The Boundaryless Organization

"No longer will organizations use boundaries to separate people, tasks, processes, and places; instead, they will focus on how to permeate those boundaries."

"In their quest to achieve the success factors of the twenty-first century, organizations must confront and reshape the four types of boundaries."

"Finding the right balance of hierarchical looseness versus control is a central task of leadership in the boundaryless organization."

"Organizational members must view change efforts as critical means of reaching business ends."

"Employees generally feel they are not informed enough or are actually misinformed about organizational goals and initiatives."

"When competencies are not developed at all levels, companies often get into trouble."

"Place decisions as close to the action as possible."

"Here are practices for Shifting Rewards."

"Here are five broad categories in which you can examine whether actions to increase the permeability of your organization's vertical boundaries are making your organization different."

"The new success factors of speed, flexibility, integration, and innovation make horizontal boundaries as problematic as vertical boundaries."

"There are five key organizational principles that companies need to keep in mind in order to develop permeable horizontal boundaries and integrate shared resources."

"Processes cut across an organization and represent the flow and transformation of information, decisions, materials, or resources to serve customers."

"The same four dimensions that had to be digitally tuned in the vertical dimension?information, competence, authority, and rewards?come into play again. "

"In many companies, the same teams or individuals that manage core processes also provide various kinds of support processes, a service that deflects their energy from the core processes."

"Building learning capability is one of the most powerful actions executives can take to ensure long-term competitiveness and success."

"Many companies are in the middle of a value chain, receiving materials, components, and services from some companies and selling products or services to other companies."

"Given the potentially negative consequences of traditional value chain boundaries, many companies already are looking outside themselves to the entire web of institutional relationships of which they are a part."

"While the new, boundaryless view of customer and supplier relationships may sound logical and attractive for many companies, getting there is not so easy."

"In order to truly institutionalize seamless collaboration between value chain partners, it is not enough to make the boundaries more permeable, they must also be moved."

"It is clear to us that penetrating global boundaries will be a necessity for the successful organization of the twenty-first century."

"It is clear that a wide variety of integrated and consistent shifts are required of the organization that becomes truly global."

"We can describe a wide range of actions that an organization may initiate to take its important first steps into the global arena."

"Seek complete liquidity of human resources."