Toward Permeable Boundaries of Organizations?

Leopold Ringel is Lecturer at the Faculty of Sociology at Bielefeld University, Germany. His research examines issues of transparency and its impact on organizational processes as well rankings as a practice of publicly comparing performances. He is co-editor of the book series Political Sociology, published by Springer VS.Petra Hiller is Professor of Organization and Governance at the University of Applied Sciences Nordhausen, Germany. Her research interests centre on cognitive theory of organization and public governance. She was Visiting Scholar at University of Oxford, UK, and at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Spain, and was Guest Professor at the Institute for Sociology at Vienna University, Austria. Charlene Zietsma is Associate Professor, Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University, USA, and part-time Professor of Management at University of Technology Sydney, Australia. She has published in Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, amongst others. She is a Senior Editor for Organization Studies and serves on the editorial board for several other journals.

This work unties contributors in business policy, marketing, management, organizational sociology, and organization studies. They begin by contrasting system theory and neo-institutional approaches to organization boundaries, then review empirical trends and chart advances in information and communication technologies. Contributors then draw on different theoretical perspectives to explore the importance of boundaries within and around organizations. Major themes are conceptualizing organizational boundaries, boundaries and organizational dynamics, organizational networks, and boundaries in organizational fields. Examples are given of organization design, the on-demand economy, university associations, data-based business models, and the case of Apache open-source software. B&w graphics are included.

• Introduction: Toward Permeable Boundaries of Organizations?; Leopold Ringel, Petra Hiller and Charlene Zietsma Section 1: Conceptualizing Organizational Boundaries  1.Accounting, Boundary Making, and Organizational Permeability; Michael Power 2.Boundaries of Visibility in the Age of Transparency: An Integrative Conceptualization; Leopold Ringel 3.Collaboration as an Organizational Design for Shared Purpose; Paul S. Adler and Charles Heckscher4.Platform Organizing in the New Digital Economy: Revisiting Online Communities and Strategic Responses; Georg Reischauer and Johanna Mair Section 2: Boundaries and Organizational Dynamics 5.Organizational Boundaries in Fluid Forms of Production: The Case of Apache Open-Source Software; Vitaliano Barberio, Markus A. Höllerer, Renate E. Meyer and Dennis Jancsary 6.Redesigning Organizational Boundaries and Internal Structures: A Sociological Interpretation of Activation Policies; Martin Heidenreich, Petra Hiller, and Steffen Dörhöfer 7.Working for an App: Organizational Boundaries, Roles and Meaning of WoApplyrk in the "On-Demand" Economy; Anna Roberts and Charlene Zietsma 8.The Perils of Organizational Transparency: Consistency, Surveillance and Authority Negotiations; Oana Albu and Leopold Ringel Section 3: Extending Boundaries: Meta Organization and Organizational Networks 9.How do Meta-Organizations Affect Extra-Organizational Boundaries? The Case of University Associations; Jelena Brankovic 10.The Effect of Space on Boundaries Within Organizational Networks; Maja Apelt and Jana Hunnius Section 4: Boundaries and Organizational Fields11.Big Data, Bigger Questions: Data-Based Business Models and their Implications for Organizational Boundaries, Data Governance, and Society; Angelique Slade Shantz 12.Discipline Making and Organizational Permeability of the University: Discussing the Notion of Organizational Field; Kari Kantasalmi and Juha Tuunainen