Boundary less Organizations
Dalia M. Davidson
January 16, 2012
HCS/325
David R. Campbell

Boundary less Organizations Many healthcare workplaces are becoming known for being boundary less organizations. Employees are connecting to the outside world with a wide variety of co-workers, consultants, off-site employees, and other resources. Boundary less organization is a contemporary approach in organizational design. It is an organization that is not defined by, or, limited to, the horizontal, vertical, or external boundaries imposed by a predefined structure. Boundary less organization combines the business team and network structures with the addition of temporariness. Many entrepreneurial and start-up businesses are boundary less organizations. When businesses are able to make quick changes to their environments and come up with solutions to an issue makes them boundary less organizations. There are two types of boundary less organizations. Inside of boundary less organizations teamwork and communication replace formal lines of authority. Barriers that once separated organizational members are resolved and team members react spontaneously to problems that may occur. Outside boundary less organizations the needs are met through outsourcing contracts and outside alliances that come together. These relationships are forever changing so they would look different day to day. Technology and the absence of hierarchy have allowed for the acceptance of boundary less organization. The primary focus of a boundary less form is on talent for task. This understanding is that people can work together without restrictions and accomplish great things (Lombardi & Schermerhorn, 2007). The boundary less organization has a relax structure. It fosters a quality, timeliness, creative and flexible setting which in return increase the amount of time it takes a to complete a task and reduces inefficiencies. Sharing knowledge is important in the boundary less organization. It may take several people working together to get a job accomplished. Within this type of workplace many groups of people could work together in several other teams meeting spontaneously to get a job done. Once these groups are formed, they do not have to remain together to get the task complete. The evolution of technology has helped make collaboration easier and boundary less organizations possible (Lombardi & Schermerhorn, 2007).
Organizational evolution and foundations of boundary less organizations thinking are related. Both focuses on the ways organization can best change to meet their challenges. It focuses on the grass roots level looking at the structure and process of actual change transaction in companies. Boundary less organization has been divided in the four boundary types to better serve its customers and capitalize on good ideas. The four dimensions to become successful are size, role clarity, specification, and control (Meservey, 1995).
Boundary less organizations in the healthcare industry has its pros and cons. Frequent communication is essential in improving relationships in the healthcare industry. Quality of relationships between nurses and physicians appears to lower the amount of mortality rates and the overall improvement of patients care. Collaboration between doctors and nurses is especially important when dealing with elderly patients. The cons to have a boundary less organization in the health care world is that physicians or directors do not want to be seen on the same level as people with less education. Physicians believe that they have more knowledge because they had to attend more college and have more degrees than a nurse or nurse fractioned. The nurse practioner is a fairly new position and the negotiation of control is unresolved between nurse practioners and physicians. Physicians tend to see nurse practioners as physicians’ helpers and should operate beneath their authority. This shows the continued dominance the doctors try to reinforce although nurses hold a high level of power and influence in treatment and diagnosis of the patient. This goes to show that boundary less organizational systems do not always work. Another example of boundary less organizational structure not working is the collaboration between social workers and physicians. Physicians do not respect or have little interest in psychosocial factors and do not accept social workers’ services. Meanwhile, physicians believe that social workers have the right to handle psychosocial issues and assistance in making discharge or placement decisions only but do not need to be intervening in affairs such as offering resources and opinions to assist physicians in decisions. Tension between social workers and physicians remain a constant problem and collaboration often does not happen (Ellingson, 2002).
Teams have been formed in the healthcare world. This helps with physicians who specialize in different areas can collaborate. Health care teams have become prevalent. Geriatrics is one area in which health care collaboration of teams has become common because the elderly has become the fastest growing segment. This is because the elderly is receiving fragmented care, seeing different specialist for each illness or condition and increasing the need to be collaborate (Ellingson, 2002).
A boundary less organization is the new term coined for today and the future which means the opposite of bureaucracy. In addition, a boundary less organization offers interaction and networking inside and outside an organization. The business form always changes. Professionals form teams and collaborate is emphasizing on projects. Relationships are informal and people come together when there is a problem or need. Groups are established and everything is centered on technology, information and expertise. The boundary less organization has become widespread with the use of technology. This type of organization has its advantages and disadvantages. In order to be successful in a boundary less organization requires an individual to have strong team skills, free-form structure, and networking skills.

Work Cited
Ellingson, L. L. (2002) "Communication, collaboration, and teamwork among health care professionals." Communication Research Trends 21.3-33: 1-44.
Lombardi, D. M., & Schermerhorn, J. R. (2007). Health care management: Tools and techniques for managing in a health care environment. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Meservey, P. M. (1995). "Fostering collaboration in a boundary less organization." Nursing & Health: Perspectives on Community 16.4: 234-36.