Boundary spanning in the context of academic education

Abstract

The global society, we live in today, is very intertwined and complicated. Hence, an ability to expand organizational and trans-organizational boundaries plays a critical and vital role in educational systems (1). The concept of boundary spanning, which was formed in the fields of behavioral psychology and organizational theories in the mid-1970s (2), is somewhat unknown in the medical and health education system (3). Meanwhile, one of the important approaches and activities that can help the improvement of health and medical education systems is boundary spanning activities (4). The boundary spanning theory, which was formed based on sociotechnical and open systems theories (5), is defined as creating a capacity for orientation, alignment, and commitment across the borders of an organization in order to realize the goals and visions of that organization (6). The individuals who are called boundary-spanners play an essential role in boundaryspanning activities (7). In the context of a university system, boundary spanners can include faculty members, staff, and university administrators (8). Therefore, at the level of an academic system, boundary spanners should be aware of the priorities and needs of their academic community, as well as their surrounding environment at organizational and extra-organizational levels (9). On the other hand, faculty members, as one of the important human capital of any university, apart from the three roles of education, research, and service delivery, perform a fourth role, which is boundary spanning. In this role, the faculty member can act at two organizational and extra-organizational levels. In this regard, at the organizational level, the boundary spanning role of faculty members is the reduction of tensions and environmental complications, as well as making a link among individuals, disciplines, faculties, and academic departments. Moreover, they contribute greatly to the facilitation of knowledge exchange between individuals and academic departments and, subsequently, the enhancement of teaching and learning quality (9-10). In this regard, recent studies have pointed out that in the context of academic education, faculty members' boundary spanning activities have an influential role in teaching and learning. In the role of a boundary-spanner, the faculty members strive to create a bridge among learners of different genders, cultures, and ethnicities by establishing interaction and communication. In so doing, they not only help create a collaborative learning process but also improve the teaching-learning process through sharing and transferring knowledge and information (11). Hence, the faculty members' use of organizational boundary spanning methods in educational contexts contributes greatly to teaching and learning leadership, creating and maintaining key relationships in the teaching-learning process. Copyright © 2021, This is an original open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-noncommercial 4.0 International License which permit copy and redistribution of the material just in noncommercial usages with proper citation Nazarzade Zare. J Med Edu Dev. 2022; 15(47): xx-xx Journal of Medical Education Development