A boundary object refers to a group of information items used by different groups to fulfil their needs. Aspects that include biases, needs, and experiences of various communities are considered when using boundary objects in organisations. An example of a boundary objects is population data that is analysed and used for different purposes by marketers and demographers. Boundary objects are used by organisations for various reasons that include promotion of communication, improvement of understanding, and expression of meaning. They have two main characteristics that set them apart from other forms of knowledge items. They are theoretical and universal with regard to the information they provide. Examples of boundary objects include ontologies, classification systems, and paper forms. An enterprise resource planning (ERP) entry is another example of a boundary object. Many organisations use them to promote communication, motivate employees, and solve organisational problems. Organisations use the concept of boundary objects in fields that include information technology, project management, and knowledge management. These fields use that concept to share knowledge and information within organisations. Finally, entities use boundary objects to manage disagreements between different groups of stakeholders that exhibit conflicts of interests. An example of a boundary object is an automobile prototype that offers an opportunity to different groups that include engineers, sales personnel, marketing professionals, and production experts to develop communication strategies to meet their needs. Each of these groups of experts uses the prototype to enhance communication and interaction through sharing of knowledge. For example, the sales team develops strategies to facilitate the sale of the finalised product while the production team devises ways of producing the product at a low cost. These activities promote communication, interaction, and transfer of knowledge among employees. Explain the idea of culture as a root metaphor and culture as an internal (i.e. organisational) variable Smircich distinguished between the use of culture as a root metaphor and culture as an organisational variable. The consideration of culture as an organisational variable focuses more on traditional approaches that incorporate concepts of sociocultural subsystems and common organisational variables. This approach involves the consideration of organisations as units that have distinct values, norms, and rituals that affect the behaviour of employees. This implies that management of organisational culture involves the development of values, norms, and rituals that improve the operations of an organisation. In contrast, the use of culture as a root metaphor involves the consideration of an organisation as a culture. The approach uses anthropological approaches to develop organisational paradigms. Organisations are considered as cultures, which are understood in terms of their symbolic and ideation aspects. As such, organisational culture is seen as a puzzle that needs to be deciphered. According to this perspective, the image of an organisational culture is used as the foundation on which all the o