be up-scaled…

Abstract

Purpose

Effective project learning can prevent projects from repeating the same mistakes; however, knowledge codification is required for project-to-project learning to be up-scaled across the temporal, geographical and organisational barriers that constrain personalised learning. This paper explores the state of practice for the structuring of codified project learnings as concrete boundary objects with the capacity to enable externalised project-to-project learning across complex boundaries. Cross-domain reconceptualisation is proposed to enable further research and support the future development of standardised recommendations for boundary objects that can enable project-to-project learning at scale.

Design/methodology/approach

An integrative literature review method has been applied, considering knowledge, project learning and boundary object scholarship as state-of-practice sources.

Findings

It is found that the extensive body of boundary object literature developed over the last three decades has not yet examined the internal structural characteristics of concrete boundary objects for project-to-project learning and boundary-spanning capacity. Through a synthesis of the dispersed structural characteristic recommendations that have been made across examined domains, a reconceptualised schema of 30 discrete characteristics associated with boundary-spanning capacity for project-to-project learning is proposed to support further investigation.

Originality/value

This review makes a novel contribution as a first cross-domain examination of the internal structural characteristics of concrete boundary objects for project-to-project learning. The authors provide directions for future research through the reconceptualisation of a novel schema and the identification of important and previously unidentified research gaps.

Details

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, vol. 16 no. 4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8378

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 63000