Organisational Paradigms and Network Centric Organisations

Many organizations grapple with uncertainty and vagaries of economic and political climate. A number of companies attained dramatic competitive advantages in their fields by creating comprehensive, complex communication and information networks. These companies, facilitated by the increasing efficiencies and speed of information technology, remained flexible and adaptable to change by working in a network centric way. Much of the network centric (NC) related work done to date has been mainly in the technological domain. This paper focuses on the human and organizational factors that need to be considered to make the most of the future network centric warfare (NCW) and enable future warfighters to deal with war, peace, terrorism and overall uncertainty. Particular focus is placed on the issues that individuals and groups face in the NC environment. Such issues include: organizational culture, cognitive demands, and knowledge mobilization and learning. Keywords: network centric organizations, teamwork, organizational culture, communication climate, collaboration and cooperation