The Boundaryless Career: A New Employment Principle for a New Organizational Era. - Review - book reviews

Administrative Science Quarterly,  Sept, 1998  by Benyamin Lichtenstein,  Jennifer Hartwell,  Naomi Olson

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Michael Arthur and Denise Rousseau, eds. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. 394 pp. $45.00.

Boundaryless careers are occupational paths that are not bounded within specific organizations but grow through project-based competency development across firms in an industry network. The rapid expansion of these processes has far outstripped our understanding of them and their influence on the structure and process of careers, with a few notable exceptions (Bridges, 1994; Saxenian, 1994; Hall et al., 1995). This edited volume is one of the first attempts to provide a systematic examination of the phenomenon of boundaryless careers and their ability to increase knowledge and learning for individuals, organizations, and whole industries. This review, designed to complement Crocitto's (1998) review of the same book, is organized around four central themes that run throughout the 22 chapters. These themes are the effects of boundaryless careers on competency development and human capital, individual and organizational learning through boundaryless careers, boundaryless careers as interfirm networks, and social and methodological issues that arise from the research on boundaryless careers.

Perhaps the most consistent theme in the book explores how project-oriented careers enhance competency by spanning organizational boundaries, helping to develop human capital in the market. In chapter 4, Jones uses her research in the film industry to show how human capital is developed across an individual's career. Her empirical data highlight the interpersonal, technical, reputational and mentoring skills, and competencies that are developed at four stages of a boundaryless career in that industry. Similarly, Miles and Snow in chapter 6 describe the new "competency set" of collaborative knowledge that is required in "third-wave" project-network industries. These include referral skills, partnering, and relationship management. In chapter 7 DeFillippi and Arthur build on Miles and Snow's assessment that such organizations will become tools for their members to develop new knowledge and competencies. They argue that projects in boundaryless careers help individuals develop the competencies of knowing-why, knowing-how, and knowing-whom. This perspective is further extended by Bird in chapter 9, who defines careers as "accumulations of information and knowledge embodied in skills, expertise and relationship networks that are acquired through an evolving sequence of work experiences over time" (p. 150).

Links between competency and personal identity are explored in several chapters. In chapter 8 Baker and Aldrich use extensive interview data from individuals in many different careers to show how newly evolving work histories can alter personal identities through changes in workplace norms, situational constraints, and threats to cumulative knowledge in certain careers. An alternative perspective on identity is presented in chapter 10 by Ellig and Thatchenkery, who use the Austrian Economics perspective to show how entrepreneurial careers allow individuals to "create themselves" by finding their own meaning as new opportunities are discovered and exploited. This identity-forming process is also described in chapter 10 by Mirvis and Hall, who argue that developing a personal identity is a "metaskill" that is needed to experience psychological success in boundaryless careers. Like Jones, they suggest these can be accomplished through learning processes that accrue in a series of developmental stages over the life of a career.

Learning, a second important theme in boundaryless careers, is discussed by a number of authors in this book. In chapter 3 Weick expands his definition of "enactment" as a reciprocal interaction between personal agency and cooperative learning. He suggests a view of projects as opportunities for learning and of learning as a process providing continuity for individuals across diverse professional experiences. Robinson and Miner extend this idea in chapter 5 by showing how the enactment of new organizing routines by individuals occupying changing work roles leads to learning and evolution in organizations and in industries. Saxenian's research on Silicon Valley firms (chap. 2) provides empirical support for this idea by showing how organizations learn as a consequence of the growing skills of their project-based employees. Information and communication seem to diffuse rapidly through this region of boundaryless careers - the result of a culture that rewards experimentation and sees failure as a source of learning.

Another view of learning through project-based careers is given by Fletcher and Bailyn (chap. 15), who challenge the separation of work from family that traditional careers often cause and identify the potential for work/family synergies that may emerge through "revolutionary" workplace innovations that boundaryless careers may generate. Similarly, Fondas (chap. 17) proposes a model of project-based careers that is based in a blending of work and non-work experiences; this theme is also mentioned by Ellig and Thatchenkery. Fondas suggests that many competencies for successful boundaryless careers are qualities culturally ascribed to women and minorities, like the ability to develop relationships that are open and focused on others, the tendency to reduce uncertainty through unity and cooperation, and the value of working with supportive, empowering sensitivities. This theme is expanded by Thomas and Higgins (chap. 16), who suggest that the discrimination and limitations faced by women and minorities have fostered a cosmopolitan approach to networking outside of the workplace that is well suited to the establishment and promotion of boundaryless careers.