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Theme-based book review: Boundary spanning
Review   Peer reviewed

Theme-based book review: Boundary spanning

Christopher L. Atkinson
International Journal of Public Administration, Vol.42, pp.1068-1071
42
2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2019.1570524
Web of Science ID: WOS:000478717300008

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Abstract

The present political and policy context is beset with boundaries. There is constant work available for those engaged in the demarcation of boundaries, the defense of borders real and figurative, and the staking out of differences in concept and definition. This is part of the study of boundary-work: “Efforts to construct, maintain, or tear down distinctions between types of human practices or activities, including institutions (patterns of relations)” (Swedlow, 2017, p. 831). Accompanying the interest in boundaries is a parallel awareness of the need to cross borders – to create shared awareness and understanding that allows for improvements and enhancements in how people and organizations function, and perhaps ultimately in how people can interact more effectively with their environment. Related to boundary-work, the study of boundary objects and boundary spanning has become more relevant in the literature, across a variety of topic areas, from contested boundary objects like resilience (Juncos, 2018) and the concept of documents occupying “shared landscape” between communities (Huvila, 2019, p. 44), to boundary spanning in areas of inquiry as diverse as environmental organizations (Posner & Cvitanovic, 2019), managers in shopping centers (Alexander, Teller, & Roggeveen, 2016), and the video game industry (Burger-Helmchen & Cohendet, 2011). Boundary spanning behavior, where “people…operate at the periphery or boundary of an organization, performing organizational relevant tasks, relating the organization with elements outside it” (Leifer & Delbecq, 1978, pp. 40–41) has stimulated a great deal of research, much of it case-based. The attention of the academy toward understanding those that can effectively cross boundaries and potentially unify “different knowledge spheres” (André & Jonsson, 2015, p. 300) through their acts shows not only an awareness of the transformational potential of these actors, but also of the great challenge and even threat that boundaries pose to organizations, and to the attainment of societal goals contained within organizational missions. Within organizations, spanning behavior may play a role in accountability of an organization to its environment or to its isolation (Guston, 1999). An initially fleeting interest in the topic has evolved to where boundary spanners are increasingly portrayed as “strategic assets of any organization performing in networks and accepting interdependency…in specific communities (of practice)” (Edelenbos & Teisman, 2011, p. 18). In public administration and policy circles, new work has sought to cement constructs of what is meant by boundary spanning, and to show the importance through practical case studies of the concept and its usefulness. This review considers two recent contributions: Boundary Spanners in Public Management and Governance, by Ingmar van Meerkerk and Jurian Edelenbos; and Boundary-Spanning in Organizations, a collection edited by Janice Langan-Fox and Cary L. Cooper, now in paperback.

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