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Lindgren, Rikard, Magnus Andersson, and Ola Henfridsson. "Multi-contextuality in boundary-spanning practices." Information Systems Journal 18, no. 6 (November 2008): 641–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2575.2007.00245.x.
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Andersen, Poul Houman, and Hanne Kragh. "Exploring boundary-spanning practices among creativity managers." Management Decision 53, no. 4 (May 18, 2015): 786–808. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/md-06-2014-0399.
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Shirey, Maria R., and Connie White-Williams. "Boundary Spanning Leadership Practices for Population Health." JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration 45, no. 9 (September 2015): 411–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/nna.0000000000000223.
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Sitterding, Mary C., and Jill Payne. "Boundary Spanning: Key Practices Consistent With AONE Competencies." Nurse Leader 13, no. 4 (August 2015): 39–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2015.05.013.
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Stjerne, Iben Sandal, Jonas Söderlund, and Dana Minbaeva. "Crossing times: Temporal boundary-spanning practices in interorganizational projects." International Journal of Project Management 37, no. 2 (February 2019): 347–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2018.09.004.
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Kislov, Roman, Paula Hyde, and Ruth McDonald. "New Game, Old Rules? Mechanisms and Consequences of Legitimation in Boundary Spanning Activities." Organization Studies 38, no. 10 (January 8, 2017): 1421–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0170840616679455.
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Despite the increasing deployment of formalized boundary spanning roles and practices, the mechanisms and dynamics of their legitimation remain under-explored. Using the Bourdieusian lens, we theorize legitimation of boundary spanning as accumulation, mobilization and conversion of several forms of capital unfolding in a configuration of intersecting fields. Drawing on a qualitative longitudinal case study of a collaborative partnership between a university and healthcare organizations, we describe changes in the structure, sources and mutual convertibility of capital assets over time. We also analyse the implications of this evolution for the relationships between the intersecting fields and the social trajectory of boundary spanners. We argue that legitimation of boundary spanning roles and practices is a highly transformative, collective and political process that increases the capital endowments and authority of individual boundary spanning agents but may lead to the erosion of the very same roles and practices that were being legitimized.
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Chapple, Wendy, Petra Molthan-Hill, Rachel Welton, and Michael Hewitt. "Lights Off, Spot On: Carbon Literacy Training Crossing Boundaries in the Television Industry." Journal of Business Ethics 162, no. 4 (December 5, 2019): 813–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04363-w.
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AbstractProclaimed the “greenest television programme in the world,” the award-winning soap opera Coronation Street is seen as an industry success story. This paper explores how the integration of carbon literacy training (CLT) led to a widespread transformational change of practice within Coronation Street. Using the theoretical lens of Communities of Practice (CoP), this study examines the nature of social learning and the enablers and barriers to change within the organization. Specifically, how boundary spanning practices, objects and people led to the transformation on both a personal and group level. Based on a qualitative analysis of 22 interviews with Heads of Departments and other staff, the paper argues that CLT is a boundary practice which has evolved into a boundary spanning CoP. The importance of infrastructures supporting boundary objects and practices is highlighted as reinforcers of the CLT, both as a boundary object and a community, with the “ultimate” boundary spanning object being the show. A significant enabler in social learning and change in practice is the creation of discursive and creative space, both within CoP and across the boundaries. Findings also highlight the role of “self” in the process of social learning and organizational change. Distinct patterns emerged in the relationship between self-identity, social learning and change across a range of boundary objects, practices and communities both in the CLT and CoP. This suggests that in a diverse social learning setting such as CLT there are different transformational catalysts within the CoP and these identities can influence how knowledge is translated into practice.
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Chakkol, Mehmet, Antonios Karatzas, Mark Johnson, and Janet Godsell. "Building bridges: boundary spanners in servitized supply chains." International Journal of Operations & Production Management 38, no. 2 (February 5, 2018): 579–604. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ijopm-01-2016-0052.
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Purpose Solutions provision depends on effective and efficient supply chains. Existing discourse within servitization has remained at the organisational or inter-organisational level with a limited emphasis on the role of individuals. However, supply chains are not just relationships between organisations, they are complex, inter-personal relationships that span organisational boundaries. The limited focus on boundary spanners and their interactions means that managerial roles critical for the provision of solutions remain unidentified. The purpose of this paper is to identify the functions, roles and practices of boundary spanners that connect organisations and enable the effective provision of solutions. Design/methodology/approach A case study comprising 61 interviews in 11 firms was conducted in the UK network of a commercial vehicles manufacturer, to investigate boundary spanning for product and solutions provision. Findings The functions of boundary spanners move from communicating product and price features in product provision towards strategic communication, dissonance reduction, professional education, consultation and leveraging offerings in solutions provision. The study also identifies the boundary spanning roles and practices that form these functions for solutions provision. Originality/value This is the first study in servitization that identifies and describes the boundary spanning functions, roles and practices. By adopting the lens of boundary spanning, the research addresses the lack of empirical managerial-level enquiry within servitization research. It extends the theoretical discussion on the differences between supply chain management in servitized vs product contexts.
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Sheikh, Kabir, Helen Schneider, Irene Akua Agyepong, Uta Lehmann, and Lucy Gilson. "Boundary-spanning: reflections on the practices and principles of Global Health." BMJ Global Health 1, no. 1 (June 2016): e000058. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2016-000058.
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Kislov, Roman. "A Constellation of Disconnected Practices: Boundaries in a Healthcare Boundary Spanning Initiative." Academy of Management Proceedings 2013, no. 1 (January 2013): 12339. http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.2013.12339abstract.
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Mao, Yuping, and Ericka Menchen-Trevino. "Global news-making practices on Twitter: Exploring English-Chinese language boundary spanning." Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 12, no. 3 (November 13, 2018): 248–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17513057.2018.1542018.
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Millward, Pam, and Helen Timperley. "Organizational learning facilitated by instructional leadership, tight coupling and boundary spanning practices." Journal of Educational Change 11, no. 2 (June 23, 2009): 139–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10833-009-9120-3.
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Hofius, Maren. "Community at the border or the boundaries of community? The case of EU field diplomats." Review of International Studies 42, no. 5 (March 31, 2016): 939–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0260210516000085.
