Managing boundaries through strategy maps in pluralistic contexts

Purpose – Modern intra- and inter-organizational arrangements require firms to cross boundaries, but this\r\nprocess represents a crucial and complex challenge, especially for organizations that face pluralistic tensions.\r\nScholars still lack sufficient knowledge of how boundaries can be crossed and what kind of boundary\r\nmanagement is necessary within pluralistic contexts. This paper aims to enrich the understanding of these\r\nissues by exploring how strategy maps can be mobilized and used as boundary objects to elicit boundaryspanning practices that foster cross-boundary collaboration in pluralistic organizations.\r\nDesign/methodology/approach – This paper employs the case study methodology to capture the dynamics\r\nof cross-boundary management elicited by the use of a strategy map within a pluralistic social/healthcare\r\norganizational context.\r\nFindings – This study identifies four practices of boundary spanning (i.e. identifying and crossing\r\nproblem boundaries, orchestrating collective responsibilities, acknowledging a common understanding of\r\nconvergent values and goals, and evolving into action) in the analysed pluralistic context and investigates\r\nthe conditions under which cross-boundary interactions can mobilize a shared zone of knowing via\r\nstrategy maps.\r\nOriginality/value – This paper suggests a complex (and not linear) processual model of boundary\r\nmanagement in pluralistic contexts in which the use of the strategy map mobilizes a dynamic of centrifugal and\r\ncentripetal movements which engage plural actors in a shared site of collaborative knowing. The study contributes to a conceptualization of boundary management in pluralistic contexts as a progressive social\r\naccomplishment.