Boundary Activities in `Boundaryless' Organizations: A Case Study of a Transformation to a Team-Based Structure

Abstract

This paper reports a case study that analyzes changes in organizational boundary activities carried out in a bank during and after restructuring from a functional to a team-based structure. Results suggest that the need for spanning, buffering, and bringing up boundaries does not disappear as organizations become `boundaryless'. Rather, boundary activities increase in significance and migrate to lower organizational levels. Several propositions are generated for future research.