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AbstractThis article contributes to the communities of practice (CoP) literature by focusing on the neglected role of the boundary in constructing community. It takes issue with advocates of International Relations’ (IR) most recent ‘practice turn’ who have overrated inclusive practices of linking to the detriment of taking account of exclusive practices of demarcation. A conceptual turn to the boundary, understood as a ‘site of difference’, highlights how the two sets of practices operate simultaneously in creating shared senses of belonging to a community. The article empirically probes this turn to the boundary by studying how the postmodern community of the European Union (EU) is (re)constructed by EU diplomats in its neighbouring state Ukraine. As a borderland, it symbolises an interstitial zone of high connectivity where the EU’s otherwise latent order is unearthed. A reconstructive analysis of interviews with members of this ‘community of practice’ reveals that they function as ‘boundary workers’ who engage in both boundary-spanning and boundary-drawing practices on an everyday basis. Zooming in on the ‘boundary work’ by EU diplomats exposes the complex process of community-building and thereby helps grasp community as an emergent structure of possibilities whose meaning is contextually mediated by its members’ social experience of the boundary.
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Olabisi, Joy, and Kyle Lewis. "Within- and Between-Team Coordination via Transactive Memory Systems and Boundary Spanning." Group & Organization Management 43, no. 5 (August 16, 2018): 691–717. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1059601118793750.
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In this article, we suggest that the transactive memory system (TMS) and boundary-spanning literatures are useful for understanding how individuals in team-based collectives can be structured to improve within- and between-team coordination. We argue that such coordination can be facilitated—or thwarted—by boundary-spanning behaviors and patterns of knowledge exchange within and between teams. Our theorizing explains how an existing team TMS can offset the within-team coordination burdens typically associated with boundary spanning and we offer predictions about how these factors interrelate to affect TMS and coordination over time. Finally, our theory underscores significant implications and provides insights for how management practices might improve coordination within and between teams.
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Sackey, Enoch, and Julius Akotia. "Spanning the multilevel boundaries of construction organisations." Construction Innovation 17, no. 3 (July 10, 2017): 273–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ci-09-2016-0047.
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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.
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Harvey, Jean-Francois. "Boundary Spanning: The Social Practices at the Micro-Foundation of Dynamic-Capability Processes." Academy of Management Proceedings 2015, no. 1 (January 2015): 12981. http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.2015.12981abstract.
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Graham, Paige. "Boundary Spanning Leadership: Six Practices for Solving Problems, Driving Innovations, and Transforming Organizations." Journal of Psychological Issues in Organizational Culture 3, no. 4 (January 2013): 100–104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jpoc.21078.
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Ferguson, Stuart, and Deborah Blackman. "Translating innovative practices into organizational knowledge in the public sector: A case study." Journal of Management & Organization 25, no. 1 (May 24, 2017): 42–57. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2017.25.
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AbstractPrevious research suggests that innovation is heavily informed by strategic management theories and that there is little engagement with practice-based approaches. A case study of a public sector organization identified as doing something innovative is presented. Four main themes emerged. Two themes, the ‘importance of a mandate’ and the ‘development of trust’, had their foundations in traditional management practices. The others, ‘capacity to challenge the norms’ and ‘boundary spanning’, emerged from practice. It is suggested that a managerial approach that developed a supportive setting for innovation enabled the development of practices whereby innovation was effectively recognized, nurtured and sustained.
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Guo, Xunhua, Kai Reimers, Bin Xie, and Mingzhi Li. "Network Relations and Boundary Spanning: Understanding the Evolution of E-Ordering in the Chinese Drug Distribution Industry." Journal of Information Technology 29, no. 3 (September 2014): 223–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/jit.2013.27.
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The application of e-ordering systems has brought significant changes to the drug distribution industry in China, but the effects of these changes have remained unclear. Adopting a practice perspective and based on longitudinal data collection using multiple methods, we reveal that the Chinese drug distribution practice has passed through the following three stages: the stage before e-ordering, the transitional stage in which the government attempted to impose a centralised platform, and the current fragmented systems stage. We draw upon the theoretical foundations of the network relations model and the boundary spanning theory developed by Schultze and Orlikowski and Levina and Vaast, respectively, to formulate a taxonomic framework for understanding inter-firm network practices. Applying the framework to explain long-term changes in drug distribution in China, we discover that the practice in the field has evolved from traditional, socially embedded relations to information systems-based, socially embedded relations, while the centralised platform deployed by the government was unable to establish a practice with arm's length relations. Our theoretical work contributes an integrated framework for studying inter-firm practices that explicitly incorporates the presence of inter-organisational information systems. Our empirical findings offer helpful practical insights for facilitating collective efforts toward the innovative use of novel IT in the drug distribution industry in China and in other contexts that are similar.
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Kaplan, Sarah, Jonathan Milde, and Ruth Schwartz Cowan. "Symbiont Practices in Boundary Spanning: Bridging the Cognitive and Political Divides in Interdisciplinary Research." Academy of Management Journal 60, no. 4 (August 2017): 1387–414. http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amj.2015.0809.
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Wallace, Carolyn, Jane Farmer, and Anthony McCosker. "Boundary spanning practices of community connectors for engaging ‘hardly reached’ people in health services." Social Science & Medicine 232 (July 2019): 366–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.05.034.
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Prysor, Deborah, and Andrew Henley. "Boundary spanning in higher education leadership: identifying boundaries and practices in a British university." Studies in Higher Education 43, no. 12 (April 28, 2017): 2210–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2017.1318364.
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Littletree, Sandra, Miranda Belarde-Lewis and, and Marisa Duarte. "Centering Relationality: A Conceptual Model to Advance Indigenous Knowledge Organization Practices." KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION 47, no. 5 (2020): 410–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.5771/0943-7444-2020-5-410.
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Scholars and practitioners have exposed the limitations of traditional Euro-American approaches to knowledge organization (KO) when it comes to Indigenous topics. To develop more effective KO practices, there is a need for KO practitioners to understand Indigenous perspectives at an epistemological level. A theoretically-informed model of Indigenous systems of knowledge serves as a pedagogical tool to support the labor of boundary-spanning and code-switching between Euro-American KO practices and Indigenous KO practices.
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Schaillée, Hebe, Ramón Spaaij, Ruth Jeanes, and Marc Theeboom. "Knowledge Translation Practices, Enablers, and Constraints: Bridging the Research–Practice Divide in Sport Management." Journal of Sport Management 33, no. 5 (September 1, 2019): 366–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2018-0175.
