One thing this course does is attempt to point to the obvious and show us that we aren’t seeing it. Sometimes the obvious really is the obvious, sometimes it isn’t.
Like what is a network. A network is a strategy for organizing based on the need to balance integration and change.
Networks come in three forms: structural, information and communication technology, and legal. And we are familiar with more of them than we think we are.
The structural ones we know about, thought me might not thought of them as networks. They rely on the organizational structure to do the integrating. A liaison makes a network, as does a task force, “integrating teams.” and a matrix organization.
Communication technologies work in one of two ways: either it helps integrate work, or it manages knowledge (Knowledge management systems — shared databases of knowledge and experience — not sure I completely comprehend that one either).
Legal is basically contracts. People think they keep people separate, but in networks they actually tell people how to get together.
These methods have limitations. Some work well for individual problems, some work better on whole organizations. Some, like the matrix, if they go on long enough, can become as inflexible as the bureaucracy they are supposed to be replacing.
The chapter lists four characteristics of networks:
- Flexible and modular
- team-based with emphasis on autonomy, self-management and initiative.
- Flat structures
- ICT integration across functions and geography
Networks do have challenges. It can be hard to discover causality in a network, in a system causality can be ambiguous. And they tend to get rigid over time, after the initial set up phase where things are being figured out. They can tend to centralized, which undoes some of the purpose of the network.
(not a very good end, but end.)
At The Rainbow 