Network Logic - Index of
Network Logic - Index of
Network Logic - Index of
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>Network</strong> logic<br />
beliefs, explanations and values – a common context <strong>of</strong> meaning, also<br />
known as culture, which is continually sustained by further<br />
communications. Through this culture individuals acquire identities<br />
as members <strong>of</strong> the social network, and in this way the network<br />
generates its own boundary. It is not a physical boundary but a<br />
boundary <strong>of</strong> expectations, <strong>of</strong> confidentiality and loyalty, which is<br />
continually maintained and renegotiated by the network <strong>of</strong><br />
communications.<br />
Culture, then, arises from a network <strong>of</strong> communications among<br />
individuals; and as it emerges, it produces constraints on their<br />
actions. In other words, the rules <strong>of</strong> behaviour that constrain the<br />
actions <strong>of</strong> individuals are produced and continually reinforced by<br />
their own network <strong>of</strong> communications. The social network also<br />
produces a shared body <strong>of</strong> knowledge – including information, ideas<br />
and skills – that shapes the culture’s distinctive way <strong>of</strong> life in addition<br />
to its values and beliefs. Moreover, the culture’s values and beliefs also<br />
affect its body <strong>of</strong> knowledge. They are part <strong>of</strong> the lens through which<br />
we see the world.<br />
Living networks in human organisations<br />
In recent years it has become very popular in management circles to<br />
use metaphors like ‘the living company’, trying to understand a<br />
business organisation as a living, self-organising system. 8 It is<br />
therefore instructive to apply our network approach to the analysis <strong>of</strong><br />
human organisations.<br />
Living social systems, as we have seen, are self-generating networks<br />
<strong>of</strong> communications. This means that a human organisation will be a<br />
living system only if it is organised as a network or contains smaller<br />
networks within its boundaries, and only if these networks are selfgenerating.<br />
Organisational theorists today speak <strong>of</strong> ‘communities <strong>of</strong><br />
practice’ when they refer to these self-generating social networks. 9 In<br />
our daily activities, most <strong>of</strong> us belong to several communities <strong>of</strong><br />
practice – at work, in schools, in sports and hobbies, or in civic life.<br />
Some <strong>of</strong> them may have explicit names and formal structures, others<br />
may be so informal that they are not even identified as communities.<br />
30 Demos