Under the assumption that traditional approaches to organizational structure have provided little insight into how structure might affect individual attitudes and behavior, this paper describes communication patterns within organizational structures and develops a network approach as a means by which individual response to traditional structural variables can be studied. Emphasizing communication behavior forces the researcher to reconceptualize what is meant by structure: structure comes to be viewed as stable patterns of behavior, which characterize social systems. Organizations then come to be viewed as systems of interaction, overlapping networks of communication, influence, status, and friendship. The paper concludes that the network perspective is an effective approach to understanding structural determinants of individual attitudes and behavior. (RL)