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The Handbook: Law Firm Networks
is much more difficult. The role of information is that much more important. The
importance of information assets to network organizations238 raises important questions
about managing information resources. Theories of organizational learning provide a
framework by breaking information management into acquisition, distribution,
interpretation and memory.239
The first two describe the processes of obtaining and sharing information respectively.
Sharing is important not only for completeness of access but also for generating new
information. Interpretation is the process by which shared information acquires meaning
and becomes translated into shared maps, frames, or schema. Organizational memory
describes the storage of information for ready access and future use.240
More learning may then be said to occur when information is shared more broadly, when
more numerous and varied interpretations are developed, when different organizational
members comprehend each other's interpretations — even if their own interpretations
differ — and when latent information is recognized as potentially useful and stored. More
learning does not necessarily imply a larger organizational action set, however, since this
can add constraints to behavior as well as new options. In monitoring itself, an
organization can also engage in single-loop learning by successively comparing itself to
its governing policies and adjusting for mismatches, or it can engage in double-loop
learning by examining and changing its governing values.241
In networks the interaction (of members) runs laterally as much as vertically.
Communication between people of different ranks tends to resemble lateral consultation
rather than vertical command [and] omniscience can no longer be imputed to the head of
the concern.242
The other distinguishing characteristic is that lines of ownership and of group identity,
i.e. boundaries, become ill-defined. This in turn affects operations. This includes the edge
between the network firm and its markets and even the edges of different functions within
the firm.243 The need for boundary-spanning communication intensifies with more
ambiguous roles and objectives.244
Operations – Application to Professional Services Networks
The operative word in networks is collaboration. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines
collaboration as
(1) the state of having shared interests or efforts (as in social or business matters).
Synonyms are affiliation, alliance, collaboration, confederation, connection, cooperation,
238 Van Alstyne, supra note 9, citing P. Drucker, The Coming of the New Organization, HARV. BUS. REV. (1988); see also Walter W. Powell, Neither
Market Nor Hierarchy: Network Forms of Organizations, 12 RES. IN ORG. BEHAVIOR 295, 295-330 (1990); see also S. L. Jarvenpaa & B. Ives, The
Global Network Organization of the Future: Information Management Opportunities and Challenges, 10 J. OF MGMT. INFORMATION SYSTEMS 25,
25-57 (1994); see also GERARD CLIQUET, ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT OF NETWORKS: FRANCHISING, STRATEGIC ALLIANCES AND NETWORKS
(2007).
239 Id., citing G. P. Huber, Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures. 2 ORG. SCIENCE 88, 88-114 (1991).
240 Id.
241 Id., citing CHRIS ARGYRIS & DONALD A. SCHON, ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING: A THEORY OF ACTION PERSPECTIVE (1978).
242 Id., citing P. Attewell & J. Rule, Computing and Organizations: What We Know and What We Don't Know, 27 COMM. OF THE ACM 1184, 1184-
1192 (1984).
243 Id., citing W. E. BAKER, THE NETWORK ORGANIZATION IN THEORY AND PRACTICE, NETWORKS AND ORGANIZATIONS (1993): “The chief
structural characteristic of network organization is the high degree of integration across formal boundaries.”
244 Id., citing R. G. Eccles & D.B. Crane, Managing Through Networks in Investment Banking. 30 CAL. MGMT. REV. 176, 176-195 (1987).
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is much more difficult. The role of information is that much more important. The
importance of information assets to network organizations238 raises important questions
about managing information resources. Theories of organizational learning provide a
framework by breaking information management into acquisition, distribution,
interpretation and memory.239
The first two describe the processes of obtaining and sharing information respectively.
Sharing is important not only for completeness of access but also for generating new
information. Interpretation is the process by which shared information acquires meaning
and becomes translated into shared maps, frames, or schema. Organizational memory
describes the storage of information for ready access and future use.240
More learning may then be said to occur when information is shared more broadly, when
more numerous and varied interpretations are developed, when different organizational
members comprehend each other's interpretations — even if their own interpretations
differ — and when latent information is recognized as potentially useful and stored. More
learning does not necessarily imply a larger organizational action set, however, since this
can add constraints to behavior as well as new options. In monitoring itself, an
organization can also engage in single-loop learning by successively comparing itself to
its governing policies and adjusting for mismatches, or it can engage in double-loop
learning by examining and changing its governing values.241
In networks the interaction (of members) runs laterally as much as vertically.
Communication between people of different ranks tends to resemble lateral consultation
rather than vertical command [and] omniscience can no longer be imputed to the head of
the concern.242
The other distinguishing characteristic is that lines of ownership and of group identity,
i.e. boundaries, become ill-defined. This in turn affects operations. This includes the edge
between the network firm and its markets and even the edges of different functions within
the firm.243 The need for boundary-spanning communication intensifies with more
ambiguous roles and objectives.244
Operations – Application to Professional Services Networks
The operative word in networks is collaboration. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines
collaboration as
(1) the state of having shared interests or efforts (as in social or business matters).
Synonyms are affiliation, alliance, collaboration, confederation, connection, cooperation,
238 Van Alstyne, supra note 9, citing P. Drucker, The Coming of the New Organization, HARV. BUS. REV. (1988); see also Walter W. Powell, Neither
Market Nor Hierarchy: Network Forms of Organizations, 12 RES. IN ORG. BEHAVIOR 295, 295-330 (1990); see also S. L. Jarvenpaa & B. Ives, The
Global Network Organization of the Future: Information Management Opportunities and Challenges, 10 J. OF MGMT. INFORMATION SYSTEMS 25,
25-57 (1994); see also GERARD CLIQUET, ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT OF NETWORKS: FRANCHISING, STRATEGIC ALLIANCES AND NETWORKS
(2007).
239 Id., citing G. P. Huber, Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures. 2 ORG. SCIENCE 88, 88-114 (1991).
240 Id.
241 Id., citing CHRIS ARGYRIS & DONALD A. SCHON, ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING: A THEORY OF ACTION PERSPECTIVE (1978).
242 Id., citing P. Attewell & J. Rule, Computing and Organizations: What We Know and What We Don't Know, 27 COMM. OF THE ACM 1184, 1184-
1192 (1984).
243 Id., citing W. E. BAKER, THE NETWORK ORGANIZATION IN THEORY AND PRACTICE, NETWORKS AND ORGANIZATIONS (1993): “The chief
structural characteristic of network organization is the high degree of integration across formal boundaries.”
244 Id., citing R. G. Eccles & D.B. Crane, Managing Through Networks in Investment Banking. 30 CAL. MGMT. REV. 176, 176-195 (1987).
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