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Funding bodies seek to promote scientific research that has a social or economic impact beyond academia, including in sport management. Knowledge translation in sport management remains largely implicit and is yet to be fully understood. This study examines how knowledge translation in sport management can be conceptualized and fostered. The authors draw on a comparative analysis of coproduced research projects in Belgium and Australia to identify the strategic, cognitive, and logistic translation practices that researchers adopt, as well as enablers and constraints that affect knowledge translation. The findings show ways in which knowledge translation may be facilitated and supported, such as codesign, boundary spanning, adaptation of research products, and linkage and exchange activities. The findings reveal individual, organizational, and external constraints that need to be recognized and, where possible, managed.
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Nasir, L., G. Robert, M. Fischer, I. Norman, T. Murrells, and P. Schofield. "Facilitating knowledge exchange between health-care sectors, organisations and professions: a longitudinal mixed-methods study of boundary-spanning processes and their impact on health-care quality." Health Services and Delivery Research 1, no. 7 (October 2013): 1–170. http://dx.doi.org/10.3310/hsdr01070.
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BackgroundRelatively little is known about how people and groups who function in boundary-spanning positions between different sectors, organisations and professions contribute to improved quality of health care and clinical outcomes.ObjectivesTo explore whether or not boundary-spanning processes stimulate the creation and exchange of knowledge between sectors, organisations and professions and whether or not this leads, through better integration of services, to improvements in the quality of care.DesignA 2-year longitudinal nested case study design using mixed methods.SettingAn inner-city area in England (‘Coxford’) comprising 26 general practices in ‘Westpark’ and a comparative sample of 57 practices.ParticipantsHealth-care and non-health-care practitioners representing the range of staff participating in the Westpark Initiative (WI) and patients.InterventionsThe WI sought to improve services through facilitating knowledge exchange and collaboration between general practitioners, community services, voluntary groups and acute specialists during the period late 2009 to early 2012. We investigated the impact of the four WI boundary-spanning teams on services and the processes through which they produced their effects.Main outcome measures(1) Quality-of-care indicators during the period 2008–11; (2) diabetes admissions data from April 2006 to December 2011, adjusted for deprivation scores; and (3) referrals to psychological therapies from January 2010 to March 2012.Data sourcesData sources included 42 semistructured staff interviews, 361 hours of non-participant observation, 36 online diaries, 103 respondents to a staff survey, two patient focus groups and a secondary analyses of local and national data sets.ResultsThe four teams varied in their ability to, first, exchange knowledge across boundaries and, second, implement changes to improve the integration of services. The study setting experienced conditions of flux and uncertainty in which known horizontal and vertical structures underwent considerable change and the WI did not run its course as originally planned. Although knowledge exchanges did occur across sectoral, organisational and professional boundaries, in the case of child and family health services, early efforts to improve the integration of services were not sustained. In the case of dementia, team leadership and membership were undermined by external reorganisations. The anxiety and depression in black and minority ethnic populations team succeeded in reaching its self-defined goal of increasing referrals from Westpark practices to the local well-being service. From October to December 2010 onwards, referrals have been generally higher in the six practices with a link worker than in those without, but the performance of Westpark and Coxford practices did not differ significantly on three national quality indicators. General practices in a WI diabetes ‘cluster’ performed better on three of 17 Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) indicators than practices in the remainder of Westpark and in the wider Coxford primary care trust. Surprisingly, practices in Westpark, but not in the diabetes cluster, performed better on one indicator. No statistically significant differences were found on the remaining 13 QOF indicators. The time profiles differed significantly between the three groups for elective and emergency admissions and bed-days.ConclusionsBoundary spanning is a potential solution to the challenge of integrating health-care services and we explored how such processes perform in an ‘extreme case’ context of uncertainty. Although the WI may have been a necessary intervention to enable knowledge exchange across a range of boundaries, it was not alone sufficient. Even in the face of substantial challenges, one of the four teams was able to adapt and build resilience. Implications for future boundary-spanning interventions are identified. Future research should evaluate the direct, measurable and sustained impact of boundary-spanning processes on patient care outcomes (and experiences), as well as further empirically based critiques and reconceptualisations of the socialisation → externalisation → combination → internalisation (SECI) model, so that the implications can be translated into practical ideas developed in partnership with NHS managers.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme.
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Kertcher, Zack, and Erica Coslor. "Boundary Objects and the Technical Culture Divide: Successful Practices for Voluntary Innovation Teams Crossing Scientific and Professional Fields." Journal of Management Inquiry 29, no. 1 (July 10, 2018): 76–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1056492618783875.
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This article examines the creation and stabilization of early-stage boundary objects by voluntary teams spanning divergent professional and scientific fields. Cross-disciplinary collaborators can share similar goals, yet nonetheless face frictions from differences in professional expertise, practices, and technical systems. Yet if boundary objects help to span disciplinary divides, the same challenges are likely to hinder initial boundary object development. Comparative ethnography of three projects adapting Grid computing technology to fields of science highlights challenges for boundary object creation, including a “mind-set shift” before the technology could stabilize. Enriching our knowledge of boundary object beginnings, we find successful stabilization requires both appropriate localization and further resources, which enable the simultaneously global–local nature of boundary objects. This essential feature is understudied in management research. Developing the boundary object concept on its own terms enhances empirical and theoretical application, particularly when researchers prefer one main theory of objects, rather than a “pluralist” approach.
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Caldwell, Raymond, and Coral Dyer. "The performative practices of consultants in a change network: an actor–network practice perspective on organisational change." Journal of Organizational Change Management 33, no. 5 (July 7, 2020): 941–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jocm-10-2019-0318.
