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Article
Publication date: 10 July 2017

Enoch Sackey and Julius Akotia

The purpose of this paper is to study the interdependent boundary-spanning activities that characterise the level of permeability of knowledge, information flow and learning among…

1073

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the interdependent boundary-spanning activities that characterise the level of permeability of knowledge, information flow and learning among construction supply chains involved in the delivery of building information modelling (BIM)-compliant construction projects. Construction projects are mobilised through a number of interdependent processes and multi-functional activities by different practitioners with myriad specialised skills. Many of the difficulties that manifest in construction projects can be attributed to the fragmented work activities and inter-disciplinary nature of project teams. This is nevertheless becoming ever more pertinent with the rise of technology deployment in construction organisations.

Design/methodology/approach

The study combined experts’ sampling interviews and a case study research method to help offer better insights into the kind of emerging multilevel boundary practices as influenced by the rapidly evolving construction technological solutions. The experts’ sampling helped inform better understanding by unravelling the key changes in contemporary boundary configurations and related boundary-spanning practices within technology-mediated construction project settings. The case study also helped to establish the manifestation of best practices for managing multilevel boundaries in BIM-enabled construction project organisations.

Findings

The study has revealed that different generic organisational BIM strategies as developed in specialised boundaries are reconfigured as appropriate at the project level to produce project-specific BIM execution plan (BXP). The outcome of project BXP is dependent on the project organisational teams that cooperate in creating new solutions and on conceding space for negotiations and compromises which conflicting interests at the project level can find to be both desirable and feasible. The implementation effort is therefore contingent on mutual translation in which different actors with different insights instigate their practice through negotiation and persuasion which eventually are reinforced by contractual agreements and obligations.

Originality/value

The paper has presented a novel and well-timed empirical insight into BIM-enabled project delivery and best practices that span multilevel boundaries of construction organisations.

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…

1992

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: 6 March 2023

Dmitrijs Kravčenko

Extant literature tends to consider knowledge boundaries as a necessary property of interdisciplinary work. Knowledge boundaries are, thus, reified and treated as something to be…

Abstract

Purpose

Extant literature tends to consider knowledge boundaries as a necessary property of interdisciplinary work. Knowledge boundaries are, thus, reified and treated as something to be traversed, transcended or otherwise negotiated. There is, however, very little work that closely examines the process of emergence of boundaries. The purpose of this paper is to critically consider the emergence, stabilization and dissolution of knowledge boundaries among experts during the design stage of a building project to understand whether knowledge boundaries are as delineated and predictable as the literature makes them out to be.

Design/methodology/approach

A process-based, ethnographic study of a construction project is used. Building on a large data set collected over 13 months of research, this paper closely examines collaborative work around one specific issue during design development work that tripped up collaboration of the multidisciplinary and inter-organizational design team.

Findings

Knowledge boundaries do not exist based on differences of substance among groups (e.g. being an engineer vs being an architect) but rather that they are a function of divergent constellations of interests, work tools and practical concerns. While holding binding powers, they evolve in the face of alignments and misalignments, agreements and conflicts. As interests shift, concerns unfold and tools are dropped or used; boundaries emerge or dissolve.

Originality/value

A processual view of knowledge boundaries is advanced by demonstrating how they evolve in face of convergent (or divergent) work tools, practical concerns and interests. Existing research tends to equate knowledge boundaries with occupational/professional differences directly, but this paper demonstrates that work across expertise domains does not generate boundaries by itself. Resulting theoretical contributions are twofold: first, the current understanding of knowledge boundaries is refined by explaining how and why they emerge and dissolve across and within specialist knowledge domains, and second, the role of power and politics in this process is empirically foregrounded, highlighting how constellations of interests can lead to dynamic alliances or divisions.

Details

Journal of Workplace Learning, vol. 35 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1366-5626

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 September 2015

Claude Paraponaris and Martine Sigal

Knowledge management is shot through with complex questions. This is certainly the case with regard to boundaries, as they constitute both a bounding line that has to be crossed…

1510

Abstract

Purpose

Knowledge management is shot through with complex questions. This is certainly the case with regard to boundaries, as they constitute both a bounding line that has to be crossed if the knowledge required for innovation is to be diffused and a form of protection for scientific and technological organisations and institutions. This examination of boundaries leads to a state-of-the-art review that begins with the question of knowledge transfer. The authors start with foundations of the knowledge dynamic within organisations. Nevertheless, certain gaps were identified in the theory, as it did not seem so easy to carry out transfers. This led in turn to attempts to identify the boundaries that were causing difficulties and that had to be crossed. This led to an examination of the role of boundaries. What status could boundaries have when knowledge was expanding enormously within communities? Finally, the authors come face-to-face with knowledge management systems that have tended to redefine the forms that boundaries take.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses a conceptual approach and is a meta analysis of the state-of-the-art review conducted to introduce the Special Issue “Knowledge Across Boundaries” JKM Volume 19, No. 5, 2015 (October).

