Designing the Networked Organization

Chapter 9

Organizations, Networks, Communities, and Hybrids

We started our journey with three provocations based on the Internet, Visa, and the Think on Your Feet Network (TOYFNET). Other writers have examined other network-like organizations, including Mozilla, Linux, and Wikipedia. In this chapter, I offer a further selection that some might consider quirky, from both old and new, from both high-tech and low-tech, and from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Each offers insights and each passes our test: They all demonstrate independence, community, and shared stuff, and they each offer ideas for today’s organization architects.

Let’s start with something old and low-tech. Let’s look at a network of workers who have only the basics ...