The Wisdom of Collaborative Network Organizations: Capturing the Value of Networked Individuals

Abstract

Digital networks, particularly the Internet, are used widely to search for information and to share expertise and knowledge between peers. Such collaborative problem solving and co-creation of services and products go beyond traditional organizational boundaries and geographical constraints, raising major questions about how to manage networked individuals and capture the value of their activities. This paper conveys the findings of a series of case studies designed to explore these questions. This led to a framework for categorizing the networks which suggests the management and performance of 'collaborative network organizations' will be contingent on the ways in which they are used to reconfigure information and communication flows for the distributed sharing, generation or co-creation of content.

Keywords: collaborative working, distributed problem solving networks, organisational change, information and communication technologies, network society, wisdom of crowds