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PurposeThis article positions actor–-network theory (ANT) as a practice perspective and deploys it to explore the performative practices of internal consultancy teams as they implemented major programmatic change projects within a global telecommunication company. The change process required the creation of a “change network” that emerged as a boundary spanning and organising network as the consultants sought to implement and translate a highly structured change methodology and introduce new meta-routines within the organisation.Design/methodology/approachBy combining the methodological datum of ANT to “follow the actors” (whatever form they take) with the guiding principle of practice theory to focus on practices rather than practitioners, the research explored the in-between temporal spaces of performative practices as they unfolded in relation to standardised routines, material artefacts and the tools and techniques of a systematic change methodology. By a method of “zooming out” and “zooming in” the research examined both the larger context of action and practice in which the change network emerged and the consultants' performative practices; but without falling into static macro–micro dualism, or a purely ethnographic “thick description” of practice. The research is based on interviews (25), participant observation and a review of the extensive documentation of the change methodology.FindingsThe findings indicate both how consultants' performative practices are embedded in the social and material arrangements of a change network, and why the intentional, expert or routine enactment of a highly standardised change methodology into practice is intrinsically problematic. Ultimately, the consultants could not rely on knowledge as a fixed, routine or pre-given empirical entity that predefined their actions. Instead, the consultants' performative practices unfolded in temporal spaces of in-betweenness as their actions and practices navigated shifting and multiple boundaries while confronting disparate and often irreconcilable ideas, choices and competing interests.Research limitations/implicationsAs an ANT practice perspective, the research blends mixed methods in an illustrative case study, so its findings are contextual, although the methodological rationale may be applicable to other contexts of practice.Originality/valueThe theoretical framing of the research contributes to repositioning ANT as practice theory perspective on change with a central focus on performative practice. The illustrative case demonstrates how a boundary spanning “change network” emerged and how it partly defined the temporal spaces of in-betweenness in which the consultants operated.
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Edelenbos, Jurian, and Ingmar van Meerkerk. "Connective capacity in water governance practices: The meaning of trust and boundary spanning for integrated performance." Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 12 (February 2015): 25–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2014.08.009.
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Shiffman, Catherine Dunn. "Supporting Immigrant Families and Rural Schools: The Boundary-Spanning Possibilities of an Adult ESL Program." Educational Administration Quarterly 55, no. 4 (November 4, 2018): 537–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0013161x18809344.
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Purpose: There has been a significant increase in the number of immigrant families moving to rural communities across the United States. Yet limited research exists that explores relationships between immigrant families and schools in these communities. Rural school districts are often challenged by insufficient resources, expertise, and infrastructure to respond. Adult English as a second language (ESL) programs can be valuable partners. This article explores how instructors in a regional adult ESL program supported relationships between immigrant families and schools in a rural Virginia school district. Research Methods: A case study was conducted between 2014 and 2015. Data collection included observations of adult ESL classes; semistructured interviews with adult ESL instructors, parents of school-age children, and school district leaders and teachers; open-ended questions on a parent survey; and documents. Findings: Four interrelated practices of the adult ESL instructors facilitated understanding and communication between immigrant families and K-12 educators. Adult ESL instructors disseminated information, explained cultural norms and expectations, coached family-school interactions, and created opportunities to connect families and educators. Supporting conditions included characteristics of the adult ESL classes, district leadership and sense of urgency, and multilayered relationships of professionals and actions of the adult ESL coordinator. Implications for Practice: Given the right conditions, adult ESL programs can be valuable partners for rural education leaders seeking to strengthen engagement with immigrant families. These programs can facilitate linkages between schools and adult ESL learners who are parents or caregivers and can be a professional development resource for building district capacity to engage with immigrant families.
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Hermanrud, Inge, and Dorthe Eide. "Representations of Practice – Distributed Sensemaking Using Boundary Objects." Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology 14 (2017): 199–218. http://dx.doi.org/10.28945/3777.
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Aim/Purpose: This article examines how learning activities draw on resources in the work context to learn. Background The background is that if knowledge no longer is seen mainly as objects, but processes, how then to understand boundary objects? Our field study of learning activities reveals the use of pictures, documents and emotions for learning in the geographically distributed Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority Methodology: The study is a qualitative study consisting of interview data, observation data, and documents. Contribution: Contribute to practice based theorizing. Findings: Three ideal types of representing practices have been identified, i.e., ‘Visualizing’, ‘Documenting’ and ‘Testing’. All three are combined with storytelling, sensing, reflections and sensemaking, which point at the importance of processes in learning. The article also add insights about how emotions can be an important resource for boundary spanning – and sensemaking – by creating the capability of reflecting upon and integrating different knowledge areas in the in- practice context. Recommendations for Practitioners: Look for boundary objects within your field to promote online learning. Recommendation for Researchers: Study boundary objects in work context to understand learning. Impact on Society Role of objects in human learning. Future Research: Focus on how emotions can be used for online learning.
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Powell, Mandy, and Magda Pieczka. "Understanding learning in senior public relations practices." Journal of Communication Management 20, no. 4 (November 7, 2016): 312–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jcom-11-2015-0093.
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Purpose Over the last 50 years the social legitimacy of public relations has improved by standardising and monitoring the education and training of its practitioners. While successful in developing a professional development trajectory from novice to competent practitioner, the profession has struggled to fully understand the development trajectory of its senior public relations practitioners. The diversity of occupational contexts in which public relations is practised, the condition of professional seniority and the knowledge and tools required for working at occupational boundaries is challenging for senior public relations practitioners. It is also a challenge therefore, for the profession to develop and support the learning required for senior practice beyond competency frameworks. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This paper employs socio-cultural learning theory and supporting empirical evidence gained in semi-structured interviews with senior practitioners in the field to explore what senior practice entails and how senior professionals learn. Findings Communities of practice is useful for understanding novice practitioner learning but has insufficient explanatory power for understanding senior practitioner learning. There is an urgent need for support for senior public relations learning that moves beyond reified competency frameworks and enables senior practitioners to function autonomously outside the core community of practice. Seniority requires its learners to embrace uncertainty and confront the challenge of creating new knowledges and in the everyday practices of their professional lives. Originality/value “Communities of practice” has been influential in the fields of management and organisations (Bolisani and Scarso, 2014). This paper employs the idea of a learning process that takes place in “constellations of practices” (Wenger, 1998) to offer a view of senior practice as boundary dwelling (Engestrom, 2009) rather than boundary spanning and learning as situated (Lave and Wenger, 1991) in the liminal spaces those boundaries provide.
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McAllum, Kirstie. "Volunteers as Boundary Workers: Negotiating Tensions Between Volunteerism and Professionalism in Nonprofit Organizations." Management Communication Quarterly 32, no. 4 (August 5, 2018): 534–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0893318918792094.
