ABSTRACT
This chapter turns its attention to mergers as the most intensive form of joint work within public sector settings. It addresses the four themes of this book by viewing mergers as a form of cross- boundary working and focusing on why, in the selected cases, mergers were chosen over less demanding forms of cross-boundary working. We draw on Mintzberg's (1979) conceptualization of task structures in order to explore organizational forms and identify the enablers and barriers to effective cross-boundary working created by task structures.
