Rene WIEDNER, University of Cambridge: "SO FAR, YET SO CLOSE: ORGANIZATIONAL SEPARATION AND ENTANGLEMENT"

Location: TC.3.10
Date and Time: Tuesday, June 21^st, 2016; 16.00-19.00

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. 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.

Dr Rene Wiedner is a Senior Research Associate at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, where he also completed his PhD in Management Studies and a Master’s in Innovation, Strategy and Organisation. He also holds a Magister degree from WU Vienna. As of September he will be an Assistant Professor at Warwick Business School. Rene’s research focuses on organizational change processes and innovation in the public sector and creative industries. He uses qualitative methods and is especially interested in practice theoretical approaches and matters of ontology. His most recent paper, titled “The Emergence of Change in Unexpected Places” has been accepted for publication in the Academy of Management Journal.