How Networking Effects the Organization
When companies experience organizational pain, their first response is often a structural fix, such as decentralizing, breaking down silos, or shifting to a matrix organization.
* Many such efforts have only limited success because formal organizational charts mask the invisible networks that employees use to get things done.
* Investing time and energy to understand networks can help companies measure the effectiveness of major initiatives and make organizational changes stick.
* In many cases, a key to success is focusing on “brokers,” who serve as bridges across a number of subgroups in a network and are easy to overlook because they occupy the “white space” of organizations.
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