Findings

The notions of transfer and boundary demonstrated their usefulness in the development of a new theory, namely the knowledge-based view. These concepts were then critiqued, with reference, first, to the contexts in which communication takes place and, second, to the cognitive dimensions of the activity. Finally, studies showed that the cognitive and organisational approaches can be linked and that they shed light on many knowledge-sharing situations. Boundaries are no longer the object of attention, the focus having switched to the collective process of creating new concepts.

Research limitations/implications

This state-of-the-art review is limited to the papers about Management Science.

Practical implications

Knowledge hybridization is possible but must be referred to resources made available by the division of labour between disciplines (Shinn, 1997). Expansive learning (Engeström, 2010) is close to boundary construction (Holford, 2015) to indicate the dialectical view between instituting and instituted society (Castoriadis, 1975, 1987). We are now perhaps at the point of transition between the interest in “boundary spanners” and a new concern with “boundary construction”.

Social implications

This paper introduces a methodology of knowledge transfer knowledge transfer in firms strategies of learning.

Originality/value

The paper provides the concept (with examples) of ‘boundary construction’.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 19 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 November 2022

Jianyao Jia, Yang Li, Xueqing Gan and Guofeng Ma

In today's digital and post-pandemic era, construction teams can span their boundary to obtain important resources and support in computer-mediated ways. However, the benefits of…

Abstract

Purpose

In today's digital and post-pandemic era, construction teams can span their boundary to obtain important resources and support in computer-mediated ways. However, the benefits of computer-mediated team boundary spanning (TBS) are mostly assumed. Empirical evidence for these benefits is in lack. Thus, this study attempts to investigate the influence of computer-mediated (instant messaging in this study) TBS on construction project performance and the underlying mechanism.

Design/methodology/approach

From the multiteam system (MTS) perspective, this study employs the input-process-outcome (IPO) framework and coordination theory to explore the influence of instant messaging-based team boundary spanning (IMTBS) on construction project coordination processes and project performance. A theoretical model is built and validated with a survey involving 206 construction projects.

Findings

Results show that IMTBS positively affects knowledge integration and project coordination, but negatively affects project commitment. The positive link between IMTBS and project performance is attributable to knowledge integration and project coordination. Further, project commitment is also found to negatively mediate the relationship between IMTBS and construction project performance.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to empirically investigate the influence of TBS on construction project performance. As such, this study contributes to the literature on TBS in the construction field. In addition, the findings of this study unveil the double-edged characteristic of IMTBS, which should attract managers' attention. This also indicates that the form of TBS is a significant determinant of its effectiveness, which should attract scholars' attention in the future.

Details

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, vol. 16 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8378

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 August 2019

Atle Wehn Hegnes

An important requirement when producers apply for protected designation of origin (PDO) or protected geographical indications (PGIs) is to adapt and agree on a concise definition…

Abstract

Purpose

An important requirement when producers apply for protected designation of origin (PDO) or protected geographical indications (PGIs) is to adapt and agree on a concise definition of the geographical boundaries and area of the product. Whereas PDO products must be both strongly ecologically and culturally embedded in the specific area, PGI products are allowed a weaker degree of embeddedness. The research question of this paper is: How are geographical boundaries becoming PDOs and PGIs? The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis is based on diverse forms of empirical material. Document studies of laws, policy documents, etc. have been analyzed to uncover what kind of measures and concepts that have been important for implementation of the scheme in Norway. Interviews with producer organizations have involved the persons responsible for working out product regulations in producer organizations. Interviews have also been conducted with key informants representing public administrative bodies administering the regulation. All interviews have been semi-structured.

Findings

The analysis identifies a set of important conditions for the boundary work of PDO-PGI in Norway. The conditions can generally be said to be characterized by a weak understanding of the food-people-places nexus and a strong reliance on instrumentalised system logic in how to deal with the map-nature dimension in boundary work. The short answer to the research question is that geographical boundaries are becoming PDO and PGI through controversies.

Originality/value

The controversies are characterized by what is defined as cultural adaptation work. The actors overall adaptation work is understood as the sum of the practices that takes place in the interplay between people’s translations of language and knowledge, reorganization of social relationships and transformation of materiality. The interplay is embedded in the tension between the global and the local, the old and the new and results in both intended and unintended consequences.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 121 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 17 October 2018

Michael Power

Financial accounting necessarily depends on an entity assumption that shapes the way it recognizes and accounts for organizational exchanges with social environments. It thereby…

Abstract

Financial accounting necessarily depends on an entity assumption that shapes the way it recognizes and accounts for organizational exchanges with social environments. It thereby constructs boundaries and frames permeability in terms of what counts, is accounted for, as being inside and outside of the organization. Yet there are different possible entity concepts reflecting different values about the relationship between the organizational entity and society. This essay considers four problem areas in which these values and the entity–society relationship are at stake within financial accounting: the problem of control within group accounting; accounting for externalities; the economization of public organizations; and the construction of organizational actorhood. These four problematics suggest that financial accounting, its boundary determining assumptions, and the forms of organizational permeability it permits are deeply intertwined and subject to continuous pressure for change.

