Emerging Network Theory

I've been doing some research lately on networks and the role of networks in 21st Century organizational life. While working with Military Missions Network, as one of my final contributions, I wrote a paper on networks and their value to those of us engaged in ministry in the emerging postmodern world. Here are a few thoughts:

Network Theory: Organizational Structuring for the 21st Century

What are Networks? How do they work? How do they function? What defines them? What causes them to spread and grow, seemingly out of control and without cause? How do you organize networks or movements?

Some Aspects of Networks:

No obvious leader or center
No familiar structure
No easy diagram to describe them
They self-organize
They morph and change as they react to interference or breakdown

“Networks are the language of our times, but our institutions are not programmed to understand them.”

Networks are extended groupings of likeminded entities, individuals, or organizations that interact and remain in informal contact for mutual assistance or support.

Emerging Values of Networks:

Communication – “The most important shift is away from broadcast (one to many) towards conversational (many to many).” This shows the importance of communication that is dialogical, open ended, and creative. Proper application of this would be to construct websites, presentations, conferences, and resources that allowed for feedback, creative construction of ideas, and collaboration. In fostering communication, it is important to find the ‘gatekeepers’ or ‘hubs’ through which information must pass to reach the widest possible audience. It is similar to the Person of Peace in Luke 10. He was a hub of a network of people that were influenced by his testimony and acceptance of the gospel.
Transparency – “The dynamic of information in a network is one of openness.” Because of the speedy flow of information across networks, it is important that networks foster transparency and honesty. It is also important that information be open and accessible.
Knowledge – Knowledge is passed along and created through the collaborative efforts of humans as they engage in network behavior.
Innovation – “(Innovation) is itself a network endeavor. Good ideas are dependent on an environment that is supportive of collaboration.”
Accountability – “In an interconnected world simple chains of cause and effect are difficult to establish. Most organizations are nodes in a whole series of complex networks, some of which they may not even realize they belong to. The impact of those networks and the outcomes they produce is rarely the result of any one organization but rather the interactions between them . . . In the future, our conception of accountability seems likely to evolve away from simple lines of answerability towards something more complex and messy with lines of accountability that are:
- Multiple, so that any one actor was accountable to a number of other actors in a number of different ways
- Overlapping, so that at different times in different circumstances one source of accountability might take priority, but at no point could there be no accountability at all
- Based on deliberative as well as procedural processes – generating opportunities for genuine discussion and learning, rather than fostering defensive mindsets or going through the motions.”
Citizenship – “Networked citizens will participate in the creation of new decision making capabilities as well as understanding their informal power and responsibilities.”
Power – “power no longer resides in individual institutions (even states), but in the ‘switchers’ through which networks regulate terms of entry and privilege or exclude particular interests or positions.”

Thus, we see that networks, through access, collaboration, and the development of critical mass have the capacity to create ideas and to speed the flow of resources and information exponentially faster than hierarchical organizations.

More on this in the next post . . .