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This article employs a boundary work framework to analyze how volunteers from two nonprofit human services organizations navigated the tensions between volunteerism and professionalism. Based on interview data and analysis of organizational documents, the study found that volunteers at the first organization, fundraisers for child health promotion and parent education, dichotomized volunteerism and professionalism as incompatible social systems with divergent objectives, practices, and tools. Volunteers at the second organization, which provides emergency ambulance services, engaged in constant boundary crossing, oscillating between a volunteer and professional approach to tasks and relationships depending on the context. In both cases, paid staff and members of the public affected participants’ ability to engage in boundary work. The study offers insights for nonprofit organizations wishing to professionalize their volunteer workforce by specifying how volunteer job types, organizational structure, and interactional partners’ feedback impact volunteers’ ability to engage in boundary crossing, passing, and boundary spanning.
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Knoppen, Desirée, David Johnston, and María Jesús Sáenz. "Supply chain relationships as a context for learning leading to innovation." International Journal of Logistics Management 26, no. 3 (November 9, 2015): 543–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ijlm-09-2012-0089.
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to integrate the literature on learning in the context of boundary spanning innovation in supply chains. A two-dimensional framework is proposed: the learning stage (exploration, assimilation, exploitation) and the learning facet (structural, cultural, psychological and policy). Supply chain management (SCM) practices are examined in light of this framework and propositions for further empirical research are developed. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 60 empirical papers from the major journals on supply chain relationships published over an 11-year time span (2000-2010) were systematically analyzed. Findings – The paper reveals a comprehensive set of best practices and identifies four gaps for future research. First, assimilation and exploitation are largely ignored as mediating learning stages between exploration and performance. Second, knowledge brokers and reputation management are key mechanisms that foster assimilation. Third, the iteration from exploitation back to exploration is critical though underdeveloped in efficiency seeking supply chains. Fourth, the literature stresses structural mechanisms of learning, at the expense of a more holistic view of structural, cultural, psychological and policy mechanisms. Research limitations/implications – The search could be extended to other journals that report on joint learning and innovation. Practical implications – The framework provides guidelines for practitioners to develop learning capabilities and leverage the knowledge from supply chain partners in order to continuously or radically improve boundary spanning processes and products. Originality/value – The study is multi-disciplinary; it applies a model developed by learning scholars to the field of SCM.
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Clack, Lauren, Walter Zingg, Sanjay Saint, Alejandra Casillas, Sylvie Touveneau, Fabricio da Liberdade Jantarada, Ursina Willi, et al. "Implementing infection prevention practices across European hospitals: an in-depth qualitative assessment." BMJ Quality & Safety 27, no. 10 (June 27, 2018): 771–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2017-007675.
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ObjectiveThe Prevention of Hospital Infections by Intervention and Training (PROHIBIT) project included a cluster-randomised, stepped wedge, controlled study to evaluate multiple strategies to prevent catheter-related bloodstream infection. We report an in-depth investigation of the main barriers, facilitators and contextual factors relevant to successfully implementing these strategies in European acute care hospitals.MethodsQualitative comparative case study in 6 of the 14 European PROHIBIT hospitals. Data were collected through interviews with key stakeholders and ethnographic observations conducted during 2-day site visits, before and 1 year into the PROHIBIT intervention. Qualitative measures of implementation success included intervention fidelity, adaptation to local context and satisfaction with the intervention programme.ResultsThree meta-themes emerged related to implementation success: ‘implementation agendas’, ‘resources’ and ‘boundary-spanning’. Hospitals established unique implementation agendas that, while not always aligned with the project goals, shaped subsequent actions. Successful implementation required having sufficient human and material resources and dedicated change agents who helped make the intervention an institutional priority. The salary provided for a dedicated study nurse was a key facilitator. Personal commitment of influential individuals and boundary spanners helped overcome resource restrictions and intrainstitutional segregation.ConclusionThis qualitative study revealed patterns across cases that were associated with successful implementation. Consideration of the intervention–context relation was indispensable to understanding the observed outcomes.
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Javaid, Ahson, Amna Javed, and Youji Kohda. "Exploring the Role of Boundary Spanning towards Service Ecosystem Expansion: A Case of Careem in Pakistan." Sustainability 11, no. 15 (July 24, 2019): 3996. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su11153996.
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The sharing economy has the potential to innovate new markets by making the reuse of idle resources globally. The practices of sharing culture vary among developed and developing countries because of the un-stabilized economic situation and bad infrastructure. (1) This research is based on a case study of transportation network company (TNC) that has the capability to change the conventional transportation system because of its agile nature; (2) the study analyzes the data conducted from Careem (TNC) in Pakistan by using a qualitative approach; (3) the results show that to find a solution for scarcity of products/services in developing countries caused by limited and scattered resources, a learning climate is created by Careem which enables Careem to understand social issues in Pakistan and to use these insights to further develop its business model. Under learning climate, Careem promotes the culture of respect towards collaboration; (4) overall, Careem plays a facilitative leadership role and brings together different stakeholders on one platform for contributing to a common goal to achieve sustainability. Further, with the joint efforts of all stakeholders, an extended service ecosystem has been formed through boundary-spanning activities. Careem acts as a core boundary spanner and supports other organizations to become a second level boundary spanner. Finally, Careem has made a substantial contribution to resolve the problem of unsustainability in Pakistan.
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Teller, Christoph, and Andrew Alexander. "Store managers – the seismographs in shopping centres." European Journal of Marketing 48, no. 11/12 (November 4, 2014): 2127–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ejm-02-2013-0072.
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Purpose – The aim of this paper is to investigate the link between store managers’ evaluation of how customers assess a shopping centre and their own evaluation of the centre and, based on that, the relevance of store managers in reflecting on and informing the management and marketing practices of the local shopping centre management. Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual model is developed based on the network and boundary-spanning theories. The model is tested using a Web-based survey of 217 managers, representing stores located in shopping malls, and by applying covariance-based structural equation modelling. Findings – The study reveals store managers to be engaging in a significant information-processing pathway, from customers’ evaluation of the shopping centre (as perceived by the store manager) to their own evaluation of the centre in terms of managerial satisfaction and loyalty. Research limitations/implications – The empirical study focuses exclusively on shopping malls and thus does not consider other shopping centre forms such as town centres and retail parks. Practical implications – This paper concludes that store managers have the potential to be informational boundary spanners and, thus, valuable resources to inform and give feedback to shopping centre management. Originality/value – The contribution of this paper is to provide a more complete understanding of the role of the store manager as an integral actor in the shopping centre in terms of informational boundary spanning between the retail organisation, the customers and local shopping centre management.
