Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior - Soltanieh ...

16
Compose Teams to Assure
Successful Boundary Activity
DEBORAH ANCONA AND DAVID CALDWELL
The basic principle we propose is that teams should be composed of individuals who can
effectively carry out external boundary activity. The central argument is that teams need
people who can bridge to the outside – people who can get resources, negotiate agreements,
and know who to contact for expertise. A number of studies (cf. Ancona, 1990 ;
Ancona and Caldwell, 1992 ; Gladstein, 1984 ; Hansen, 1999 ; Marrone, Tesluk, and
Carson, 2007 ; Wong, 2004 ) have shown that external boundary activity is a key predictor
of team performance. Therefore, an important element in a team ’s composition should be
ensuring that such activity takes place.
This principle is very broad. In our view, it applies most directly to temporary teams
or taskforces that are created for a particular purpose and then transfer their work product
to others within the organization or the broader market. Typically, these teams draw on
resources and information inside and outside the organization and often must gain the
support of other entities within the organization if they are to be successful. The greater
the complexity of the work and the higher the interdependence with other organization
units, the more the team will need to engage in a complex web of external relationships
to manage the coordination, knowledge transfer, and political maneuvering necessary to
get its tasks accomplished (Cummings, 2004 ). As organizations get fl atter, more global,
and more cross - functional, fewer work groups can remain isolated and focus solely on
internal activity and work. Thus, sensitivity to external issues is becoming increasingly
important to a wide range of teams.
JUSTIFICATION OF THE PRINCIPLE
It is our assertion that the external activities of interdependent organization teams are
related to their performance. Although relatively little research has directly addressed this
issue – in part because many of our theories of group activities were developed using