People in the Boundaryless Organization: New Demands on Employees and Managers

Overcoming an organization’s technical, organizational, legal, market, and spatial boundaries (see chapters 4 through 8) can significantly impact the working environment of managers and employees. It creates new challenges (required competencies, abilities, qualifications), as well as new possibilities (the development of personality, efficiency, and responsibility potentials).

New organizational concepts such as modularized, networked, and / or virtual structures imply a paradigm shift in terms of the image of humankind (Hesch 1997): Holistically, people play a vital role in the new work structure. Changing competitive environments and new work structures are the primary reasons for individuals being rediscovered as a primary resource in the boundaryless organization.