Networks, Complexity, and Relatedness

Networks, Complexity, and Relatedness
Inquiry and learning into social networks, organizational network analysis, and the relationships among people and systems in complex organizations and networks.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Networks and Governance

Governance is a word with many fine distinctions. Most definitions use terms like power, authority, decision-rights, policy, management, control. Governance is applied to political entities, corporate institutions, increasingly, IT.

While writing Net Work, I chose to define governance from the perspective of the word's root, which means "steering:" "Governance is the fine art and delicate practice of guiding and steering an organization in a steady operational state." Many of us in the network biz will avow that you cannot manage networks, you can only steward them, but I also believe that governance, as a practice, provides insights into how to define an initial structure and to let it evolve within certain boundaries. It may all be about managing boundaries.

What got me to thinking about governance was a note from colleague Laurie Lock Lee that he has started a new blog, Governance in a Networked World. His initial posts indicate that he will be focusing on issues of governance in our increasingly networked world of business, such as a recent post describing the issues related to scaling supply chain management when dealing with ever-increasing numbers of suppliers.

Not to overlook the political aspect of governance, I've been a fan of David Lazer for some time. David is the Director of the Program on Networked Governance at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. David hosts seminars on complexity and social networks at the KSG, which have been a great resource for us lucky Boston area locals.

IT governance is another beast all together, but I can bet you that Web 2.0 is making the control freaks crazy.

Anyway, welcome (back) to the blogosphere, Laurie. I look forward to your conversations.

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Net Work: A Practical Guide to Creating and Sustaining Networks at Work and in the World

patti anklam. How to make networks work.

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Community 2.0, May 12- 14, 2008, Las Vegas, NV, Keynote address "Networking to Net Work"
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