Literature Reviews Daftar Pustaka

186 187 Challenges in Network Organization: An Intercultural Communication Perspective Ni Luh Ramaswati Purnawan 1 1 School of Communication, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Udayana University, Denpasar, Indonesia E-mail : ramaswatiisip.unud.ac.id Abstrak Tuntutan persaingan global yang ketat menyebabkan organisasi berupaya melakukan adaptasi agar tetap bertahan, salah satunya dengan melakukan perubahan dalam bentuk organisasi. Jika sebelumnya organisasi lebih bersifat hierarki, akhir-akhir ini muncul trend perngelolaan organisasi berbasis jaringan network organization, dimana berbagai organisasi bergabung untuk membentuk suatu organisasi yang lebih besar dan memiliki jangkauan yang lebih luas bahkan secara internasional, serta sangat mengandalkan teknologi untuk melakukan komunikasi dan koordinasi antar organisasi. Hal ini, selain dapat memberikan manfaat yang lebih besar bagi perkembangan organisasi, juga menimbulkan berbagai tantangan baru yang harus dihadapi organisasi yang tergabung didalamnya. Salah satu tantangan terbesar adalah melakukan komunikasi dengan individuorganisasi yang memiliki latar belakang budaya berbeda. Kata kunci : tantangan, komunikasi, perbedaan budaya, organisasi berbasis jaringan I. Introduction Globalization has made implications for organization relationship and networks. To increase competitiveness, a growing number of organizations nowadays are entering into more or less formal relationships with other organizations, which involve people, resources and procedures. It lies on the idea that today’s organization ind that their plans and strategies increasingly depend on the decisions of other organizations and that the problems they encounter are bigger they alone can solve, as well as it is designed as an attempt to manage unanticipated problems. One type of inter- organizational relationship is network organization. In the context of high competition, it has been argued that, the most effective organizational form is not a necessarily a hierarchy but a network, where each node represents an actor possessing a unit set of skills, their knowledge endowment, and is linked to the other nodes through lines of communication 1 Besides offering beneits on access and sharing resources, technologies, markets, and skills; the inter-organizational relationships help organizations to share important knowledge, so-called “intellectual capital”, and may also used to building public conidence to improve reputation and performances. It is characterized by members who were physically located in different locations countries and interacted through the use of computer-mediated communication technology, such as email, chat room etc, and project-based working environment. Virtual network organization it is considered one of the new organizational forms that technology makes possible 2 . And there is an indication that virtual project organizations are the next form in the evolutionary chain of organization structure; the model for corporations in the future 3 . GDLN, or Global Development Learning Network, is one example of an organization that working in partnership with other organizations in over 100 countries. The operation is mainly to provide assistance in information and communication technologies to foster education and capacity building, especially in developing countries. Working in partnership is about expanding business operation, which can reach larger participants to achieve the goal and mission of GDLN, which is linking the world through learning. And to be able to reap the beneit of strong relational networks in the global marketplace, effective inter-organizational communication needs to be established among members of the network. Without effective inter-organizational communication, learning among network partners will be diminished, and the long-term effectiveness of the networks will be damaged 4. Moreover “successful development and administration of [global] inter-organization network is derived from effective intercultural communication effort focusing on developing relationships 5 . It is believed that “an inability to recognize, and deal with, cultural elements of the team might lead to problems with the project deliverable’s attributes of time, cost and performances” 6. Referring to the above issues, therefore, this article will mainly concern on understanding cultural differences and recognize its effect on team’s performances, in order to achieve the effectiveness of inter-organizational relations.

II. Literature Reviews

Network organization can be regarded as the pinnacle of inter-organizational relations. It comprises of two or more organizational units from different organizations involved in along terms, and more or less formalized relationship. The relationship is often global in scope and reach, with an objective to bring together the resources controlled by different organizations to create a new and stronger organization, one that is better equipped for a new market, a new technology or a new service 7 . A [virtual] network organization is deined as “a geographically distributed organization whose members are bound by long-term common interests or goals, and who communicate and coordinate their work through information technology” 8. In term of organizational structure, according to Serbin 9 , there are three predominant models of network: 1. The “Spider web” model It is a strongly centralized network with a central secretariat and circles emanating from the centre, often at various levels. There may be links between the various levels as well, but the primary linkage is back to the centre. 2. The ‘ishnet’ or ‘cell-structure’ model There is no central coordinating body. Instead, each member shares in the coordinating responsibilities, and each member maintains and coordinates relationship with those in closest proximity 3. The “chain’ model Actors are linked to each other in a line, where actions or information can be passed along or an end objective can be achieved by carrying out consecutive steps along a chain. The chain model is fragile, since it is rendered ineffective if a break occurs anywhere along the chain. GDLN structure is based on the ‘ishnet’ or ‘cell-structure’ model. Unlike the traditional collocated team, GDLN network does not consist of authority relationship, in which each member shared in the coordinating responsibilities. The question is: How does a network earn to coordinate in the absence of authority? The answer lies on Geisler’s statement 10 that suggested, in order to be perceived as resources interdependent and to increase survival, cooperation depends more on trust, goodwill, favorable prior beliefs, mutual psychological commitment and prior relations between parties, and active interaction. Trust is a ‘lubricant’ that maintain smooth and eficient interactions 11 . Inter- organizational partnership is interplay between personal interaction and trust, and more formalized organizational arrangements 12 . Similar statement provided by Coleman 13 , that “in the network of relations, in which trust, reciprocity and exchange of information become possible and thus facilitate 188 189 collaboration by reducing the need for formal agreements and control, is essential for formation and sustainability of cooperation” Clases and colleagues 14 noted that shared bonds and shared experience in the practical realization of projects are keys to trust in virtual organizing. In order to do so, Handy 15 argued that members must meet face-to-face to develop trust.

III. Discussion 3.1 GDLN – Connecting the World Through Learning