#networked organization

In her talk at TEDxGeorgetown ‘Power and Ecosystems of Change’, Ann Pendleton Jullian discusses changes in the distribution of power as societies move into a more networked era. She uses David Ronfelt’s TIMN(Tribes,Institutions,Markets,Networks) framework to discuss the challenges of transitioning from a Triformist Era to a networked Quadriformist Era. In the Triformist era the guiding Meta-Narrative of society is top down, passed from Goverments and institutions to the people. This power is disrupted in the emerging Quadriformist era as the power of networks amplifies micro-narratives from below, empowering more and more people to participate in informing and shaping what that Meta-Narrative the great story of our times should be. ...

The challenges posed by industrial age technologies dictated the development of two management forms:  bureaucracy and markets.   Bureaucracies and markets are both decision making systems. These management forms dominated economics, politics, and warfare for centuries. ...

... This is just another example of how self-organized networks are increasingly empowered to take on powerful institutions, in ways that once required the countervailing power of other institutions. The problem, back then, was that so-called “oversight” bodies more often than not clustered in complexes of allied institutions with those they were supposed to oversee.  Hence the largely pro forma “investigations” by police commissions, civilian review boards, and the like. ...

John Robb, who writes about asymmetric warfare and networked organization, is one of my favorite writers. A central theme of his work is what he calls “systems disruption.” To disrupt centralized, hierarchical systems, it’s not necessary to take over or destroy even a significant portion of their infrastructures. It’s simply necessary to destroy the most vulnerable of their key nodes and render the overall system non-functional. ...