Who Loves Ya, Baby?
Quote: "In his classic novel Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut explains how the world is divided into two types of social organizations: the karass and the granfalloon. A karass is a spontaneously forming group, joined by unpredictable links, that actually gets stuff done- as Vonnegut describes it, "a team that do[es] God's Will without ever discovering what they are doing." A granfalloon, on the other hand, is a "false karass," a bureaucratic structure that looks like a team but is "meaningless in terms of the ways God gets things done." "
Comment: This excellent article, via Seb and Ross Mayfield, explores the world of social network analysis (SNA). SNA basically creates a visual image of the social networks within an organization. The formal organizational structure (org chart) is typically not reflective of how work and innovation occurs. The informal connections - people from various departments who dialogue and share information - are the ones that drive new ideas and "make things happen". By analyzing these social connections (can be done via email monitoring, surveys), organizations can harness (and hopefully foster) the connections that lead to results.
For an interesting exploration of SNA, see orgnet.com (links on the bottom of the page are particularly interesting).