PROBLEM-SOLVING NETWORKS IN ORGANIZATIONS - INTENTIONAL DESIGN AND EMERGENT STRUCTURE

Although formal designs and networks of ties are both hypothesized to affect organizational processes, there have been few relational studies of their effects on the flow of information within organizations. Using an innovative method for tracing information through organizations, the authors followed problems as they were passed among personnel in a hospital. Propositions are developed about the role of formal position and networks of ties on the processing of information. © 1993 Academic Press, Inc.