Social Network Types and Organizational Forms

Organizational Forms and Social Network Types

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A Framework for Analysis

Navneet Bhushan, Karthikeyan Iyernavneet.bhushan@crafitti.com, karthikeyan.iyer@crafitti.com Crafitti Consulting Private Limited, Bangalore, Indiahttp://www.crafitti.com

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This paper was communicated to the Social Network Analysis Conference 2008 hosted by Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai on Dec 26-27, 2008)

Abstract

Recent developments in society and business have triggered the emergence of newforms of organizations, beyond the traditional hierarchical form. A study of contemporary literature and industry practices reveals the following distinct forms:hierarchical, ambidextrous, collaborative, learning and emergent. Simultaneously,embedded within organizations are different types of social networks. Our researchindicates classifications of social networks along three key dimensions - the type of response generated by these networks (customized response, modular response androutine response), the centrality of the networks (ego-centric, socio-centric andopen networks) and the network architecture (centralized networks, request-basednetworks, hub-swarms and swarms).This paper examines the relevance of socialnetwork types to organizational forms. We have designed a survey instrument basedon the Analytic Hierarchy Process to solicit opinions of experts in the above areas.Preliminary results of this initial survey clearly indicate that specific combinationsof social network types are found in particular organization forms. Potentialapplications of this study towards organizational design and transformation are alsoexplored in the paper.

Introduction

The changing shape and form of organizations is a topic of considerable interest in recent times.The reasons for the changes are multi-fold. Some argue that these changes have beennecessitated by the phenomenon of

hyper-competition[1]

that characterizes the nature of disorder, stress and unpredictability that is confronting modern organizations. This phenomenonis seen to arisen from the shift in economic growth cycles from the post-war economy to the neweconomy based on technological drivers of information, communication and technology[2].Along similar lines, others have pointed out that modern organizations are driven bydiscontinuity rather than continuation and stabilization[3].Along with competitive drivers, changes to organization form and shape have also beeninfluenced by social factors

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primarily the organizational culture and climate, with its emphasison attitudes, values, feelings and social processes[5]. Organizational culture and climate aregreatly influenced by the leadership of the organization. At the same time they also get impactedby prevalent cultures and climate in other organizations as well as by overall trends in socialculture.Irrespective of the specific factors driving organizational change, it is clear that in the recentpast, new organizational forms have emerged. These new forms offer insights for organizationaldesign and change and are being seen as key drivers for innovation and growth.Recent renewed interest in social network theory is a result of the new evidence that the waylarge group of people behave collectively is not in a hierarchical structured manner as desired bythe proponents of hierarchical organization designers. In fact, the natural way we behave is moreclose to a messy world of networks of complex connections. The new studies have shown varietyof social structures and processes that govern overall behavior of a group of population. Thesesocial processes lead to different type of emergent properties that cannot be easily established bystudying only local individual interactions. This is in fact the hallmark of complex systems[26] These two interesting trends of emerging new organization forms and various social network structures

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intuitively seem to be linked in some form. To study these relationships we haveused a framework based on the methodology of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)[24, 25]. Thispaper describes the framework and the initial results obtained so far. The paper is organized in

following sections

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Section 2 gives a brief overview of emerging new organization forms andalso gives our understanding and for the purpose of this study our classification of the neworganization forms. In Section 3, an overview of various social network types and basis of thesedifferent types are described. It also describes our understanding and classification of socialnetwork types. Section 4, describes the methodology based on the AHP. Section 5 describes theframework derived from the analysis of results obtained in the previous section. The paper endswith Section 6 where potential applications of the framework are discussed and future steps areidentified.

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New Forms of Organizations

Several new organizations forms have been proposed and discussed in literature[2]; while theseforms (clubbed together) offer a stark contrast to the regular hierarchical organizational form,there are a few distinct types of new organizational forms that have been the subject of muchinterest and study. Broadly, these may be classified as:a)

Ambidextrous Organizationb)

Collaborative Organizationc)

Learning Organizationd)

Emergent Organization

2.1

Ambidextrous Organization

Ambidextrous organizations look at simultaneous exploration and exploitation as a means tosustained performance and growth.In order to successfully compete, they pursue a portfolio of innovations including:a)

Incremental Innovations

: Small improvements in existing products or operationsb)

Architectural innovations

: Technology or process changes to fundamentally change acomponent or element of businessc)

Discontinuous innovations

: Radical advances that may significantly alter the basis forcompetition in an industry