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Goldstein, Nance. "Boundary Spanning Leadership—Six Practices for Solving Problems, Driving Innovation, and Transforming OrganizationsBoundary Spanning Leadership—Six Practices for Solving Problems, Driving Innovation, and Transforming Organizations, by ErnstChris and Chrobot-MasonDonna. McGraw Hill, 2011. 301 pages, hardcover." Academy of Management Learning & Education 11, no. 2 (June 2012): 312–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amle.2012.0072.
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Dawson, Veronica R. "Fans, Friends, Advocates, Ambassadors, and Haters: Social Media Communities and the Communicative Constitution of Organizational Identity." Social Media + Society 4, no. 1 (January 2018): 205630511774635. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2056305117746356.
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Organizational identity is always somewhat socially co-authored. The social-media context provides an opportunity to interrogate the extent of this co-authoring in an interaction-heavy and difficult to control environment. This article presents a typology of online communities that co-author organizational identity through confirming and disconfirming identity messages. Through extensive qualitative research, including interviews, marketing meetings observations, and social media interaction observations, social media communicative practices are examined through a communication constitutive of organizing (CCO) framework, specifically the conversation-text dialectic of the Montreal School. By focusing the research on boundary-spanning social media marketers and their interpretations of social media interactions, this article demonstrates ways that organizational identities are co-authored from external interaction (conversation) to internal practice (text). This study contributes to the ongoing theoretical extension of the CCO framework beyond the container metaphor, while also contributing to the practice of social media marketing within and around organizations.
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Daniel, Elizabeth, Elizabeth Hartnett, and Maureen Meadows. "Don’t throw rocks from the side-lines." Information Technology & People 30, no. 3 (August 7, 2017): 542–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/itp-02-2015-0036.
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Purpose Social media such as blogs are being widely used in organizations in order to undertake internal communication and share knowledge, rendering them important boundary objects. A root metaphor of the boundary object domain is the notion of relatively static and inert objects spanning similarly static boundaries. A strong sociomaterial perspective allows the immisciblity of object and boundary to be challenged, since a key tenet of this perspective is the ongoing and mutually constituted performance of the material and social. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The aim of the research is to draw upon sociomateriality to explore the operation of social media platforms as intra-organizational boundary objects. Given the novel perspective of this study and its social constructivist ontology, the authors adopt an exploratory, interpretivist research design. This is operationalized as a case study of the use of an organizational blog by a major UK Government department over an extended period. A novel aspect of the study is the use of data released under a Freedom of Information request. Findings The authors present three exemplar instances of how the blog and organizational boundaries were performed in the situated practice of the case study organization. The authors draw on the literature on boundary objects, blogs and sociomateriality in order to provide a theoretical explication of the mutually constituted performance of the blog and organizational boundaries. The authors also invoke the notion of “extended chains of intra-action” to theorize changes in the wider organization. Originality/value Adoption of a sociomaterial lens provides a highly novel perspective of boundary objects and organizational boundaries. The study highlights the indeterminate and dynamic nature of boundary objects and boundaries, with both being in an intra-active state of becoming challenging conventional conceptions. The study demonstrates that specific material-discursive practices arising from the situated practice of the blog at the respective boundaries were performative, reconfiguring the blog and boundaries and being generative of further changes in the organization.
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Tammes, Peter, and Peter Scholten. "Assimilation of Ethnic-Religious Minorities in the Netherlands: A Historical-Sociological Analysis of Pre–World War II Jews and Contemporary Muslims." Social Science History 41, no. 3 (2017): 477–504. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ssh.2017.12.
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This article examines what assimilation trajectories were manifest among present-day Mediterranean Muslims and pre–World War II Jews in Dutch society. Alba and Nee conceptualized assimilation in terms of processes of spanning and altering group boundaries, distinguishing between boundary crossing, blurring, and shifting. This study carves out to what extent assimilation processes like boundary crossing, shifting, and blurring had taken place for those two non-Christian minority groups in Dutch society. This research is based on findings of recent (quantitative) empirical research into the assimilation of pre–World War II Jews in the Netherlands and on the collection of comparable research and data for the assimilation of contemporary Mediterranean Muslims. Our study suggests that processes of boundary crossing, such as observance of religious practices and consumption of religious food, and blurring, such as intermarriage, residential segregation, and religious affiliation, are much less advanced for Mediterranean Muslims in the present time. Though several factors might account for differences in boundary-altering processes between pre–World War II Jews and contemporary Mediterranean Muslims such as differences in length of stay in the Netherlands, the secularization process, and globalization, Jewish assimilation might provide us some reflections on assimilation of Mediterranean Muslims. The continuous arrival of Muslim newcomers might affect attitudes and behavior of settled Mediterranean Muslims, while policy to restrict family migration might be insufficient to stimulate Muslims to integrate in Dutch society given the quite negative mutual perceptions, the slow process of residential spreading, the continuation of observance of religious practices, and the low intermarriage rate.
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Zhang, Huiying, Man Yang, and Baofeng Huo. "The impact of empowerment-focused human resource management on relationship learning and innovation." Industrial Management & Data Systems 121, no. 8 (June 9, 2021): 1767–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/imds-09-2020-0563.
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PurposeIn the field of innovation, there is growing interest in exploring the factors that determine the extent to which firms can learn from external sources. However, most previous studies neglect the role of human factors. Little is known about which employee behaviors are desirable for boundary-spanning learning activities and which human resource management (HRM) practices are appropriate to respond to external knowledge transfer across boundaries. To fill this gap, the authors investigate the role of empowerment-focused HRM in interfirm learning and explore the integration of external inputs from the perspective of employees.Design/methodology/approachBased on empirical survey data collected from different countries, the authors test the proposed model with structural equation modeling.FindingsThe authors’ findings indicate that empowerment-focused HRM practices, including job enrichment, job autonomy, teamwork and cross-functional communication, are positively associated with relationship learning.Originality/valueIn this study, the authors present a theoretical explanation for how empowerment-focused HRM may influence firm's innovation through relationship learning process and provide empirical evidence regarding the specific HRM practices that can have different effects on the different phases of relationship learning.
