Informal Networks and Organizational Crises: An Experimental Simulation

This paper argues that organizations with a particular social network structure are more effective than most organizations in responding to crises. Further, it is argued that the effective structure does not occur naturally, but must be designed consciously and carefully. A theory is developed based...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social psychology quarterly 1988-06, Vol.51 (2), p.123-140
Main Authors: Krackhardt, David, Stern, Robert N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Billing
Biological and medical sciences
College Students
Conflict management
Experimentation
Friendship
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Job performance indicators
Natural persons
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Social interaction
Social Networks
Social psychology
Social structures
Trust
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper argues that organizations with a particular social network structure are more effective than most organizations in responding to crises. Further, it is argued that the effective structure does not occur naturally, but must be designed consciously and carefully. A theory is developed based on well-founded principles of social science, most notably work on formal structure, conflict, friendships, and organizational crises. The paper concludes with an experimental test of one of the four propositions deduced from the theory. Six trials of the experiment found significant support for this propositon.
ISSN:0190-2725
1939-8999
DOI:10.2307/2786835