A networked team is…
A networked team is a social entity that carries out tasks in order to serve the needs of a customer (internal or external) and is embedded in one or several larger social systems . It stands out from regular teams by its network awareness, which mainly manifests itself in the following characteristics:
- Cohesive construct: A networked team is a cohesive social network. It is not too tight that homophily takes stage nor too loose that it becomes difficult to diffuse knowledge and new innovations. A networked team can have a core subgroup that instills the team’s culture and insures a good environment for nourishing peripheral members with the needed knowledge. If many subgroups emerge within the team, they need to be interconnected to keep the knowledge flow going.
- Connected unit: A networked team is anything but siloed. It doesn’t evolve in an independent realm but rather bridges the gaps among itself and other teams effectively. It recognizes its weavers and leverages their access in order to reach out to novel ideas and processes.
- Just the right amount of power: While a certain degree of leadership is necessary for stimulating innovation, the power within networked teams is decentralized to some extent. Team members are actually empowered enough to function as a business within the business.
- Lamia Ben
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(Source: clatteringthoughts.posterous.com)