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Crawford, Emily R., David Aguayo, and Fernando Valle. "Counselors as Leaders Who Advocate for Undocumented Students’ Education." Journal of Research on Leadership Education 14, no. 2 (November 16, 2017): 119–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1942775117739301.
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Research has yet to fully explore counselor advocacy for undocumented students and the leadership they use in their advocacy. This study asks the following questions: (1) What motivates counselors to pursue educational access for undocumented K-12 students? and (2) How do school counselors advocate for undocumented K-12 students? We integrate boundary spanning and border crossing leadership theories as a conceptual frame to offerholistic approach for leaders’ socially just and inclusive practices concerning undocumented students on the borderlands. This embedded case study uses data from eight K-12 counselors . School counseling-related organizations explicitly detail advocacy competencies and the knowledge base, abilities and skills, and attitudinal dispositions professionals must develop. Knowledge of counselors’ leadership advocacy efforts can help prepare preservice leaders and other educators to effectively support undocumented students.
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Stokes, Allyson. "Masters of None? How Cultural Workers Use Reframing to Achieve Legitimacy in Portfolio Careers." Work, Employment and Society 35, no. 2 (January 11, 2021): 350–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0950017020977324.
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This article examines how cultural workers interpret and respond to reputational challenges they encounter when leading portfolio careers. Specifically, the portfolio career model involves the cultivation and signalling of adaptability through broad competencies and diverse portfolios comprised of boundary-spanning work. These practices conflict with standards of artistic legitimacy and highlight specialist-generalist tensions, since they can make workers appear to be ‘jacks of all trades, masters of none’ – unskilled, opportunistic dabblers, lacking expertise and artistic integrity. The article draws on 56 interviews with cultural producers working as filmmakers, fashion designers and musicians. Findings show how workers engage in ‘reframing’ to reinterpret the symbolic meanings attached to their behaviours and, in the process, carve out new positions and standards for legitimacy within their fields. Reframing is structured by field and labour market conditions, but also represents the possibility of change as a form of culture in action.
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Malin, Joel R., and Donald G. Hackmann. "Integrative Leadership and Cross-Sector Reforms: High School Career Academy Implementation in an Urban District." Educational Administration Quarterly 55, no. 2 (June 25, 2018): 189–224. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0013161x18785870.
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Purpose: This study analyzed leadership structures, processes, and practices that have enabled and constrained an ambitious career and college readiness reform within an urban school district. It was designed to discern how leaders worked across cross-sector boundaries to support district-wide high school career academy implementation. Research Method: Case study methodology was applied to examine a long-standing cross-sector collaborative partnership that supports the district’s career academy reforms. Data were collected over 15 months through interviews, observations, and document analysis. Crosby and Bryson’s integrative leadership theoretical framework guided data collection and analyses. Findings: The integrative leadership framework was suitable for understanding the boundary-spanning leadership work that was occurring, involving school leaders, civic officials, and business members in leadership roles to support academy reforms. As expected, for example, system turbulence was key to the reform’s initiation, establishing legitimacy was arduous and important, and numerous facilitative structures were developed. Some nuances were also apparent. For instance, we noted the motivating power of the shared goal to enhance the relevance of student educational experiences, while business and civic leaders were particularly interested in developing student employment skills. We also noted formidable political opposition and the development of a new, cross-sector power structure. Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice: Current educational theory is inadequate to explain leadership practices and provide guidance as school leaders increasingly enter into cross-sector collaborations. Scholars should seek to address this issue by prioritizing this line of research. Practitioners can benefit from insights gained by applying the integrated leadership framework to cross-sector initiatives.
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Perry, Elizabeth J. "Making Communism Work: Sinicizing a Soviet Governance Practice." Comparative Studies in Society and History 61, no. 3 (June 28, 2019): 535–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0010417519000227.
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AbstractAmong various grassroots governance practices adopted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), few have proven more adaptive and effective than the deployment of work teams—ad hoc units appointed and directed by higher-level Party and government organs and dispatched for a limited time to carry out a specific mission by means of mass mobilization. Yet, perhaps because work teams straddle the boundary between formal and informal institutions, they have received scant analytical attention. While work teams figure prominently in narrative accounts of the major campaigns of Mao's China, their origins, operations, and contemporary implications have yet to be fully explored. This article traces the roots of Chinese work teams to Russian revolutionary precedents, including plenipotentiaries, shock brigades, and 25,000ers, but argues that the CCP's adoption and enhancement of this practice involved creative adaptation over a sustained period of revolutionary and post-revolutionary experimentation. Sinicized work teams were not only a key factor in securing the victory of the Chinese Communist revolution and conducting Maoist mass campaigns such as Land Reform, Collectivization, and the Four Cleans; they continue to play an important role in the development and control of grassroots Chinese society even today. As a flexible means of spanning the center-periphery divide and combatting bureaucratic inertia, Chinese work teams, in contrast to their Soviet precursors, contribute to the resilience of the Communist party-state.
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E. Khilji, Shaista. "Human aspects of interdisciplinary research." South Asian Journal of Global Business Research 3, no. 1 (February 25, 2014): 2–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/sajgbr-12-2013-0090.
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Purpose – Based upon the argument that the primary characteristic of successful interdisciplinary research lies in human behavior and action (Brun et al., 2007 as cited in Buller, 2008), the purpose of this paper is to offer a view on human aspects of interdisciplinary research. Findings – The paper presents interdisciplinary research as an overlapping process of collective human interactions, consisting of group composition, conceptualization, integration and contribution. Conceptualization and integration processes are particularly important for knowledge exchange and creation as individuals learn to translate, articulate, relate and relocate their original disciplinary positions (Buller, 2008). Further, the paper argues that interdisciplinarity can be enhanced through appropriate group mechanisms and practices; and successful interdisciplinary research also translates into individual (and group) learning and capability development, in addition to knowledge creation. Research limitations/implications – Interdisciplinary research is important for IB scholars to stay relevant in today's complex environment (Cheng et al., 2009). Since the South Asian region represents extreme contrast and paradoxes, interdisciplinary research could prove particularly valuable in exploring contradictions there (Khilji, 2012). Originality/value – The value of this perspective is in describing interdisciplinary research as a boundary-spanning experience for researchers in that it facilitates creation of new insights and allows them to transcend their original discipline. However, interdisciplinarity itself is not automatic, but must be collectively managed through appropriate group mechanisms and practices (Buller, 2008; Haythornthwaite, 2006).
