Bridging Boundaries in Networked Military Organizations
conference paper
One of the challenges facing networked military organizations is to coordinate and integrate activities of organization components. Several studies have demonstrated the importance of boundary spanning as integrative mechanism, and, more specifically, individual communication holes within organizations. Boundary spanners are considered to be highly influential in shaping and facilitating network form. Boundary spanners act as brokers who can bridge and help overcome information asymmetries and breakdowns in organizational networks. This paper provides a review of the literature to discover the mechanisms for effective boundary spanning. Looking at how civilian organizations span boundaries provides some fundamental principles that can also be applied to the military. Moreover, findings are presented from two field studies to pinpoint the antecedents, behaviors, and consequences of boundary spanning in international headquarters. Our study shows that choosing the right people to work in a networked setting is of great importance to effective boundary spanning. Boundary spanners have to be sociable persons for a necessary part of their activities involves building and sustaining effective personal relationships. This paper has implications for the staffing, training, and design of networked military organizations and the information systems engineered to support networked operations.
Topics
TNO Identifier
347333
Source title
15th ICCRTS “The Evolution of C2”