Wheel Networks

Wheel networks are a sensible alternative for situations in which individual members’ activities and contributions must be culled and tracked in order to avoid duplicating efforts and to ensure that all tasks are being completed. In a wheel network, one individual acts as a touchstone for all the others in the group; all group members share their information with that one individual, who then shares the information with the rest of the group. Consider the preceding example: as the sender of the initial e-mail, you might take on a leadership role and ask everyone just to reply to you. Then you could follow up with a decision about time and place to meet and send that out to everyone else. Wheel networks have the lowest shared centrality but are very efficient (Leavitt, 1951).

image
THE COPYEDITING TEAM in a newsroom works as a wheel network. All of the copy editors report to one copy chief, who regulates the copyediting style. AP Photo/Herbert Knosowski