TUILES: Tuesday Informal Lunchtime Seminars Fall 2014
Tuesday, November 4th
KMC 8-170
Lunch will be available at 12:15 pm. The seminar begins at 12:30 pm.
"(De-)Constructing Boundary Work: A Process Analysis of Dispersed Top-Management Collaboration"
Gretta Corporaal
In this talk I will briefly summarize my dissertation research and present my first empirical paper (under review). The paper contributes to theory development in organization and management by developing a process (theoretical) perspective on boundary work among geographically dispersed top-managers through the alignment and integration of upper echelons theory with boundary theory and sensemaking theory.
Abstract
This paper addresses the phenomenon of boundary work among geographically dispersed top-managers. Understanding the complexities of boundary work is particularly important at management levels, where small differences in perceptions have far-reaching consequences on strategic decision-making. We draw on a longitudinal case study of dispersed collaboration among subsidiary top-managers of a Japanese multinational, and zoom in on a seemingly mundane, yet highly problematic collaborative practice of business reporting. Our process model of top-managers’ boundary work reveals interrelated dynamics between close-up- and panoramic sensemaking of boundaries, and their enactment through boundary alteration and boundary preservation. This yields two important contributions to theory: First, we contribute to boundary literature by unpacking boundary work, introducing an analytical framework comprising of distinct yet interrelated modes of sensemaking and explaining their dynamics with managers’ boundary enactment. We thereby, challenge the assumption that actors perceive and cope with boundaries in similar ways. Second, we contribute to top-management literature by processually explaining how top-managers’ engagement in such boundary work can have significant consequences for their collaboration, by impacting on their ability to develop common ground, and to realize collaborative outcomes. This helps understand how it is possible that top-managers’ efforts aimed at overcoming boundaries often end up actually re-erecting those very boundaries, thereby impeding rather than strengthening top-management collaborations.
Keywords: boundaries, interorganizational relationships, organizational processes, practice, qualitative research, top management teams, sensemaking.
Joint work with: Julie Ferguson and Dick de Gilder from VU University Amsterdam (Dept. of Organization Sciences)
Bio can be found at: http://greetjecorporaal.com/biography/