It's The Tipping Point meets The Office.

A forthcoming book on companies' social networks points out that collaboration has a cost, in the form of ever-more meetings and e-mails that serve to bog down employees rather than unleash them.

Instead of indiscriminately pursuing greater communication, managers would do well to figure out how to optimize the flow of information among their employees.

Central Connectors, Boundary Spanners, Information Brokers, Peripheral People.