Network

Organizational Networks have been widely recognized by both scholars and practitioners as an important form of multi-organisational governance. By network functioning we refer to the process by which certain network conditions lead to various network-level outcomes. There are some definitions about the network are available, according to Raab and Kenis networks are “consciously created groups of three or more autonomous but interdependent organisations that strive to achieve a common goal and jointly produce an output” (Raab & Kenis, 2009).

Brass et al. (2004) define a network in a very general way as “a set of nodes and the set of ties representing some relationship, or lack of relationship, between the nodes.” They point out that the content of the relationships between nodes is “limited only by a researcher’s imagination” (p. 795). Brass provide an overarching look at organizational network research at the interpersonal, inter unit, and inter organizational levels of analysis (Brass et al., 2004). They take a very broad approach to studying the phenomenon of social networks, focusing in particular on the antecedents and the consequences of networks at each of these levels.

References:

Brass, D. J., Galaskiewicz, J., Greve, H. R., & Tsai, W. (2004). Taking stock of networks and organizations: A multilevel perspective. Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 47(No. 6), pp. 795-817.

Raab, J., & Kenis, P. (2009). Heading Toward a Society of Networks. Journal of Management Inquiry, 18(3), 198-210. doi: 10.1177/1056492609337493


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