Exploring boundaries in the hybrid environment

In this paper, we explore how individuals negotiate boundaries in environments with varying degrees of hybridity and we explore the role of the hybrid in this. Boundaries constitute a topical issue as workers move to more flexible, project-based work arrangements (Yeow, 2014). Organizations, for example, are increasingly seen as ‘boundaryless’, as traditional boundaries have been overcome by new configurations, such as virtual teams, which traverse geographical, temporal and organizational boundaries (Ashkenas, 2002). Scholars argue, however, that, as a result of these flatter, more linear, forms of organizing, other boundaries have emerged, both at the organizational—e.g. cultural boundaries, due to the increased heterogeneity often characterizing virtual organizations (Orlikowski, 2002)—and the individual levels—e.g. silent (yet existing) boundaries, created by ‘silenced unavailability’ or by giving impressions of ‘not wanting to be disturbed’ in asynchronous virtual environments (Panteli, 2004, p. 74). These studies show that, though boundaries seem to be more flattened in the virtual environment, they exist in different forms and have significant implications for the way work is carried out.