published online in 2016 with rights reserved by the author.

OVERVIEW

This paper looks at how the information flow within an organisation can detail a most appropriate structure to either support or alter communication.

INTRODUCTION

It is always important in an organisation to ensure that the unit is best structured for efficient workflow and productivity. There is a general feeling that communication is essential to support this. This essay proposes a simple graphical way to model communications. From this a transformation to the hierarchy can be made. It is then a management decision as to this being a reinforcement of the desired status, or if it is time to transition to a new state

THE SPIDER LINE CHART

How to produce the chart. The method needs one scribe who is not part of the meeting or analysis of a period of communication (such as looking at the past period of written communication)

All key players are plotted :

How to draw it and number it.

How to outline good and bad comms

How to outline direction of communications

How to number the nodes

HOW THE SPIDER LINE DIRECTS HEIRACHY

Identify the node with the most total traffic flow and label it ‘A’ and copy it to the centre top of the page for the tree layout.

Identify all nodes with traffic leading to and from this node. By starting from ‘most to least’ group all the dependant nodes with a similar amount of traffic. Identify all nodes with the same amount of traffic flowing to and from node A and place them below node A in the tree diagram. For each of these dependant nodes, identify as yet un-plotted nodes and link them in the tree diagram.

If communication passes through many nodes, then this should end up on the tree as a line down the page. If the communications flows through a node as a central point on the network, then this should maintain a similar shape on the tree diagram. Any peer to peer communications should aim to be preserved on the tree diagram as peer to peer communications across the page.

There will be some links still with unattached communication flow these will need to be added before the network is complete. It is a management decision how to add these in, in some cases information flow may have to be re-routed via other nodes. This should be implemented with caution as the observed data shows this flow and any attempt to move it may impact on productivity and mission outcomes. Alternatively, by not placing this data flow in at an inappropriate point in the tree may allow this flow to swing the outcomes of the team in an un- intended way.

TYPES OF TREE

TREE NAME: Flat Tree

The flat tree implies that there is generally one high level node and all others form into one layer below this.  The advantage is that there is clear vision descendance to the team, and very swift feedback to the vision holder.  The down side is that if the team becomes large, then there is a massive amount of communication flow to the supervisor

TREE NAME: Binary Tree

The binary tree has two subordinate nodes for each higher node. This continues on down the tree. This forms a tree that looks like the finals layout in a grand slam or knock out sports contest. It can also be viewed as the individual outcome tree from tossing a coin on numerous times.

The advantage is that each node can share the work load, but it also creates much management for small organisations with very few left to do the actual work of the organisation.

The concept can be extended to the pyramid often found in sales scams such as Tupperware or Amway. They are an improvement on the binary tree in that each group has 3 or more peers, but the limit is that there cannot be too man y in a group or it resembles the flat tree. Most pyramid schemes limit the number of peers by clever promotion incentives.  This is sometimes referred to as the team of teams approach. It is common in military organisation also that promote their own from within the teams.

TREE NAME: Star burst

This tree has central nodes that flare out to the team. It allows for central command of the network, but it can often be hard to find accountability acroos the very flat starburst network

TREE NAME: Hybrib

The hybrid tree can take any form of the above. It is often found in groups where there are different size groups to manage different share sizes of the market place. An example of this is that city teams may have larger groups than the equivalent function for the urban or rural arms of the same organisation.