Making Invisible Work Visible : Using Social Network Analysis to Support Strategic Collaboration

Abstract

Over the past decade, significant restructuring efforts have resulted in organizations with fewer hierarchical levels and more permeable internal and external boundaries. A byproduct of these restructuring efforts is that coordination and work increasingly occur through informal networks of relationships rather than through channels tightly prescribed by formal reporting structures or detailed work processes. For example, informal networks cutting across core work processes or holding together new product development initiatives are not found on formal organizational charts. Rather, these networks often promote organizational flexibility, innovation, and efficiency, as well as quality of products or services, by virtue of effectively pooling unique expertise. Supporting collaboration and work in these informal networks is increasingly important for organizations competing on knowledge and an ability to innovate and adapt. Unfortunately, critical informal networks often compete with and are fragmented by such aspects of organizations as formal structure, work processes, geographic dispersion, human resource practices, leadership style, and culture. This is particularly problematic in knowledge-intensive settings where management is counting on collaboration among employees with different types of expertise. People rely very heavily on their network of relationships to find information and solve problems—one of the most consistent findings in the social science literature is that who you know often has a great deal to do with what you come to know. Yet both practical experience and scholarly research indicate significant difficulty in getting people with different expertise, backgrounds, and problemsolving styles to effectively integrate their unique perspectives. Simply moving boxes on an organizational chart is not sufficient to ensure effective collaboration among high-end knowledge workers. Movement toward de-layered, flexible organizations and emphasis on supporting collaboration in knowledge-intensive work has made it increasingly important for executives and managers to attend to informal networks within their organizations. Performance implications of effective informal networks can be significant as the rapidly growing social capital tradition has indicated at the individual, team, and organizational levels. Yet while research indicates ways managers can influence informal networks at both the individual and whole network levels, executives seem to do relatively little to assess and support critical, but often invisible, informal networks in organizations.