Your task is to read the chosen case and work within your group space, with your teammates, to answer the following four questions:

1. Identify some of the problems likely to occur in a boundary-less organization like Newskool Grooves. What are the advantages of boundary-less organizations?
2. Consider some of the cultural issues that will affect a company operating in such different parts of the world and whose employees may not be representative of the national cultures of each country. Are the conflicts you observe a function of the different types of work people have to perform?
3. Based on what you know about motivation and personality, what types of people are likely to be satisfied in each area of the company? Use concepts from job characteristics theory and the emerging social relationships perspective on work to describe what might need to change to increase employee satisfaction in all areas.
4. What types of human resources practices need to be implemented in this sort of organization? What principles of selection and hiring are likely to be effective? Which Big Five traits and abilities might Newskool supervisors want to use for selection?

will wol CASE 4 Boundaryless Organizations Loutside the regular school dayabbotsbrando of spolloa 8 thyining Bates Barista gnomesmoggedniblind Learning Goals Major Topic Areas b bakcaldera oilhastrial The multinational organization is an increasingly com- . Organizational structure and boundaryless mon and important part of the economy. This case organizations Borlelove . takes you into the world of a cutting-edge music soft- Organizational culture husbandisbooming ) ware business seeking success across three very differ- Human resources be brownsurfacesinewr wob ent national and organizational cultures. Its managers . Organizational socialization si sed modsoul need to make important decisions about how to struc ture work processes so employees can be satisfied and productive doing very different tasks.The Scenario Comprehensive Cases 683 MOX Newskool Grooves is a transnational company devel- Whenever the rest of the market for music software oping music software. The software is used to com- goes in one direction, it seems like Newskool heads pose music, play music in clubs, and produce albums. in a completely different direction in an effort to Founder and CEO Gerd Finger is, understandably, the keep itself separate from the pack. This strategy has company's biggest fan. "I started this company from tended to pay off. While competitors develop simi- nothing, from just me, my ideas, and my computer. I lar products and therefore need to lower their prices love music-love playing music, love writing programs continually to compete with one another, Newskool for making music, love listening to music-and the has kept revenues high by creating completely new money is nice, too." Finger says he never wanted to types of products that don't face this type of price competition. work for someone else, to give away his ideas and let Unfortunately, computer piracy has eroded News- someone else props from them. He wanted to keep con- kool's ability to make money with just software-based trol over them, add their image. "Newskool Grooves is music tools, and it has had to move into the produc- always ahead of the pack. In this business, if you can't tion of hardware, such as drum machines and amplifi- keep up, you're out, find we are the company everyone ers that incorporate its computer technology. Making else must keep up wan. Everyone knows when they get this massive market change might be challenging for something from us, they're getting only the best and some companies, but for an organization that rein- the newest. " vents itself every 2 or 3 years like Newskool does, the The company headquarters are in Berlin, the bigger fight is a constant war against stagnation and nerve center for the organization, where new prod- rigidity. ucts are developed and the organizational strategy The organization has a very decentralized culture. With only 115 employees, the original management is established. Newskool outsources a great deal of philosophy of allowing all employees to participate in its coding work to programmers in Kiev, Ukraine. Its decision making and innovation is still the lifeblood marketing efforts are increasingly based in its Los of the company's culture. One developer notes, "At Angeles offices. This division of labor is at least par- Newskool, they want you to be part of the process. If tially based on technical expertise and cost issues. you are a person who wants to do what you're told at The German team excels at design and production work, you're in trouble. Most times, they can't tell you tasks. Because most of Newskool's customers are Eng- what they want you to do next-they don't even know lish speakers, the Los Angeles office has been the best what comes next! That's why they hire employees who group to write ads and market products. The Kiev are creative, people who can try to make the next thing offices are filled with outstanding programmers who happen. It's challenging, but a lot of us think it's very don't require the very high rates of compensation much an exciting environment." you'd find in German or U.S. offices. The combina- tion of high-tech software, rapid reorganization, and outsourcing makes Newskool the very definition of a The Boundaryless Environment boundaryless organization. Because so much of the work can be performed on Finger also makes the final decision on hiring every computers, Finger decided early to allow employees employee for the company and places a heavy emphasis to work outside the office. The