What is a barrier-free organization? Discuss the importance for a barrier-free organization of creating permeable internal boundaries and developing effective relationships with external constituencies.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A barrier-free organization is an organizational design in which firms bridge real differences in culture, function, and goals to find common ground that facilitates information sharing and other forms of cooperative behavior. For barrier-free organizations to work effectively, the level of trust and shared interests among all parts of the organization must be raised. The organization needs to develop among its employees the skill level needed to work in a more democratic organization. Barrier-free organizations also require a shift in organizational philosophy from executive to organizational development and from investments in high-potential individuals to investments in leveraging the talents of all individuals. Teams can be an important aspect of barrier-free structures. In barrier-free organizations, managers must also create flexible, porous organizational boundaries and establish communication flows and mutually beneficial relationships with internal (e.g., employees) and external (e.g., customers) constituencies. Barrier-free organizations create successful relationships between both internal and external constituencies, but there is one additional constituency, competitors, with whom some organizations have benefited as they developed cooperative relationships.