Organisational learning: The social network

The significance of workplace friendships is highlighted by this survey finding in Gallup Management Journal : about 76 per cent of engaged employees, but only 21 per cent of actively disengaged staff, strongly agree with the statement: “I have a friend at work who I share new ideas with.”In today’s economy, creativity – the ability to develop new and useful knowledge – is increasingly seen as a critical source of sustainable competitive advantage. Organisational creativity is impossible without the contributions of individual top performers, and as such the focus has often been on individual creativity. The old egalitarian approach to people management has often given way to emphasis on top performers and exceptional talents.