The Organizational Network Fieldbook: Best Practices, Techniques, and Exercises to Drive Organizational Innovation and Performance

13.2. Examining Organizational Networks

The team used the ONA to examine Cedarwood's information-flow network and discovered substantial over-communication, compared with networks in other organizations. It then assessed time spent in decision-making interactions, as well as the decision-making roles (decision maker, input provider, advice provider, desire to know, need to know) in which participants were investing most of their time. By conducting these assessments, the team could quantify the costs of over-inclusion and isolate where costs could be taken out of the network.

For example, as shown in Figure 13.2, 60 percent of the time that employees reported spending with colleagues on decision making was with colleagues whom they identified ...