Boundaryless Organization: Definition and additional resources from BNET
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BNET Business Dictionary

Business Definition for: Boundaryless Organization

  • a model that views organizations as having permeable boundaries. An organization has external boundaries that separate it from its suppliers and customers, and internal boundaries that provide demarcation to departments. This rigidity is removed in boundaryless organizations, where the goal is to develop greater flexibility and responsiveness to change and to facilitate the free exchange of information and ideas. The boundaryless organization behaves more like an organism encouraging better integration between departments and closer partnerships with suppliers and customers. The concept was developed at General Electric and described in the book The Boundaryless Organization: Breaking the Chains of Organizational Structure by Ron Ashkenas and others, which was published in 1995.

Additional Resources

The myth of boundaryless organization. (Technology).
S. Newell, S. Pan, R. Galliers, and J. Huang. 2001. Communications of the ACM 44, no. 12:74-76. The article attempts to "dispel the myth of the boundaryless organization and argue against technologically deterministic approaches to organizational change." There is a need to "form and...
Tags: ACM, Globalization, Strategy
Research articles 2002-05-01
Future of Web, High-Profile GIS Case Study on Day One of The Open Group's ''Boundaryless Information Flow: The Role of Web Services'' Conference
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