What is Networked Organizations

We discuss the NetLab Network – an interdisciplinary network studying the intersection of social networks, communication networks, and computer networks. It has developed since 2000 from an informal network of collaborators into a far flung virtual laboratory with members from across Canada and the United States as well as from Chile, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Norway, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. Connecting them is a shared sensibility of interpreting behavior from a social network perspective rather than seeing the world as composed of bounded groups, tree-like hierarchies, or aggregates of disconnected individuals. NetLab's researchers focus on the interplay between social and technological links, social capital in job searches and business settings, new media and community, internet and personal relations, social media, households, networked organizations, and knowledge transfer. NetLab has had two main achievements: first, its researchers make substantive contributions to the issues they study, and second, they demonstrate that this model of scholarly collaboration works.