Managerial Solutions part 2: The Networked Organization

In this section we will examine another managerial solution: the Networked Organization. The Networked Organization, is a term that is used to describe a variety of new emergent organizational structures such as Virtual and Learning Organizations. In this case we view the networked organization as an organizational structure that relies on multiparty co-operative relationships between people across structural, temporal and geographic boundaries based on the existence of dense networks of flexible communications. In Ashkenas et al's terms (see books below) it is a Boundaryless Organization.

This view of the Networked Organization is consistent with that described by Cell 4 in the earlier model.

Reading

Books

• See any of the books from the MIS books section

or

• Lipnack, J and Stamps, J. Virtual Teams: reaching across space, time, and organizations with technology. John Wiley and Sons Inc. New York. 1997
• Chapter 6 in Schermerhorn, JR, Management and Organizational Behavior essentials, John Wiley, 1997
• R. Ashkenas, D. Ulrich, T. Jick, and S. Kerr. The Boundaryless Organization. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995
• Hiltz, SR and Turoff, M. The Network Nation: Human Communication via Computer. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1993.
• Sproull, L and Kiesler, S. Connections: New ways of working in the networked organization. The MIT Press. Cambridge. 1991.
• Senge P.M., The Fifth Discipline, Doubleday, London, 1990
• Mintzberg, H. Structure in Fives: Designing Effective Organizations. Engleweek Cliffs, N. J., Prentice-Hall, 1983

Articles

• Applegate L M, (1994) Managing in an information age: Transforming the organization for the 1990s In: Baskverville R Smithson S Ngwenyama O and DeGross J I (eds ), Transforming Organizations with Information Technology, North-Holland, Amsterdam pp 15-94
• DeSanctis, G. and Poole, M.S. (1997). 'Transitions in Teamwork in New Organizational Forms', Advances in Group Processes, JAI Press Inc., Vol. 14, 157-176.
• Stata, R. (1989) Organizational learning - The key to management innovation. Sloan Management Review, Spring: 63-74.
• Daft, R. L. and Lewin, A. Y. (1993). 'Where are the Theories for the 'New' Organizational Forms? An editorial essay', Organization Science 44.
• Ford, R. C. and Randolph, W. A. (1992). 'Cross-functional Structures: A Review and Integration of Matrix Organization and Project Management', Journal of Management 182, pp. 267-294.
• Heckscher, C. (1994). 'Defining the Post-bureaucratic Type', in Heckscher, C. and Donnellon, A. (eds.), The Post-bureaucratic Organization: New Perspectives on Organizational Change', Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 14-62.

Links

• If you wish to search for additional sources of information, use the MIS links page

• The Network Paradigm: Social Formations in the Age of Information
  Based on Manuel Castells 'The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture'.
• The Networked Organization
  As organizations restructure to respond to their environment, there has been a growing recognition of the need for new kinds of organizational structure. The Networked Organization is one such response.
• How Online Social Networks Benefit Organizations
  Online social networks as webs of relationships that grow from computer-mediated discussions.
• Connections: New Ways of Working in the Networked Organization
  A book by Lee Sproull that describes how computer networking is changing the way people work and the way organizations function.

• A bird's-eye view: Using social network analysis to improve knowledge creation and sharing
  Research conducted by the IBM Institute for Knowledge Based Organizations discovered four different relationship dimensions which were important for effective learning. By analyzing and applying these dimensions to important groups of people within an organization, knowledge creation and sharing can be improved.
• Post-Industrial Economy and Competitive Positioning - the value of knowledge management and learning organizations
  The focus of interest is on the linkage of two concepts: Knowledge Management and the Learning Organization. The authors discuss how the practice of Knowledge Management becomes embedded in organizations through an examination of contiguous concepts including learning, change and culture.
• Learning, Working, Managing, Sharing: The New Paradigm of the "Learning Organization.
  The concept of "the learning organization" has great importance for the worlds of education, business and nonprofit management. It challenges, in fundamental ways, the dominant "bureaucratic" paradigm which has prevailed at the core of western civilization for some 200 years.
• The learning organization
  Just what constitutes a learning organization is a matter of some debate. We explore some of the themes that have emerged in the literature and the contributions of key thinkers like Donald Schon and Peter Senge. Is it anything more than rhetoric? Can it be realized?

General Information (Lists of links)

• Virtual Communities
  A selection of material on Virtual Communities
• Sociology of Organization
  A selection of material on Virtual Organizations and Learning Organizations.