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Neirotti, Paolo, Elisabetta Raguseo, and Emilio Paolucci. "Flexible work practices and the firm’s need for external orientation." Journal of Enterprise Information Management 30, no. 6 (October 9, 2017): 922–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jeim-04-2016-0090.
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Purpose Literature on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has so far produced limited evidence on how these firms pursue their organizational flexibility with information and communication technology (ICT) and ad hoc work practices. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the extant literature by focusing on how SMEs use flexible work practices that provide latitude with respect to when employees work, where they work and via which communication medium. Specifically, the authors analyze how such practices are related to the conditions that SMEs face in reference to their competitive environment and their patterns of ICT usage. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted on 304 Italian SMEs, with the aim of identifying the contextual dimensions where flexible work is chosen and the different typologies of flexible work implemented by companies. Findings Flexible work in SMEs is chosen for different reasons associated to different conditions in the competitive environments and in ICT usage where SMEs operate. In general, SMEs use flexible work when they are more capable of improving their external orientation toward suppliers, customers, and the entrance in new markets with ICT. This duality is more likely in the competitive environments where external orientation and information processing is more needed, namely, environments that are uncertain and complex for product and breadth of the geographical complexity (scope) covered. Research limitations/implications In this paper, the authors offer an analysis on the contextual characterizations of flexible work practices. Future studies should disentangle more in depth the ways these characterizations are related to different ICT usages. Practical implications In uncertain and complex environments, SMEs should increase their external information processing with ICT and organizational practices that support the latitude of employees involved in boundary spanning with respect to where, when, and how they work. Originality/value This paper offers an interpretation of flexible work as an organizational mechanism used to cope with uncertain and complex environments where more external orientation is needed. This paper also shows that there are four different typologies of flexible work implemented by companies, namely, flexible work for cheaper input costs, flexible work for operational drivers, flexible work for strategic drivers, and flexible work for individual motivations, and that in some cases the conditions under which they are chosen are different.
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Beenen, Gerard. "Chris Ernst and Donna Chrobot-Mason, Boundary Spanning Leadership: Six Practices for Solving Problems, Driving Innovation, and Transforming Organizations. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2011, 336 pages, $35.00 hardcover." Personnel Psychology 66, no. 2 (May 20, 2013): 520–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/peps.12031_3.
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Duryan, Meri, and Hedley Smyth. "Cultivating sustainable communities of practice within hierarchical bureaucracies." International Journal of Managing Projects in Business 12, no. 2 (June 3, 2019): 400–422. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ijmpb-03-2018-0040.
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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to address hierarchies in a large program of projects. It explores cultivation of communities of practice (CoP) within a hierarchical client organization that manages multi-billion-euro infrastructure programs and projects.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on an exploratory longitudinal case study approach involving action research. In-depth semi-structured interviews, company records, industry reports and observation from a case study in the hierarchical bureaucracy were translated into the language of cognitive maps for software analysis and subsequent interpretation.FindingsThe findings highlight the importance of hierarchy constraints and program management practices in project-based firms. The involvement of senior management in CoP cultivation reinforced the community’s contribution to strategic value creation in the firm under scrutiny.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper mobilizes the concepts of boundary spanning and loose coupling as a way of analyzing the role of CoPs in bureaucratic hierarchies to promote learning and knowledge transfer. The results of the study suggest that application of those concepts can contribute to sustainability of CoPs in hierarchical organizations by giving them social space to span horizontal and vertical boundaries.Practical implicationsThe authors practically contribute to the field by demonstrating the process and the impact of CoP sponsors’ engagement in their cultivation. This was enabled through the research-oriented action research component. The paper also concludes that cognitive mapping may provide a useful addition to engaged research, potentially simulating and influencing change in practice.Originality/valueThe academic contribution concerns understanding the roles of hierarchies, program management and CoP cultivation in project-based firms. It offers clear guidelines for managers of hierarchical bureaucracies to cultivate CoPs to address hierarchical constraints and how CoPs differ in organizational form.
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Borzillo, Stefano. "Balancing control and autonomy in communities of practice: governance patterns and knowledge in nine multinationals." Journal of Business Strategy 38, no. 3 (May 15, 2017): 10–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jbs-03-2016-0031.
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Purpose This research aims to uncover three forms of communities of practice (CoPs), based on a set of six governance mechanisms. The focus is on the specific question of how organizations combine different governance mechanisms to balance autonomy and control in the management (steering) of CoPs. This paper is based on a study of 16 CoPs in nine multinational organizations. Design/methodology/approach The method used is a multiple case study conducted in 16 CoPs within nine multinational organizations. Ninety-two informants were interviewed over a period of four years. Findings Data revealed three distinct governance patterns for CoPs (three forms of CoPs), each associated with different knowledge processes and representing a different path toward a balance between autonomy and control. Expanding communities focus on improving existing products by recombining bodies of knowledge supported by a governance pattern that achieves balance by making moderate use of a wide selection of governance mechanisms. Leveraging communities are dedicated to improving operational efficiency by transferring best practices supported by a governance pattern that combines strong technical authority (leadership) with low disciplinary authority. Probing communities focus on generating new practices by exploring new knowledge domains supported by a governance pattern that replaces direct managerial control with indirect nurturing of the community’s routines. Probing communities also establish linkages beyond the community’s boundaries to enable knowledge to be shared with individuals throughout (and outside) the organization (boundary-spanning). Research limitations/implications The size and scope of the sample limit the generalizability of the findings. Although the study involved a variety of different organizations, it concentrated merely on large and multinational organizations. Thus, larger-scale empirical work is needed to statistically evaluate the relationships that are described in the findings, and to help specify the conditions according to which these relationships may vary. Practical implications This study should help managers understand which form of CoP is most appropriate to meet a particular knowledge objective. If the objective is the creation of new knowledge via the recombination of bodies of existing knowledge, expanding communities are appropriate. Leveraging communities are better suited for transfers of best practices within the organization. Finally, probing communities should be used to explore new knowledge domains. Originality/value This paper contributes to the understanding of CoP dynamics by revealing different governance patterns deployed to balance autonomy and control in CoPs. It also contributes to organization learning by revealing different learning processes that constitute the three forms of CoPs.