so a while back i stumbled on to this article from the economist about the ‘new organization‘…it’s yet another one of those mind numbing attempts to over-intellectualize some common sense ideas about organizational management, but with one random comment that just really sparked my interest after a quick re-read…the summary is that it’s talking about the old “organization man” versus the new “network man” (amongst other topics, each of which should lead you to a book for sale if you’re a real good reader ;)

here’s the excerpt that i’m talking about, “Networked person, by contrast, takes decisions all the time, guided by the knowledge base she has access to, the corporate culture she has embraced, and the colleagues with whom she is constantly communicating. She interacts with a far greater number of people than her father did. A famous 1967 study by Stanley Milgram…suggested that there were at most “six degrees of separationâ€? between any two people in America, meaning that the chain of acquaintances between them never had more than six links. According to more recent work along similar lines, that number has now fallen to 4.6, despite the growth in America’s population since Milgram’s study. Being able to keep in touch with a much wider range of people through technologies such as e-mail has brought everyone closer.”

uh, what the shit? the economist quotes new data precedents without a source? i went poking around online for the source of this statistic and eventually found out that jerry davis, a professor at the university of michigan business school, did a survey nearly four years ago that produced this number, but this study and survey data was related to corporate boards, not the general population…and all other references to the 4.6 number circle back to that study of corporate directors…so (clearing throat) where in the world did this number come from…anybody? now i can’t even trust the fucking economist?

Powered by Gregarious (21)

Share This

Some similar nonsense, if you like that kind of thing:

    None Found

Links that were in this post, but only if there were any: