Review of new book on social networks

From this FT.com review of THE HIDDEN POWER OF SOCIAL NETWORKS: Understanding how work really gets done in organisations, By Rob Cross and Andrew Parker, Harvard Business School Press :

The authors describe a comical scene where they had been invited to a breakfast meeting with the partners of a consulting firm prior to an all-staff workshop.

There was nothing wrong with this firm’s internal networks, they were told. The partners were happy that hierarchy did not constrain information flow at all. The partners were accessible, indeed staff at all levels were comfortable and willing to share information and talk to each other.

As the participants for the workshop arrived, however, they quickly split up, choosing to sit themselves in four neatly defined groups – partners, managers, senior consultants and junior consultants.