> ...stresses both the difficulty and importance of creating environments in
> organizations in which the grapevine becomes unnecessary and obsolete,
> something I believe can only occur through conscious design and/or
> intervention...
Human systems are not machines and will not respond to the best intended
"conscious design." Has anyone ever witnessed the elimination of the
informal structures in "well-designed" organizations? Grapevines(informal
networks) are, and will continue, to be parts of all human social systems.
Yes, informal networks have there bad side(exclusionary), but they also
have their good side(learning - employees learn the tricks of their trade
through informal networks of co-workers, not through the company
procedures manual or from the boss). In fact, some argue that hierarchies
are even more exclusionary than networks.
Formal and informal aspects of organization appear together. They have a
strange symbiotic relationship and neither can survive _alone_ in complex
human systems such as organizations. The secret to effective
organizations is probably found in the relationship between
formal(prescribed) and informal(emergent), not in the exclusion of either.
Valdis Krebs
Krebs & Associates
Los Angeles, CA
From: ValdisK@aol.com