Abstract
This paper examines organizational boundaries as contesting spaces of in betweenness that requires constant negotiations of multi-level cross-cultural differences. Traditionally, boundaries are viewed as relatively static imaginary lines that facilitate flow of information and resource exchanges between organizations and their environments. Membership and cultural identity employ power through separation to elevate the status and legitimacy of insiders over outsider. As dynamic and contested spaces, organizational boundaries are based on processes of construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction in cross cultural relationships. Four significant functions of boundary are demarcation, perimeters, interfaces, and frontiers. Three contestations illustrate different complex problematics in the betweenness of spaces – 1) rise of the modern nation-state with military and political powers; 2) intellectual capital based on accumulation of legitimizing institutional processes and designations with governance structures and regulatory property rights; and 3) e-commerce creating a digital divide that is transcending traditionally understood sovereign boundaries.
Recommended Citation
Wong-MingJi, Diana J.
(2019)
"A Heuristic Model of Organizational Boundaries as Contesting Spaces of Betweenness in International Management,"
Global Advances in Business and Communications Conference & Journal:
Vol. 8:
Iss.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://commons.emich.edu/gabc/vol8/iss1/3