Boundary management in an ICT-enabled project-based organising context

Abstract

This paper explores the boundaries that emerge and exist within an information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled project-based organising context and the ways knowledge workers manage these boundaries through the use of technology. This is done through an exploratory qualitative case study of an early instance of the phenomenon in a knowledge-intensive professional services organisation. Through the experiences of a group of knowledge workers who started to work in project-based ways that were highly mediated by ICT, this study aims to understand the boundaries that they faced and the practices they undertook to manage these boundaries. In so doing, this study contributes to the existing literature on new forms of work and organisation, particularly on the issue of boundaries where ICT-enabled project teams are used. In particular, this study extends our current understanding of boundaries through expanding the lens of investigation beyond a predominant focus on work-home boundaries and considers boundaries within the work sphere.