Teams with too many overlaps in their social networks are less creative — the team members all know the same stuff. Teams that aren’t networked at all, however, aren’t good at sharing what they do know. The most successful teams are those in which everyone knows one or two others but not everyone — and not no one.
For that reason, organizations should subvert the “proximity principle,” or people’s tendency to create networks from those around them. The problem with the proximity principle is it tends to create homogeneous networks that lack diversity. To undo the proximity principle . . . locate people from different specialties in the same area rather than keeping all specialists located near each other. But be careful. Brand new people with their own well-established networks may not integrate easily into the existing team.
Authors: Brian Uzzi, Jennifer Robison
Source: “Gallup Management Journal”
Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Teamwork
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