7. Communication in a ¡°Network¡± Organization: Facing New Realities. Leadership

7. Communication in a ¡°Network¡± Organization: Facing New Realities. Leadership

(management) has generally been considered the province of the CEO (Central Executive
Officers), or at best, a few people at the top of the organizational hierarchy. ¡°Command
and control¡± leadership/management carried many organizations to very high levels of
financial performance during periods when competition was not so great and things did
not change very fast - but its time has passed. It is becoming clear that no small group at
the top can provide the leadership needed for an entire organization of any size in the
information age. The demands on the total organization are too great for a few people at
the top to call all the shots.
Today, better-informed customers, rapid change, and fierce competition from global
competitors demand empowered employees exercising leadership at every level of the
organization. This is not possible without a radical restructuring of the traditional
sequential model of organizational communication. As mentioned earlier, there have been
three pervasive patterns that will no longer work in knowledge-based organizations:
1. the primary flow of information was vertical . within departmental walls that
were often impermeable,
2. information was hoarded and used as a source of power over others, and
3. people at the top often withheld crucial strategic information from those lower in
the organization in the belief they couldn.t handle it.
The restrictive and regulatory function of the traditional sequential model of
communication is no longer effective in ensuring the timely delivery of the right kind of
information to the right people at all levels of the modern organization. Because vertical
communication is bound by hierarchy and function, communication is constrained,
lacking integration across function. The sequential model restricts innovation and
prevents organizations from making effective use of information resources. A new,
concurrent communication model is evolving . it is goal oriented and emphasizes an

interactive process that supports simultaneous and spontaneous communication. Since
communication is a critical element in organizational design, a new type of „network‟
organization is evolving, with formal and informal interactive communication structures
at all units and levels. As the environment becomes more dynamic, the general trend is
for organizations to move from the mechanistic structure to organic structure in order to
remain competitive.