Details

Toward Permeable Boundaries of Organizations?
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78743-829-3

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 3 January 2023

Tuomo Peltonen and Sirkka-Liisa Huhtinen

While there is anecdotal evidence that internationally mobile workers often form isolated nation-based communities or “expatriate bubbles,” previous academic scholarship on the…

Abstract

Purpose

While there is anecdotal evidence that internationally mobile workers often form isolated nation-based communities or “expatriate bubbles,” previous academic scholarship on the expatriate communities and their subjective boundaries is limited. The primary purpose of this article is to advance the theoretical or conceptual understanding of expatriate communities as bubbles.

Design/methodology/approach

As developed by Lamont and Molnár (2002), the theory of symbolic boundaries is applied and set to scrutinize the production and maintenance of insulated expatriate communities. Empirically, an ethnographic study of a community of Finnish expatriates in a Southeast Asian country is undertaken to describe how symbolic boundaries are constructed.

Findings

The main theoretical implication of the paper is the recognition that expatriates themselves are involved in creating the “bubble.” The boundaries separating the national expatriate community are not externally imposed but can be viewed as consequences of the active boundary work of the expatriates. The empirical study demonstrates how the Finnish expatriates negotiated the symbolic boundaries of their community, drawing on cultural, moral and spatial modalities in different levels of boundary work.

Originality/value

There need to be more systematic attempts to develop a theoretically grounded understanding of insulated expatriate communities and their boundaries. This article contributes to the sociological conceptualization of expatriate bubbles by utilizing the symbolic boundary approach, which adds perspective to the embryonic theory of the subjective boundaries of expatriate communities. The multiplicity of different types of symbolic boundaries and their modalities suggests that an expatriate bubble is rarely a finished state or structure.

Details

Journal of Global Mobility: The Home of Expatriate Management Research, vol. 11 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2049-8799

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 October 2009

Andreas Werr, Jesper Blomberg and Jan Löwstedt

The purpose of this paper is to investigate interorganizational knowledge exchange from the perspective of the individual manager/professional. The paper aims to study the kinds

2395

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate interorganizational knowledge exchange from the perspective of the individual manager/professional. The paper aims to study the kinds of relationships managers/professionals in SMEs are involved in and the way in which they construct boundaries within and around these interorganizational relationships enabling and hindering knowledge acquisition.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on 31 interviews with managers and professionals in seven SMEs. Interviews focused on the interorganizational relationships they viewed as important sources of knowledge for themselves and their organizations.

Findings

The study shows that managers/professionals gain vital knowledge from far more interorganizational relationships than those formally designed for knowledge acquisition. The most important sources of knowledge were relationships with suppliers and customers. The study also identifies five boundary dimensions – interests, interpretive frameworks, trust, private/organizational and priority – which respondents use in constructing boundaries within and around the relationships. These boundary dimensions represent important conditions for knowledge acquisition through the relationship.

Research limitations/implications

The five boundary dimensions are generated based on a sample of SMEs in Sweden. They must thus be regarded as provisional and need to be validated in further research including larger organizations in different cultural contexts. Future studies should also focus on the dynamics of the boundaries and their interrelations as relationships evolve.

Originality/value

This paper adds to research on interorganizational knowledge acquisition by taking an individual level perspective and identifying boundary dimensions through which the relationships and their knowledge flows are shaped.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 13 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 March 2011

Constanze Kathan‐Selck and Marjolein van Offenbeek

This paper aims to investigate the forces that influence the shifting of professional boundaries on the entry of a new medical occupation in Dutch hospitals – non‐specialist…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the forces that influence the shifting of professional boundaries on the entry of a new medical occupation in Dutch hospitals – non‐specialist emergency physicians.

Design/methodology/approach

Five case studies of Dutch hospitals were conducted and the emergency physicians' implementation process was analyzed by means of force field analysis.

Findings

Emergency physicians were conceptualized as being the answer to unequivocal contextual changes. However, their contribution to better performance varies due to problems in the implementation process. Strong socio‐political forces between traditional specialties and these new doctors mediate the intended improvement. The emergency physicians aim to establish their own organizational‐, patient‐ and knowledge‐domain by redrawing professional boundaries but they are not on a par with the specialists who set these boundaries. Consequently, emergency physicians only gradually redraw the existing boundaries, resulting in limited added value. Their reaction is to obtain power by striving to develop into a recognized specialty; ironically, by becoming an additional layer in the traditional medical hierarchy they might lose their envisaged added value.

Research limitations/implications

This paper is based on the first Dutch hospitals that implemented emergency physicians. The number of cases is therefore limited. Moreover, the study took place at an early stage of emergency physician implementation.

Practical implications

The extent of successful redrawing depends on the implementation's transition logic, the existing degree of differentiation and boundary permeability and on the ideological power developed by the leaders.

Originality/value

The introduction of emergency physicians is currently being discussed in many countries worldwide, and some countries consider following the Dutch example of non‐specialist doctors. This paper supports health professionals and hospital managers in not falling prey to the same pitfalls as some Dutch hospitals.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 25 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

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