Crossing and Constructing Boundaries: A Case of an Infusion Pump

Abstract

During recent decades, organization scholars have shifted their focus of attention away from organizations as stable entities, divided from their environments by boundaries, towards organizing as a process, making it possible to understand how organizations emerge and are accomplished (e.g., Weick, 1979; Feldman, 2000; Weick et al., 2005). From such a perspective, organizations are seen as temporary reifications as the process of organizing never ceases (Czarniawska, 2002b). In this chapter we report on a study of the role of organizational boundaries with regard to an occurrence of a critical incident at a Swedish hospital1: the failure of a drop infusion pump. We studied the investigation of the incident and the efforts made to prevent any similar occurrences. As it turned out, the investigation was not restricted to one specific organization, but involved different organizations, units and groups of people. The aim of the chapter is to describe and discuss the role of boundaries and how they are constructed, deconstructed, reconstructed and stabilized as part of the ongoing process of organizing health care.