Skip to main content
Log in

Multiplex Multi-Core Pattern of Network Organizations: An Exploratory Study

  • Published:
Computational & Mathematical Organization Theory Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Recent research on small-world theory has been expanded upon organizations behavior. However, most individual studies have taken a simplified view of individuals and relationships among members by focusing on a single type of links mainly within dyadic relationships. In reality, members of organizations are interacting with each other and often connected via many types of links within more complex relationships. To explore this complex interaction, this study models organization as network and proposes a multiplex approach that captures the complexity of relationships among members in organizations. This approach accounts for the multiple types of links among members and the multiple roles of members within network organizations. It is illustrated via a case study of a network organization. The case study demonstrates how this approach could capture the many types of relationship among members as well as the various roles that members play within the network organization. Such an approach can yield new insights on how to better manage network organizations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ancona, D.G. (1990), “Outward Bound: Strategies forTeam Survival in anOrganization,” Academy of Management Journal, 33, 334–365.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barker, J., D. Tjosvold and R. Andrew (1988), “Conflict Approaches of Effective and Ineffective Project Managers: A Field Study of Matrix Organization,” Journal of Management Studies, 25, 167–178.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baum, J.C. and J.E. Dutton (1996), “Introduction: The Embeddedness of Strategy,” Advances in Strategic Management, 13, 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brass, D.J. and M.E. Burkhardt (1992), “Centrality and Power in Organizations,” in N. Nohria and R.G. Eccles (Eds.) Networks and Organizations: Structure, Form and Action. Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burt, R.S. (1982), Toward A Structural Theory of Action. Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carley, K.M. (1990), “Group Sability: A Socio-Cognitive Approach,” in E. Lawler, B. Markovsky, C. Ridgeway and H. Walker (Eds.) Advances in Group Processes: Theory and Research. Vol. VII. JAI Press, Greenwhich, CN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carley, K.M. (1991), “A Theory of Group Stability,” American Sociological Review, 56(3), 331–354.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carley, K.M. and D. Krackhardt (1997), “A Typology for Network Measures for Organizations,” Computational Organization theory, 6(5), 122–138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carley, K.M and J.-S. Lee (1998), “Dynamic Organizations: Organizational Adaptation in a Changing Environment,” in J. Baum(Ed.) Advances in StrategicManagement, Vol. 15, Disciplinary Roots of Strategic Management Research. JAI.

  • Carley, K.M., J.-S. Lee and D. Krackhardt (2001), “Destabilizing Networks,” Available at http://hss.cmu.edu/ departments/sds/faculty/carley.html.

  • Carley, K.M. and D.M. Svoboda (1996), “Modeling Organizational Adaptation as a Simulated Annealing Process,” Sociological Methods and Research, 25(1), 138–168.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, K. and T. Fujimoto (1991), Product Development Performance: Strategy, Organization, and Management in the World Auto Industry. Harvard Business School Press, Boston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dacin, M.T., M.J. Ventrosca and B.D. Beal (1999), “The Embeddedness of Organizations: Dialogue and Directions,” Journal of Management, 25, 317–356.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Denison, D.R., S.L. Hart and J.A. Kahn (1996), “From Chimneys to Cross-Functional Teams: Developing and Validating a Dagnostic Model,” Academy of Management Journal, 39, 1005–1023.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donnellon, A. (1995), Teamtalk. Harvard Business School Press, Boston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elgazzar, A.S. (2003), “Applications of Small-World Networks to Some Socio-Economic Systems,” Physica A, 324, 402–407.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ford, R.C. and W.A. Randolph (1992), “Cross-Functional Structures: A Review and Integration of Matrix Organization and Project Management,” Journal of Management, 18, 267–294.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galbraith, J. (1994), Competing with Flexible Tateral Organizations, 2nd edition. Addison-Wesley Publish Co., Reading, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter, M.S. (1985), “Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness,” American Journal of Sociology, 91, 481–510.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haythornthwaite, C. and B. Wellman (1998), “Work, Friendship and Media for Information Exchange in a Networked Organization,” Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 46(12), 1101–1114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaye, A.R. (1995), “Computer Supported Collaborative Learning,” in N. Heap, R. Thomas, G. Einon, R. Mason and H. MacKay (Eds.) Information Technology and Society. London, Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krackhardt, D. and K.M. Carley (1997), “A PCANS Models of Structure in Organizations,” in Proceedings of the 1998 International Symposium on Command and Control Research and Technology, Monterray, CA.

  • Lazega, E. and P.E. Pattison (1999), “Multiplexity, Generalized Exchange and Cooperation in Organizations: A Case Study,” Social Networks, 21, 67–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Z. (1994), “ATheoretical Evaluation of Measures of Organizational Design: Interrelationship and Performance Predictability,” in K.M. Carley and M.J. Prietula (Eds.) Computational Organization Theory, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindenberg, S. (1997), “Grounding Group in Theory: Functional, Cognitive, and Structural Interdependencies,” in Advances in Group Processes, Vol. 14. JAI Press, Greenwich, CT.

    Google Scholar 

  • March, J.G. and H.A. Simon (1958), Organizations. Wiley, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milgram, S. (1967), “The Small-World Problem,” Psychology Today, 22, 661–667.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nonaka, I. (1990), “Redundant Overlapping Organization: Japanese Approach to Managing the Innovation Process,” California Management Review, 32(2), 27–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, H.A. (1976), Administrative Behavior, 2nd edition. The Free Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Takeuchi, H. and I. Nonaka (1986), “The New Product Development Game,” Harvard Business Review, 64(1), 137–146.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wasserman, S. and K. Faust (1994), Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watts, D.J. (1999), Small Worlds: The Dynamics of Networks between Order and Randomness. Princedon University Press, Princedon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watts, D.J. and S.H. Strogatz (1998), “Collective Dynamics of 'Small World' Networks,” Nature, 393, 440–442.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wellman, B. and S.D. Berkowitz (1998), Social Structures: A Network Approach.Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, MA, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xi, Y. (1989), Harmony Theory and Strategy, Guizhou Renmin Publishers (in China).

  • Xi, Y. and F. Tang (2002), “Research of Organizational Multiplex Multi-Kernel Network Model,” Journal of Xi'an Jiaotong University (Science eds.) (in China). 4, 430–435.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu, J., Y. Xi and Y. Wang (1993), “Core and Coritity Theory of System,” System Science and Mathematics (in China), 2, 102–111.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Xi, Y., Tang, F. Multiplex Multi-Core Pattern of Network Organizations: An Exploratory Study. Computational & Mathematical Organization Theory 10, 179–195 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:CMOT.0000039170.91349.c2

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:CMOT.0000039170.91349.c2

Navigation