Boundary work in a project-based organization: Flow across interdependent boundaries in interorganizational programs

Abstract

Project-based organizations (PBOs) increasingly initiate the strategic change to work in interorganizational programs. Establishing such a change is challenging due to the short-term focus, high levels of autonomy, and the varying involvement of interorganizational actors in projects. We adopt a boundary work lens to study how public PBOs operating in infrastructure address the parent organization – program, parent organization – project, and project – project boundaries that emerge when organizing work in programs. Based on two in-depth qualitative case studies, we identified the importance of establishing a continuous and predictable flow in projects, processes, and learning in achieving effective collaboration in interorganizational programs. We find that boundary work at any individual boundary is insufficient to reap the benefits of such programmatic collaboration. Our study offers novel insights into boundary work and program management literature by shedding light on the interdependent nature of boundaries in the strategic change to work in interorganizational programs in PBOs.