About networks, networked and network-centric organizations Passage from «Some Essays About Management»

essay

4

No doubt, our dreams –

that’s wonderful!

We dream –modeling, designing and creating our own future thereby…

BUT!

We have not only

our own separate futures

Suppose that we dream all together about the future of our profession - about whom and how we’ll manage?

Dreaming together means to begin arranging about what

our future will bring us

What is the future of management? What will replace industrial type of relations

at the age of global communications?

Complexity and ramified structure of communication channels and interrelations

require new types of organization and business methods

… Methods, based on ideology

of participants’ equality and on optimization of their abilities

Like in

networked organizations

Networks and networked organizations represent particular and special view on reality and reflect the general understanding and readiness of people to work in such logic

What are networks, and what they can be like?

Level 1. Global network

That’s global economy – which is the integrated environment based on digital communication. Every company or person may quickly start to work with any other company or person in such a way

Level 2. Networked organization(«corporation without borders»)

By this time, here is meant the limited entity of autonomous, independent and equal-in-rights partners. Each participant is like a junction of competencies or functional partner

Level 3. Network-centric organization

It is a temporary or permanent organization with network-based connections, relations and technologies. All elements are equal in rights, but there is a coordinating center

Network-centric organizations, in their turn, can be:

— network project group— business organization inside— business organization outside

The network project group is a temporary hierarchy in an existing «corporation without borders».

Here is no difference between internal and external members, others’ resources and yours’.

As a managing center here are taken an owner of idea (of a project objective) or the company, regarded as effective in managing the project.

Method of business organization inside –the logic of networked organizations is brought onto its internal life, structure and connections.

Temporary project groups operate here instead of constant departments.

Method of business organization outside –the key business only is gone under the organization, the rest are brought for outsourcing.

Relations with all suppliers, contractors, clients, customers are held in networked logic.

Coordinator is to be the business owner.

What’s the use from the networked organization of business?

Instant access

to all centers of competencies and all resources, required for our concrete goals achievement

Flexible, quick and

multiversional structure, with rights and duties dynamic assignment,

ready for any change of external circumstances

Rational structure of expenses –only what we need for the moment works

What is common for networked and network-centric organizations,

what enables that they appear?

The principal backbone factor for network initiation

is ideology – «engineered» reality

Between backbone factors for networked organizations initiation are also:

— macro-process (e.g. energy development of a country)— a global program aimed for concrete result (e.g. hydro plant construction)— common interests of participants— joint aspiration to the same objective (e.g. colony on the Moon)

What concerns network-centric organizations, very often such factor is a

concrete objective

What elements does the network consist of?

It includes

agents, knots and actors

Agent (network minimal element) – an individual, who fulfills some actions, including ones which direct and influence others.

He can play some kind of social or business roles, or a person making decisions, a person influencing the process of decision making and accomplishment.

Network knot (activity center, center of competencies) is the multitude of potential agents who are involved in common process, in common function performance, who all together own a certain unique resource or have similar interests, relations within the network

Actor is a leader facing all the knot, being, as a matter of fact, a bearer of the actual resource needed in the networked structure.

Actor is regarded as a representative of a certain category.

In natural borders, the borders of a company, a certain department, for example,

or if there is a strong leader,

independent knots or natural knots may appear

Temporary artificial knots we create on our own for the purpose of a certain function accomplishment –

are functional knots.

Since the function is finally accomplished, there is no need usually in such a knot, and it disappears.

To provide and coordinate the functional knots performance there is need in one more artificial element –

architectHe creates all conditions for the knot effective functioning

It’s important to remember that in collective work all independent

and functional knots are

of equal value and equal in rights!

How are elements of networked organization connected?

They are connected by equal-in-rights connections which are constant or temporary mutual restrictions

on behavior of both sides

What may be such freewill connections and relations like?

They may be real – due to experience of collective work in past, or arrangements which give the ground to gather anytime

in any structure for collective work

They may be potential – time and efforts spent for arranging them are so slight that it can be easily discounted

and considered that such connection exists already. They are based on easy-to-access and common for everybody

information about abilities of any company, accepted standardsand conditions of interaction and willingness to interact

Framework of a networked organization is the

rules of interaction and cooperation («Rules of game»)

shared and arranged by all members

Framework of a network-centric organization is the

concrete arrangements concluded about joint activity

As a coordinating body of networked organizations the collective structure is taken, which coordinates in general all its members.

For example, advisory board of actors, or temporary coordination boards of experts.

Such coordination structure:

—aims targeting conformity of joint efforts

— observes for «Rules of game» compliance

— arbitrates conflicts

— adapts the networked organization to the surrounding reality

It’s important, all connections, being ordered (interactions), and direct control mechanism (hierarchy)

in networked organizations represent

temporary phenomenon, and they appear only when a certain problem resolving

or a separate project performance

What is the principal difference between networked and network-centric organizations?

The thing is, that in the networked organization –control mechanism is coordination,

in the network-centric one – that’s hierarchical coordination where one of all elements is responsible

for managerial functions

What unites and connects all members of networked and network-centric organizations?

What marks the limits of networked interactionand networked form of activity against the background

of surrounding reality?

appropriate environment

Networked (network-centric) organization is artificial system. It consists of multitude of networked elements and environment of their activity. Both are related one to another by resource, information and knowledge exchange

All networked elements are found on physical layer of interaction while integrated network space represents

invisible layer of networked (network-centric) organization

What domains does this space consist of inside?

The domain of communication –where all members interact inside as well as outside of their organization due to easy communication and direct connections

The domain of information –where information and knowledge are initiated, transferred, processed and distributed

The domain of perception – is the most difficult and incomprehensible, but, at the same time, indispensable domain of consciousness of each separate member of a networked (network-centric) organization.

And first of all, that’s the way of reality cognition and perception and routine ways of information processing

The primary goal is – to do achieve conscious integration of these three domains

with physical layer, and to increase effectiveness of networked (network-centric) organization functioning

What can help us?

IT-platform bringing together the communication and the information domains of networked environment

Is all of that enough for network initiation and its effective functioning?

Not quite

It’s enough only in case we provide all members’ development via mastering all inflowing knowledge and competencies which make it possible to interact and work effectively in a networked logic

And this development has to be

continuous

It’s important to get rid of difference between work and training, and join the flats

and then…

Networks, networked and network-centric organizations will

become our reality

Thanks for your attention!P.S. You got to know the passage of our book «Some Essays About Management»

The book is available in whole on the page «Vision» of our site www.kommandcore.com

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