Crowdsourcing Organizational Structure Through Social Network Analysis

This case describes how insights from social network analyses can inform leadership's decision-making around organizational structure to optimize workflows and structural and cultural integration after a large merger. It used a whole network survey to seek employee feedback on who they were currently collaborating with and who they would like to work more closely with in the future. This information informed recommended changes to the organizational structure that improved the new product development process in a large U.S. consumer goods manufacturer. In this same organization, data were collected about interdepartmental collaboration to suggest changes to improve the organization's main “create, make, move, and sell” processes during a postmerger integration initiative and employees' perceptions and attitudes were measured to provide suggestions for improving cultural integration among two legacy companies. In sum, this case demonstrates novel methods for eliciting systematic employee-crowdsourced inputs to guide leaders in making structural changes in their organizations.