network structure

(noun)

The structure of organization created when a company contracts work to outside sources and requires a system of coordination and communication.

Related Terms

Examples of network structure in the following topics:

  • Network Structure

    • The network structure is a newer type of organizational structure often viewed as less hierarchical (i.e., more flat), more decentralized, and more flexible than other structures.
    • The concept underlying the network structure is the social network—a social structure of interactions.
    • From a management perspective, the network structure is unique among other organizational structures that focus on the internal dynamics within the firm.
    • Like other organizational structures, the network structure has its advantages and its disadvantages.
    • Proponents argue that the network structure is more agile compared to other structures (such as functional areas, divisions, or even some teams).

  • Network Structure

    • A firm using a network structure may outsource certain tasks to external service providers and managers to coordinate external relations.
    • Companies that outsource their help desk functions to call centers in foreign countries are creating a network structure through its contract.
    • Organizational structure affects organizational action in two big ways.
    • An example of a modern structure is network structure .
    • In essence, managers in network structures spend most of their time coordinating and controlling external relations, usually by electronic means.

  • Study questions

    • How are network roles and social roles different from network "sub-structures" as ways of describing social networks?
    • If the adjacency matrix for a network can be blocked into perfect sets of structurally equivalent actors, all blocks will be filled with zeros or with ones.
    • Did any studies used the idea of structural equivalence or network role?
    • Think about the star network.
    • Describe the structural equivalence and regular equivalence sets in a line network.

  • Bibliography

    • Social structures: A network approach.
    • Social structures: A network approach.
    • Social structures: A network approach.
    • Social structures: A network approach.
    • Social structures: A network approach.

  • Social Networks

    • A social network is a social structure that exists between actors—individuals or organizations.
    • Facebook is an example of a large social network.
    • A social network is a social structure that exists between actors—individuals or organizations.
    • Smaller, tighter networks composed of strong ties behave differently than larger, looser networks of weak ties.
    • The study of social networks is called either social network analysis or social network theory.

  • Modality and levels of analysis

    • Most social network analysts think of individual persons as being embedded in networks that are embedded in networks that are embedded in networks.
    • Network analysts describe such structures as "multi-modal. " In our school example, individual students and teachers form one mode, classrooms a second, schools a third, and so on.
    • Of course, this kind of view of the nature of social structures is not unique to social network analyst.
    • That is, the network analyst is always interested in how the individual is embedded within a structure and how the structure emerges from the micro-relations between individual parts.
    • Having claimed that social network methods are particularly well suited for dealing with multiple levels of analysis and multi-modal data structures, it must immediately be admitted that social network analysis rarely actually takes much advantage.

  • Introduction to top-down approaches

    • Overall structure of the network is seen as "emerging" from overlaps and couplings of smaller components.
    • Certainly, this is a valid way of thinking about large structures and their component parts.
    • Approaches of this type tend to look at the "whole" structure, and identify "sub-structures" as parts that are locally denser than the field as a whole.
    • In a sense, this more macro lens is looking for "holes" or "vulnerabilities" or "weak spots" in the overall structure or solidarity of the network.
    • There are numerous ways that one might define the divisions and "weak spots" in a network.

  • Introduction: What's different about social network data?

    • Social network analysts do use a specialized language for describing the structure and contents of the sets of observations that they use.
    • The fundamental data structure is one that leads us to compare how actors are similar or dissimilar to each other across attributes (by comparing rows).
    • We could look at this data structure the same way as with attribute data.
    • This is the first major emphasis of network analysis: seeing how actors are located or "embedded" in the overall network.But a network analyst is also likely to look at the data structure in a second way -- holistically.
    • Rather than thinking about how an actor's ties with other actors describes the attributes of "ego," network analysts instead see a structure of connections, within which the actor is embedded.

  • Introduction

    • The basic idea of a social network is very simple.
    • Networks can have few or many actors, and one or more kinds of relations between pairs of actors.
    • Managing these data, and manipulating them so that we can see patterns of social structure can be tedious and complicated.
    • All of the tasks of social network methods are made easier by using tools from mathematics.
    • For the manipulation of network data, and the calculation of indexes describing networks, it is most useful to record information as matrices.

  • Routing

    • Routing is the process of selecting paths in a network along which to send network traffic.
    • Routing is the process of selecting paths in a network along which to send network traffic.
    • Routing is performed for many kinds of networks, including the telephone network (circuit switching), electronic data networks (such as the internet), and transportation networks.
    • A transport network, (or transportation network in American English), is typically a network of roads, streets, pipes, aqueducts, power lines, or nearly any structure which permits either vehicular movement or flow of some commodity.
    • A transport network may combine different modes of transport.