Boundaries: Their Influence on Managing Safety in Outsourcing

Abstract

Boundaries are an essential feature of an organization and integral to the on-going process of organizing. Outsourcing not only disrupts the configuration of organizational boundaries but also compounds the safety management challenges faced by an organization. This chapter connects these two observations through an examination of the composite nature of the organizational boundary. Misalignment between organizations in one or more of the three clusters of processes (physical, mental or social) that comprise the boundary create differences which may contribute to the safety management challenges commonly experienced in outsourcing. Boundary spanning skills that manage these processes are vital for successful working relationships between organizations but are rarely taught in safety training.