Title: MAKING

INVISIBLE WORK
VISIBLE: USING
SOCIAL
NETWORK
ANALYSIS TO
SUPPORT
STRATEGIC
COLLABORATION
, By: Cross, Rob,
Borgatti, Stephen
P., Parker, Andrew,
California
Management
Review, 00081256,
Winter2002, Vol.
44, Issue 2
Database:
Business Source
Premier

MAKING INVISIBLE WORK VISIBLE: USING SOCIAL NETWORK

ANALYSIS TO SUPPORT STRATEGIC COLLABORATION
 Contents
Over the past decade, significant restructuring efforts have
Assessing and resulted in organizations with fewer hierarchical levels and
Supporting more permeable internal and external boundaries. A byproduct
Informal of these restructuring efforts is that coordination and work
Networks increasingly occur through informal networks of relationships
rather than through channels tightly prescribed by formal
Promoting reporting structures or detailed work processes. For example,
Effective informal networks cutting across core work processes or
Collaboration holding together new product development initiatives are not
within a found on formal organizational charts. However, these
Strategically networks often promote organizational flexibility, innovation,
Important Group and efficiency as well as quality of products or services by
virtue of effectively pooling unique expertise. Supporting
Supporting
collaboration and work in these informal networks is
Critical
increasingly important for organizations competing on
Junctures in
knowledge and an ability to innovate and adapt.
Networks that
Cross
Boundaries Unfortunately, critical informal networks often compete with
and are fragmented by such aspects of organizations as formal
Collaboration structure, work processes, geographic dispersion, human
across resource practices, leadership style, and culture. This is
Functional particularly problematic in knowledge-intensive settings where
Boundaries management is counting on collaboration among employees
with different types of expertise. People rely very heavily on
Collaboration their network of relationships to find information and solve
across problems--one of the most consistent findings in the social
Hierarchical science literature is that who you know often has a great deal
Boundaries to do with what you come to know.(n1) Yet both practical
experience and scholarly research indicate significant difficulty
Ensuring
in getting people with different expertise, backgrounds, and
Integration
problem-solving styles to effectively integrate their unique
within Groups
perspectives.(n2) Simply moving boxes on an organizational
Following
chart is not sufficient to ensure effective collaboration among
Strategic
high-end knowledge workers.
Change
Initiatives
Movement toward de-layered, flexible organizations and
Lessons from emphasis on supporting collaboration in knowledge-intensive
the Field work has made it increasingly important for executives and
managers to attend to informal networks within their
Conclusion organizations. Performance implications of effective informal
networks can be significant as the rapidly growing social
EXHIBIT 2.
capital tradition has indicated at the individual, team, and
Collaboration
organizational levels.(n3) Yet while research indicates ways
Across Merged
managers can influence informal networks at both the
Divisions within
individual(n4) and whole network levels,(n5) executives seem
a Conglomerate
to do relatively little to assess and support critical, but often
APPENDIX 1 invisible, informal networks in organizations.(n6)
Collecting
Network Data: Over the past eighteen months, we have conducted research
Some to determine how organizations can better support work
Questions to
Ask
Notes