Three types of interdependence include ____.

In order to continue enjoying our site, we ask that you confirm your identity as a human. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

In the 1967 book "Organizations in Action," sociologist James D. Thompson defined three types of interdependence to describe the intensity of interactions and behaviors within an organizational structure. The study of interdependence helps business owners understand how the different departments or units within their organization depend on the performance of others.

Pooled interdependence is perhaps the loosest form of the three. In this type of interdependence, each organizational department or business unit performs completely separate functions. While departments may not directly interact and do not directly depend on each other in the pooled interdependence model, each does contribute individual pieces to the same overall puzzle.

Harvard Business Review describes it like a gymnastics team, where the individual performance or each team or department contributes to the overall score. This creates an almost blind, indirect dependence on the performance of others wherein one department's failures could lead to the failure of the overall process.

Sequential interdependence occurs when one unit in the overall process produces an output necessary for the performance by the next unit. Perhaps the most obvious example of sequential interdependence is an assembly line. Here, if one part of the production line experiences a slowdown, then there will be bottlenecks further down the line. Scheduling and planning your organization's resources in a sequential interdependence model is essential to efficient operations.

Reciprocal interdependence is similar to sequential interdependence in that the output of one department becomes the input of another, with the addition of being cyclical. In this model, an organization's departments are at their highest intensity of interaction. Reciprocal models are the most complex and difficult to manage, since one unit can change the rules and affect everyone else at any time.

Workflow specialists Samewave use the example of a software company, whose engineering and development teams work together to create a great product. The marketing team originates strategies that enable the sales team to make sales, and the customer services team keep customers supported and happy, so they stay loyal to the business. As these teams work together, revenues grow and the software company can hire new talent, and attract investment, to scale the business. Yet if just one part of this cycle underperformed, the model would collapse.

Thompson theorized that the correct way to get departments within an organization working together effectively is to structure respective work tasks by intensity of interdependence, and then manage each of those interdependencies with different coordination methods.

For example, a pooled interdependency requires standardization in rules and operating procedures, while the coordination methods for the other two interdependencies are slightly more flexible. A sequential interdependency is managed through mildly adaptive planning and scheduling, while reciprocally interdependent departments are managed through constant information sharing and mutual adjustments.

So, what exactly is task interdependence and why does it matter? The sociologist James Thompson described three types of interdependence in his book, ‘Organizations in Action’. Today, we will break down the different types of interdependence and the business implications they have for organisations.

The Three Types of Interdependence

An understanding of task interdependence helps business owners grasp how different departments and team members rely on the performance of one another. Even if they work independently, there are various consequences (positive or negative) that leaders should be aware of to create the most effective processes.

Pooled Interdependence

This is the most open type of interdependence. While each business unit completes tasks that are separate from one another, they do offer contributions to the main overall goal. If one department fails, the entire project or goal could also fail. While working independently, team members are still sharing the loose or unstructured responsibility for reaching the goal.

For example, imagine a company institutes a policy of unlimited time off as long as no one takes advantage of it and it doesn't impair the team’s ability to meet deadlines.

The goal of the new policy is to increase employee satisfaction to allow more employee autonomy, but if one team starts becoming less productive, the policy is replaced with a stricter one because one department failed to use it appropriately. If one team fails to make the policy work, everyone else may have to suffer.

Sequential Interdependence

Sequential interdependence is exactly what the name infers. It happens when one department or team must accomplish something before another team can do their job – similar to the concept of an assembly line. A product must be fully assembled before it is wrapped, and wrapped before it is shipped. Skipping a step derails the entire process.

A more modern example of this type of interdependence would be a marketing and sales team. The sales team needs their funnel filled with qualified leads so they can do their job.

Marketing teams place advertisements, send direct mail and email campaigns and do social media outreach to fill the sales funnel with qualified leads for the sales executives to follow up on.

This sequential interdependence makes it possible for companies to be profitable. If marketing doesn't provide the qualified leads, sales are quite unlikely to follow.

Reciprocal Interdependence

Reciprocal interdependence and sequential interdependence share one thing in common: They are both models where one team relies on the performance or output of another team in order to accomplish their goals.

However, reciprocal interdependence is a two-way street. Both teams or departments rely on one another, making everyone highly responsible for accomplishing goals and tasks. It's a cyclical workflow.

Let's imagine how what the cyclical workflow would look like at a software company. A development and engineering team makes a great product. The marketing team creates qualified leads and opportunities for the sales team to make sales, increasing revenue. The onboarding and customer success teams provide great customer service and support to the customers.

The company becomes more and more profitable as the cycle continues. They are able to recruit more and more quality talent to scale the business. However, if one step in the cycle failed, this model suggests the entire process would fail.

Promoting Effective Task Interdependence With Software

Especially in large organisations spread out among different locations, it can be difficult to recognise task interdependence and the effect it can have on reaching goals. When team members aren't in frequent contact with one another, it's easy to lose track of how they impact one another's work.

Smart companies use tools and software that help them keep track of their tasks and goals. Tools like Samewave, a performance management software, simplify the process. Teams create tasks and goals in one transparent place and foster accountability towards reaching them with Promise-Based Management and Social Discipline.

With Samewave, everyone knows who is responsible for what and when it needs to be done. Project managers can also communicate via direct and group chat streams and generate automatic reports at the frequency of each person's choosing. Additionally, Samewave is available in a web browser, PC or Mac desktop application, and Android and iOS mobile apps.

Best of all, Samewave is free. Download it today and begin using it with your teams to improve productivity and reach your goals faster.

Optimise Your Project Management Process

Understanding task interdependence across the organisation can be tricky to optimise, because it isn't always easy to see how one team can affect the outcomes of another team without ever working together.

Management teams should encourage the use of tools that foster robust communication and transparency across your teams so everyone can fully understand how their work impacts the overall goal. Create a culture of accountability, trust and cooperation so team members can work on interdependent tasks effectively.