The Role of Boundary-Spanners in the Control of a Chinese Garment Factory in Myanmar
通过对缅甸一家中国服装工厂的民族志研究，发现内部边界跨越者并非促进沟通，而是通过识别、化解和压制不满来施加控制，利用关系和非正式权力使工人放弃诉求，挑战了边界跨越者促进共识的传统观点。
This research examines the role of intraorganisational boundary-spanners, as mechanisms of workplace control, through an ethnographic study of a Chinese-run garment factory in Myanmar. The findings demonstrate how these intermediaries, rather than facilitating open communication, exerted a restraining influence on their cross-cultural workplace by identifying, dissolving and suppressing the expression of grievances. Wielding relationship-based informal power and position-based formal power, these intermediaries employed various means of persuasion and communication manipulation and disciplinary measures to contain dissatisfaction and maintain stability, whereby workers were directed to abandon their demands and align their expectations with management interests. Merging the literature on labour and management control with that on boundary-spanning in cross-cultural contexts, this article challenges the view that boundary-spanners enhance communication and promote consensus across boundaries, spotlighting the need to examine their activities in light of the profound influence of power dynamics in organisations.