Introduction
According to Alberta Heritage
Foundation for Medical Research, (2003, p. ii) “Networks are valuable tools
that can be used to contribute to the accomplishment of a wide range of
objectives, and there are specific contexts where network activity is
particularly well suited.”
Inter-organizational network means
a group of organizations that involve in exchanging and sharing of different
resources and their capabilities in order to achieve same strategic purpose.
Leadership in inter-organizational
networks has been addressed in a variety of disciplines, such as interpersonal
networks (e.g. Granovetter 1973), intra-organizational networks (e.g. Hedlund
1986), and alliances (e.g. Reuer et al. 2002).
It is also important to highlight
that leadership in inter-organizational networks differs significantly from
leadership in individual organizations in that networks cannot direct the
planned endeavours of other network organizations via fiat (Williamson 1975;
Podolny and Page 1998).
Benefits and Limitations of Inter-organizational network
- Shared
risk: The ability to distribute or share risks fosters creativity and
innovation by reducing risk to any one organization.
- Advocacy:
Able to exert more pressure due to greater political clout and community
reach resulting from greater numbers and diversity of network members.
- Efficiency:
More efficient use of resources and be able to achieve economies of scale.
- Innovation: Networks are enabling structures that create opportunities for innovation,
which is closely connected to learning.
-
Achieving consensus on the network purpose and
goals. Everyone in the organization or the particular group needs to share a
clear common goal and be willing to work together towards it.
-
In the work place culture clash occurs when
different cultural values and beliefs clash.
-
Loss of autonomy which means hardship which is
neither satisfying nor meaningful.
Dawes & Pardo argued that
overall project leaders are a critical factor in the success of collaborative
initiatives. While according to Landsbergen & Wolken overall project
leaders provide overarching support and sponsorship, informal leaders work at
the operational level to get projects going. (Sayogo, Gil-Garcia, & Pardo, 2016) Their study shows
that both direct and indirect influence of leadership on the success of
inter-organizational information sharing and integration.
·
Hypothesis 1: Involvement of executives positively and directly influences the
success of inter-organizational information sharing and integration.
·
Hypothesis 2: The positive impact of executive involvement to the success of
inter-organizational information sharing and integration is mediated by the
roles of informal leaders.
·
Hypothesis 3: The inconsiderate conducts in exercising formal authority
influences the success of inter-organizational information sharing and
integration directly and negatively.
·
Hypothesis 4: The role of informal leaders directly and positively influences
the success of inter-organizational information sharing and integration.
·
Hypothesis 5: The impact of informal leaders to the success of
inter-organizational information sharing and integration is mediated by the
conduct in exercising formal authority.
Data collection and Analysis techniques
In the research article provided by
(Sayogo, Gil-Garcia, & Pardo, 2016) the analyses of data
was from a national survey conducted by the Center for Technology in Government
(CTG) in April 2008. The original data set consists of 173 responses with
demographic distribution as shown in Table 1. But after studying the data
provided the analysis was shortened to 158-160 respondents and those 7-8% were
dropped from the survey because of the high level of missing values.
The above table
represents the success of a collaborative project from the perspective of
different stakeholders. The respondents
were categorized differently. According to the results 69% of them agreed to great
extent, 25% of the agreed to a certain degree that the project was a success as
a whole. But 2% of them were not sure and other 5% didn’t agree that it was a
success. When asked of the project met its stated policy 67% of them agreed to a
great extent and 26% of the agreed to a certain degree. However the results of technology and
organization differs. But in each category majority of the respondents agreed
to a great extent that the project was a success technologically and
organizationally. It is showing that 15% of the respondents does not agree at
all that the inter-organizational or collaborative projects are cost saving.
Conclusion
According to the
results of the study the significant role of informal leaders show the success
of a project that is managed in collaborative ways including inter-organizational
networks. Majority of the positive responses indicates the direct influence of
the informal leader’s success is very strong. On the other hand negative
responses shows the indirect influence. But the decreased number of negative
effect of participant misuse of formal authority decreases the likelihood of a
project’s failure and increases the likelihood of success.
References
Sayogo, D. S., Gil-Garcia, J. R., & Pardo, T. A.
(2016). Modeling the Roles of Leadership for Inter-organizational Information
Sharing and Integration Success. pp. 1- 8