senior management on independent work styles. "Why would I want to put in Berlin and Los Angeles are both quite happy with my company in the hands of people I can't count on?," this arrangement. Because some marketing work does he asks with a laugh. "They have to believe in what require face-to-face contact, the Los Angeles office has we're doing here, really understand our direction and weekly in-person meetings. Employees who like News- be able to go with it. I'm not the babysitter, I'm not the kool are happiest when they can work through the school master handing out homework. School time is night and sleep most of the day, firing up their com- over. This is the real world." puters to get work done at the drop of a hat. Project discussions often happen via social networking on the company's intranet. The Kiev offices have been less eager to work with The Work Culture the boundaryless model. Managers say their computer Employees want to work at this company because it's programmers find working with so little structure cutting edge. Newskool's software is used by a num- rather uncomfortable. They are more used to the idea ber of electronic dance music (EDM) DJs, who have of a strong leadership structure and well-defined work been the firm's core market, seeing it as a relatively processes. expensive but very high-quality and innovative brand.684 Comprehensive Cases \"When I started," says one manager, \"Gerd said get- ting in touch with him would be no problem, getting in touch with LA. would be no problem. We're small, we're family, he said. Well, it is a problem. When I call L.A., they say to wait until their meeting day. I can't always wait until they decide to get together. I call Gerdhe says, 'Figure it out.' Then when I do, he says it isn't right and we have to start again. If he just told me in the rst place, we would have done it.\" Some recent events have also shaken up the com- pany's usual way of doing business. Developers in the corporate ofces had a major communications breakdown about their hardware D] controller, which required many hours of discussion to resolve. It seems that people who seldom met face-to-face had all made progressbut had moved in opposite directions. To test and design the company's hardware products, employees apparently need to do more than send each other code; sometimes they need to collaborate face to face. Some spirited disagreements have been voiced within the organization about how to move forward in this new environment. The ofces are experiencing additional difficul ties. Since the shift to newer products, Sandra Pelham in the Los Angeles ofce has been more critical of the company. \"With the software, we were more limited in the kinds of advertising media we could access. So now, with the hardwarereal instrumentswe nally thought, 'All right, this is something we can work with!' We had a whole slate of musicians and DJs and produc- ers to contact for endorsements, but Gerd said, 'No way.' He didn't want customers who only cared that a celebrity liked us. He scrapped the whole campaign. He says we're all about creativity and doing our own thinguntil we don't want to do things his way.\" Although the organization is not without problems, there is little question Newskool has been a standout success in the computer music software industry. While many are shuttering their operations, Newskool is using its market power to push forward the next gen- eration of electronic music-making tools. As Gerd Fin- ger puts it, \"Once the rest of the industry has gotten together and gured out how they're all going to cope with change, they'll look around and see that we're already three miles ahead of them down the road to the future.\" Your Assignment Finger has asked for your advice on how to keep his organization successful. He wants to have some son of benchmark for how other boundaryless OrganizaOns in the tech sector stay competitive despite the chal- lenge 0f so many workers heading in so many differ. ent directions. You will need to prepare a report for the company's executive committee. Your report Should read like a proposal to a corporate executive Who has a great deal of knowledge about the technical aspects of his company but might not have much knowledge of organizational behavior. When you write, make sure you touch on the follow. ing points: CC24. Identify some of the problems likely to Occur in a boundaryless organizanon like Newskool Grooves. What are the advantages of bound. aryless organizations? CC-25. Consider some of the cultural issues that will affect a company operating in such different parts of the world and whose employees may not be representative of the national cultures of each country. Are the conicts you observe a function of the different ty 31's of work people have to perform? CC26. Based on what you know about motivation and personality, what types of people are likely to be satised in each area of the company? Use concepts from job characteristics theory and the emerging social relationships perspec- tive on work to describe what might need to change to increase employee satisfaction in all areas. CC-27. What types of human resources practices need to be implemented in this sort of organiza- tion? What principles of selection and hiring are likely to be effective? Which Big Five traits and abilities might Newskool supervisors want to use for selection? CC-28. What kind of performance measures might you want to see for each office? CC-29. How can the company establish a socialization program that will maximize employee creativ- ity and independence? Do employees in all its locations need equal levels of creativity