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Conscious uncoupling : the difficulty of establishing and enforcing new organizational boundaries
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Wiedner, Rene (2017) Conscious uncoupling : the difficulty of establishing and enforcing new organizational boundaries. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2017 (1). 13523. doi:10.5465/ambpp.2017.21 ISSN 2151-6561.
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Official URL: http://doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.2017.21
Abstract
This paper examines how managers struggled to implement the mandated separation of a unit from its parent organization within the English National Health Service (NHS) and how their attempts shaped subsequent inter-organizational dynamics. It demonstrates that enacting organizational separation, and thus aligning behavior with newly defined boundaries, involves potentially complex and interrelated forms of boundary work. Specifically, a qualitative analysis of this case suggests that attempts to separate stakeholders by limiting interaction across formal boundaries may unintentionally maintain connections and thus, paradoxically, counteract organizational separation. At the same time, attempts to establish connections may facilitate the organizational separation process by allowing stakeholders to negotiate and accept a new division of roles and responsibilities. Hence, I find that boundary spanning may be a useful strategy not only in the context of organizational integration but also in enabling organizational separation by inhibiting boundary-breaching attempts and facilitating boundary closure. The findings contribute to theories of organizational boundaries and boundary work and provide an enhanced understanding of the increasingly important, and yet understudied, phenomenon of organizational separation.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School | ||||||
SWORD Depositor: | Library Publications Router | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Academy of Management Proceedings | ||||||
Publisher: | Academy of Management | ||||||
ISSN: | 2151-6561 | ||||||
Official Date: | January 2017 | ||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 2017 | ||||||
Number: | 1 | ||||||
Article Number: | 13523 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.5465/ambpp.2017.21 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): | ** From Crossref via Jisc Publications Router. | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
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